China News Agency, Beijing, July 24th: Why is Beijing moving towards a "world cultural symbol"?

  China News Agency reporter Du Yan

  Beijing has human relics dating back 700,000 years ago, more than 3,000 years of city history, and more than 860 years of capital history. Since ancient times, Beijing has been a city of multi-ethnic exchanges and integration. It has a long history and a broad and diverse culture. In the city, it is quite prominent.

Data map: A group of pigeons spread their wings and fly in the square outside the Meridian Gate of the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu

  From July 25th to 26th, a Beijing Cultural Forum with the permanent theme of "Inheritance, Innovation and Mutual Learning" will be held for the first time to promote the construction of Beijing's National Cultural Center.

  China's empirical evidence has a million years of human history, 10,000 years of cultural history, and more than 5,000 years of civilization history.

In the long history, the cultural center has been an important urban function of Beijing.

On January 26, 2022, the "Why China" exhibition was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

The picture shows the audience admiring the "Jade Dragon" exhibit of the Tibetan Red Mountain Culture in the Palace Museum.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu

  In 1153, the Jin Dynasty moved the capital to Yanjing (now Beijing), which opened the historical prelude to Beijing as the capital of China.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the status of Beijing's political center and cultural center has been further highlighted; in 2014, the central government clarified the positioning of Beijing's "four centers", namely the national political center, cultural center, international exchange center, and scientific and technological innovation center.

  The new version of Beijing's urban master plan proposes to vigorously inherit and develop the ancient capital culture with a long history, the rich and profound red culture, the distinctive Beijing-style culture, and the vigorously emerging innovative culture.

By 2035, Beijing will become a world-famous cultural city that demonstrates cultural self-confidence and the charm of diversity and inclusiveness, and by 2050, it will become a world cultural symbol that promotes Chinese civilization and leads the trend of the times.

  Looking at the world, many capital cities continue their unique cultural context - Paris's "Fashion Capital", Tokyo's "Anime Capital", London's "Creative Capital"... These capital cities have leading cultural resources , cultural facilities, and cultural brands, with their own historical and cultural heritage and continuous innovation, to build cultural soft power and develop hard power.

  Compared with these famous cities, Beijing has unique competitiveness.

The central axis is the "backbone" and "soul" of Beijing city.

In recent years, Beijing has successively launched more than 100 cultural relic restoration projects on the central axis, making the details of the ancient capital shine bright in time.

The three cultural belts of the Grand Canal, the Great Wall, and the Yongding River in Xishan carry the natural and cultural resources and the memory of urban development of Beijing's "mountains and rivers are interdependent, rigid and soft", and are the essence of Beijing's cultural context and even the essence of Chinese civilization.

Beijing promotes three cultural belts to build an overall protection pattern of contiguous and linear historical and cultural heritage, highlighting the urban characteristics of "capital style, ancient capital style, and the style of the times".

The picture shows the central axis of Beijing taken at the Zhengyangmen Arrow Tower in Beijing.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita

  Adhering to the principle of "the old city cannot be demolished again", Beijing has renovated and upgraded the back streets and alleys in recent years, making the streets, alleys, and historical blocks "quiet". Inheritance carries civic life.

  In recent years, Beijing has also made great efforts to form the benchmarking effect of "watching Beijing for big dramas", "watching Beijing for film and television", and "seeing Beijing for good books", making Beijing the first place for national outstanding literary and artistic works to go to the world; perfecting the network system of public cultural facilities and building "double "Austrian City", a scholarly capital, and a city of museums, and launched a combination of online and offline cultural activities under the epidemic, so that public cultural facilities can be extended to citizens.

On the evening of October 28, 2021, the National Stadium, National Speed ​​Skating Stadium, National Swimming Center, and the iconic venues of Beijing, the "City of Double Olympics", were collectively lit up for the first time.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Han Haidan

  Facing the whole country and influencing the world.

The Beijing Cultural Forum proposes to build a national brand forum in the cultural field and become another important platform to serve the development of the capital in the new era after the China International Trade in Services Fair, Zhongguancun Forum and Financial Street Forum, and strive to become an important platform for cultural construction achievements. It is a display platform, an important exchange platform for cultural construction experience, an important cooperation platform for cultural innovation and development, and an important communication platform for telling Chinese stories well.

  "A city's historical relics, cultural relics, and cultural heritage are part of the city's life." Beijing needs to protect and inherit its excellent traditional culture, communicate and learn from different civilizations with an open mind, and promote the construction of a national cultural center through integrity and innovation. , enhance cultural soft power and international influence, let the ancient capital culture promote cultural innovation and empower a better life in the new era.

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