China News Service, Hangzhou, September 23 (Qian Chenfei and Xu Qiaochu) Recently, China's Grand Canal·Hangzhou ambassador Lang Lang released a video to send blessings to the "Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue" of the 2020 China Grand Canal Cultural Belt.
The 2020 China Grand Canal Cultural Belt "Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue" event was held in Beijing on the 23rd. Beijing and Hangzhou at both ends of the Grand Canal in China are once again closely linked to each other to sing the "Tale of Two Cities" to inherit, utilize and protect the Grand Canal.
Flowing for more than 2,500 years and stretching for 1,800 kilometers, the Chinese have dug the longest and largest canal in the world with one stone and one soil.
The Grand Canal nourishes the ever-growing civilization genes of China, and shapes the vivid story of the rise and fall of its own "water".
Hangzhou, the southernmost point of the Grand Canal, is one of the cities with the strongest canal culture in China.
As one end of China's north-south transportation artery in history, Hangzhou is undoubtedly an excellent window to observe the "past and present" of the canal.
"A Gongchen Bridge, half of Hangzhou history".
The Gongchen Bridge has spanned the Hangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal for more than 300 years.
Nowadays, the old buildings with white walls and black tiles on the left bank of the bridge and the modern city with high-rise buildings on the right bank are in harmony with each other, with colorful neon gleaming around the river.
Hangzhou Dacheng North Plate.
Photo by Qian Chenfei
As an important traffic road, the Gongchenqiao area used to become a prosperous economic and culturally prosperous place due to economic and trade exchanges.
Similarly, with the advent of the industrial age, the local area has become a gathering place for high-pollution and high-energy-consuming enterprises. With dense population and a messy environment, both banks of Gongchen Bridge once became famous shanty towns in Hangzhou.
"Many years ago, there was a ship called'Suhang Class' between Suzhou and Hangzhou. People often say that when you smell the odor on the ship, you have arrived in Hangzhou." For the old canals, there was "Old Hangzhou".
In 2004, Hangzhou carried out a long-term plan for the Hangzhou section of the canal, and put forward three goals: returning the river to the people, applying for world cultural heritage, and creating world-class tourism products.
Based on the principles of "repair the old as the old, with minimal intervention", Hangzhou is well aware of the importance of "degree", and the road of "sublation" for decades has been opened up: the vitality factor of the market culture is raised, and the messiness attached to it is discarded; Promote the inheritance charm of historical buildings and discard the hidden dangers of their old and disrepair; promote the green development of the city's economy and discard the idea of replacing them with pollution for development.
The river water that was once blackened by the development of industry has returned to clear after continuous "water control" efforts; Hangzhou's last "granary of the world" Fuyi warehouse was suspended for demolition, cultural and creative enterprises settled in and built a cultural "granary"; those that once caused industrial pollution The workshops along the route have become a "hotbed" for the growth of Internet companies; the original noisy canal also heard the sound of Lang Lang and the children's piano.
Inherit, protect, and use.
In order to create a world-class tourism product, Hangzhou is exploring the "cultural tourism + transportation" model of the Grand Canal. China's first urban public transportation bus on the main canal of the city opened.
Planning model of Hangzhou Dacheng North.
Photo by Qian Chenfei
In the past 15 years, the "water bus" has not only eased the traffic pressure on urban roads to a certain extent, but has also become a "habitual option" for people to travel and the first choice for tourists for canal sightseeing.
At present, 8 water tourist sightseeing routes have been formed within the Hangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, connecting the Grand Canal and the Qiantang River, and receiving approximately 400,000 tourists annually.
In 2019, in accordance with the requirements of the "Great Wall, Grand Canal, and Long March National Cultural Park Construction Plan", Hangzhou Canal Group will vigorously promote the protection and inheritance of the Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal with the core area of 15.6 square kilometers and the demonstration area of 3.5 square kilometers in the north of Dacheng as the main space carriers. Use work to fully tap the connotation value of the canal cultural heritage site.
Six projects included in the National Grand Canal Cultural Park's iconic project list, including the Comprehensive Protection Project of the Old Grand Canal Industrial Site, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal Museum, the Grand Canal Future Art and Technology Center, and the Grand Canal Eco-Art Island, are being planned and constructed.
Through the planning and construction of a group of world-class cultural benchmarks and urban public space projects that reflect uniqueness and uniqueness, it is creating an innovative highland of Hangzhou art, culture and technology, so as to lead the rejuvenation and rise of the northern area of Dacheng, and connect the Dacheng North Grand Canal. The two sides of the strait have built the "Hangzhou Model" of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, making it an important window to showcase the cohesion and appeal of the Chinese civilization and the organic renewal of Chinese cities.
Today, "Chen Chen", one of the mascots of the Asian Games in Hangzhou 2022, is the representative of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is named after the Gongchen Bridge, giving people endless imagination.
Festivals and cultural activities such as the Chinese (Hangzhou) New Year's Blessing and Good Luck Conference, the Chinese Grand Canal Temple Fair, etc. have all been the contents of the travel, life and sightseeing of ordinary citizens.
The Millennium Canal is showing a more charming style.
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