Xi Jinping lamented the "vicissitudes of the past and present", [Cultural Splendor] Xi said: Looking at this river

China News Service, June 22: "Here you can imagine the vicissitudes of the past and present."

On September 20, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping, who was inspecting Zhejiang, came to the East Zhejiang Canal Cultural Park. Climbing up the high arched stone bridge in the park, he looked around and uttered this exclamation.

From the Grand Canal Forest Park in Tongzhou, Beijing, to the Sanwan Ecological and Cultural Park of the Yangzhou Canal, and then to the East Zhejiang Canal Cultural Park, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping has visited the canal coastline many times, frequently discussed the "past and present" of the Grand Canal, and expounded the far-reaching significance of the protection and inheritance of the canal.

"It is still there, but its function has been replaced by the Cao'e River Dam."

This is a conversation between Xi Jinping and the tour guide of the East Zhejiang Canal Museum. The gate discussed is the Shaoxing Sanjiang Gate built in the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, there was a shortage of water in eastern Zhejiang. When Xi Jinping was working in Zhejiang, he promoted the construction of the East Zhejiang Water Diversion Project. It was at that time that the Cao'e River Dam was started. In 2021, the East Zhejiang Water Diversion Project was fully operational, benefiting more than 17.5 million people.

The ancient and modern generations of sluices continue to pass on their mission.

"For thousands of years, the canal has nourished cities and people on both sides of the strait. It is a river of wealth and happiness for the people on both sides of the canal." When inspecting the Yangzhou Canal Sanwan Ecological and Cultural Park in 2020, Xi Jinping pointed out the deeper meaning of canal protection with the phrase "a river of wealth and happiness."

Yangzhou prospered because of water, but the banks of the ancient canal were once trapped by water, and the environment in the Sanwan area of ​​the canal was seriously polluted. Today, a thousand-acre ecological and cultural park has been built here, and the banks of the canal are lush and green, with birds flying around.

Economic transformation, cultural protection, and ecological restoration have a cumulative effect on the Grand Canal. Both sides of the canal, which prosper because of water, are showing new vitality.

The water veins run through the north and south, and the cultural veins connect the past and the present. The Grand Canal, which has been winding for more than 2,500 years and nearly 3,200 kilometers, is also a flowing culture.

"The Grand Canal is a precious heritage left to us by our ancestors and a flowing culture." In 2017, Xi Jinping made important instructions on the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, profoundly expounding the dynamic characteristics of the Grand Canal.

Xi Jinping has given in-depth thoughts on how to keep the Grand Canal's water flowing and its cultural heritage fresh. He has repeatedly emphasized the historical significance of the Grand Canal, and pointed out the need to "make use of the past for the present" and "let the ancient Grand Canal radiate a new look for the times."

“We must work hard to protect, inherit and utilize the ancient Grand Canal, so that it can take on a new look for the times”;

“We should make use of the past to serve the present and deeply explore the historical and cultural resources centered on the Grand Canal”;

“We must integrate the protection of the Grand Canal’s cultural heritage with the improvement of ecological environment protection, the protection and restoration of famous cities and towns along the canal, the integrated development of cultural tourism, and the transformation and improvement of canal shipping”;

In the ten years since the successful application for World Heritage status, the "Outline of the Grand Canal Cultural Protection, Inheritance and Utilization Planning" and the "Grand Canal National Cultural Park Construction and Protection Plan" have been successively issued, the Grand Canal heritage archives and monitoring system have been established, and 35 cities along the canal have made efforts to build the Grand Canal cultural belt, ecological belt, and tourism belt. The protection and inheritance of the Grand Canal culture has been transformed from points into lines and from lines into a network.

With thousands of years of water and cultural heritage, as one of China's important linear cultural heritages, the Grand Canal records traces of the past and points to the direction of the future, stretching endlessly.

｜Produced by the "Xi Yan Dao" studio of China News Network