A Brilliant Context | The Grand Canal, a World Heritage Site, "Carries the Ages"

June 8 is the 2024 "Cultural and Natural Heritage Day". At the same time, June this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the successful application of the China Grand Canal as a World Heritage Site.

The Grand Canal is in the memory of General Secretary Xi Jinping. In July 2023, when the General Secretary visited Jiangsu, he emphasized that building a modern civilization of the Chinese nation is an inevitable requirement for promoting Chinese-style modernization and an important part of the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. Jiangsu should strengthen the protection, inheritance and innovative development of excellent traditional culture and actively participate in the construction of two national cultural parks, the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal.

As the province with the longest Grand Canal, the most cities flowing through it, and the most sections listed as world cultural heritage sites, Jiangsu is also the only key construction area for the Grand Canal National Cultural Park. Today, looking at the entire river basin from the Jiangsu section, the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park is advancing thousands of miles, and the thousand-year-old water vein is reborn.

Archaeological results of the whole basin explain "carrying thousands of years"

Currently, "Carrying Thousands of Times - An Exhibition of Important Archaeological Achievements of the Grand Canal in the New Era" is being held at the China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou, attracting many visitors to come and check in for an "immersive" experience. This exhibition is a tribute to the 10th anniversary of the Grand Canal's successful application as a World Heritage. Under the guidance of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou and the Grand Canal Archeology and Protection Professional Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society worked together with a total of 24 cultural, museum and archaeological units from 8 provinces along the line. roll out.

Lin Liugen, chairman of the Grand Canal Archeology and Protection Professional Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society, professor at the School of Art and Archeology of Zhejiang University, and curator of "Carrying the Thousands - Exhibition of Important Archaeological Achievements of the Grand Canal in the New Era" said that the exhibition brings together more than 240 groups of the latest archaeological finds The cultural relics are the first time that the archaeological results of the entire Grand Canal basin have been unveiled together. He introduced that according to incomplete statistics, since the new era, more than 200 canal archaeological works have been carried out in eight provinces along the Grand Canal, and more than 60 archaeological works have achieved important results, adding tension to the continuation of the historical context and writing a new chapter for the inheritance of China's excellent culture. articles.

Carrying Thousands of Thousands - Exhibition of Important Archaeological Achievements of the Grand Canal in the New Era

In June 2017, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Grand Canal is a precious heritage left to us by our ancestors and a flowing culture. It must be well protected, passed down and utilized in an overall manner."

As the only key construction area of ​​the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, Jiangsu has shouldered the responsibility of "original" in the past ten years since it was successfully applied for World Heritage status, protecting the water and passing on the cultural context, and writing a new chapter in the humanistic economy.

The 790-kilometer Jiangsu section of the Grand Canal is still connected to the waves for thousands of miles. When boats sail on the river, the river is smooth, the water is clear, the banks are green, and the scenery is beautiful. The scenery on both sides of the river unfolds like a scroll.

The China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou, the Mausoleum Site Museum of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and the Kunshan Opera and Baixi Museum... a number of museums have been completed and opened, attracting audiences to check in.

The large-scale symphony suite "The Grand Canal", the opera "The River of Fortune", the dance dramas "The Grand Canal" and "The Millennium Canal", the fine art creation "Epic Pictures of the Grand Canal of China", etc., show the beauty of the canal from different angles and inherit the canal for thousands of years. Cultural context activates the spiritual core of the canal.

The excavation of the Guanhe River, the North Gate of Shugang, and the large-scale building foundations at Mulberry Foot in the Tang Dynasty revealed how the Grand Canal created Yangzhou City, which can be called "the most prosperous in the world"; Huai'an Banquet is the only wooden-backed gate discovered in the country. The sluice ruins have witnessed hundreds of years of changes in the Huai'an section of the Grand Canal. Over the past ten years, Jiangsu has been searching for the canal in the "Regional Civilization Exploration Project" and continuously enriching the Grand Canal culture.

The achievement of these achievements lies fundamentally in the establishment of "laws". After the successful application for World Heritage, Jiangsu took the lead in formulating and promulgating the country's first local regulations, the "Decision of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress on Promoting the Construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt"; it also introduced the "11611" planning system for the cultural protection, inheritance and utilization of the Jiangsu Grand Canal... a record It has achieved many "firsts" and formed "Jiangsu Model" and "Jiangsu Experience" with demonstration effect.

Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province is the origin city of the Grand Canal and the city that jointly applied for World Heritage status.

In November 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Yangzhou Canal Sanwan Ecological and Cultural Park along the waterfront trail to understand the results achieved in the protection, inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal culture.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "For thousands of years, the canal has nourished the cities and people on both sides of the canal, and has been a river of wealth and happiness for the people on both sides of the canal. I hope everyone will work together to protect the Grand Canal so that the canal will always benefit the people."

There used to be more than 80 enterprises such as pesticide factories, leather factories, and cement factories on both sides of the Yangzhou Sanwan Ancient Canal. The water quality, air, and ecological environment were severely damaged. Nowadays, the scenery here is beautiful and it is a popular check-in place among netizens. The Yangzhou China Grand Canal Museum, a landmark project in the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, is located within it. Less than three years after its opening, the museum has been promoted to a national first-class museum and has received a total of more than 8.3 million offline visitors.

Suzhou is the only city along the canal to participate in the UNESCO World Heritage application based on the "ancient city concept".

In July 2023, when General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Pingjiang Historical and Cultural District in Suzhou, he emphasized that the Pingjiang Historical and Cultural District is a valuable asset for inheriting and carrying forward China's excellent traditional culture and strengthening the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. It must be well protected, excavated, and used well. It must be passed down not only in the physical form, but also in the heart.

Pingjiang Historical and Cultural District is located in the northeast corner of Suzhou Ancient City, covering an area of ​​about 116 hectares and has a history of more than 2,500 years. The double chessboard layout of "water and land running parallel, adjacent rivers and streets" and the Jiangnan water city style of "small bridges, flowing water, white walls and black tiles" are the most typical and complete historical and cultural blocks preserved in the ancient city of Suzhou.

In the Pingjiang Historical and Cultural District, shake a Su fan and listen to Pingtan music; go boating on the river or stroll through the streets. Where to taste Jiangnan? This place is "the most Jiangnan".

The Grand Canal winds for 3,200 kilometers, running through the north and south, connecting ancient and modern times.

In the past ten years since its application as a World Heritage Site, new breakthroughs have been made in the protection, inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal. In 2019, the National Cultural Park construction project was launched, and the Grand Canal was selected; on April 28, 2022, with the help of water supply from the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was fully connected to water for the first time in the past century.

The 35 cities along the canal have made great efforts to build the Grand Canal's dazzling cultural belt, green ecological belt, and colorful tourist belt. The canal's hundreds of sceneries are shining brightly, and the long canal water has driven each city to radiate civilized vitality.

In Tongzhou, Beijing, the nearly 600-year-old Yongtong Bridge, an important cultural relic on the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, has been restored to its primitive style after several years of major repairs, and the ancient stones on the bridge have reappeared; in Luoyang, Henan, the old route of the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties was built into the 48-kilometer-long Luopu Parks have become a good place for citizens to exercise and entertain. Taierzhuang, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province, has rebuilt the ancient canal city with cultural and plastic tourism, and continues to plan smart expressions that fit the characteristics of the city. The Gongchen Bridge in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, jumped over the canal in naked-eye 3D at the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in 2023, stunning the world.

The China Grand Canal, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Kiel Canal, the Manchester Canal... the Grand Canal has a large "circle of friends around the world".

In order to tell the story of China's Grand Canal well and communicate and learn from world civilizations, in 2009, Yangzhou initiated the establishment of the World Canal Historical and Cultural Cities Cooperation Organization, my country's only international non-governmental organization in the canal field, and held the 16th World Canal Cities Forum. , currently, its membership has grown to 206, covering five continents.

Henan actively communicates and cooperates with canal cities at home and abroad, holds relevant forums and academic conferences, opens a new window for the outside world to understand Henan and enter China, and makes useful exploration and practice to tell the story of the Grand Canal and inherit and carry forward the Grand Canal culture.

Recently, as one of the series of activities of "Hello China" - the 2024 Grand Canal-themed tourism overseas promotion season, "The Rhythm of the Canal - Exhibition of Printmaking of Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum" has successively entered Kazakhstan and Russia, introducing it to the world. It tells the story of the symbiosis, harmony and prosperity between people and the river in China's Grand Canal.

The Grand Canal, from the historical time when boats traveled thousands of miles and fishing fires stretched out, to the real picture where people are prosperous, the water is clear, the shores are green, and the cultural heritage flows, the two sides of the canal are full of vitality.

Modern Express/Modern Reporter Hu Yumei and Pei Shiyu/Wen Qian Nianqiu Zhao Jie and Gu Wei/Photography