China News Service, Shantou, October 14th, title: Visiting Shantou, the "Hundred Years Commercial Port": Witnessing the passive opening of the port to the full active opening
China News Agency reporter Zhang Jianyue Cheng Jingwei
On the afternoon of the 13th, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to the opening area of Xiao Park, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. He walked into the Open Port Cultural Exhibition Hall and the Overseas Chinese Relics Museum to learn about the history of Shantou’s opening of the port, the construction and development since the establishment of the special economic zone, and the heart of the overseas Chinese in Chaoshan. It is the history of the homeland of the homeland, supporting the construction of the motherland and hometown.
Afterwards, Xi Jinping inspected the humanities and historical features of the Kaibu district on foot and exchanged cordially with the citizens.
Shantou was born toward the sea, established by Hong Kong, and prospered by overseas Chinese.
From border fishing villages to trade ports, to the establishment and development of cities, to the forefront of reform and opening up, the development of Shantou has always been closely linked to the destiny of the country and nation.
On New Year's Day in 1860, Shantou opened as a port and became one of the first port cities along the coast of China to open to the outside world.
160 years later, the opening area of the small park has witnessed the prosperous history of Shantou's "hundred-year commercial port", and it is still one of the most intact opening areas in China. It has a large number of historical and cultural buildings such as the arcade group with unique overseas Chinese flavor.
In the evening of the 13th, a reporter from China News Agency came to the opening area of Xiao Park in Shantou City.
As the core landmark of the opening area, the Zhongshan Memorial Pavilion, known as the "Little Park Pavilion", carries the collective memory of many citizens and overseas Chinese of Chaozhou origin.
The Little Park Pavilion was built in 1934. It was originally a wooden structure to commemorate Mr. Sun Yat-sen who visited Shantou. It has been "built" three times so far.
At the same time, the opening area of the small park has built a street for Chaoshan literary talents, and set up studios for ceramic micro-books, drawnwork, paper-cutting, jade carving, etc., to build a platform for external exchanges of Chaoshan traditional culture.
After various conservation and revitalization explorations, the historical and cultural district of the small park has radiated new vitality, once again becoming a popular "check-in place" in Shantou.
The reporter saw that as night fell, the opening area of Shantou was brightly lit, and many citizens came to sit and walk around the Zhongshan Memorial Pavilion to feel the tranquility and beauty of the night.
Huang Huihua, the president of Shantou Small Park Volunteer Association, is leading a volunteer team to provide visitors with free tea and order maintenance and other voluntary services.
"The small park is the spiritual home of the overseas Chinese. They will definitely come here after they come back (Shantou)."
The Shantou Open Port Cultural Exhibition Hall at No. 1 Yongping Road, Shantou, was originally the site of the Shantou branch of the Bank of Taiwan. It is a three-and-a-half-story European-style building.
In front of the museum, bronze statues such as street vendors and female students who sell grass kueh blend Chinese and Western cultural elements, reflecting the gray brick walls and red lattice windows behind them, giving a thick sense of history.
"Shantou City Opening History Exhibition" is being held in the exhibition hall.
"Shantou was passively opened as a port in 1860, but 40 years ago, Shantou took the initiative to open the establishment of a special economic zone. Now that the new era is fully open, Shantou has undergone earth-shaking changes." Huang Shaoyan, the museum's lecturer, told himself on the afternoon of the 13th. Explain performance and score 80 points.
She said that she was honored to tell everyone the story of Shantou's development achievements in reform and opening up. She was very proud and proud.
In the eyes of this "post-90s" girl, Shantou is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. From the hard work of "passengers" in the past and sending back "overseas Chinese" to now overseas Chinese returning home to invest and start businesses, they all talk about opening up Shantou. The vivid theme of the story.
In the past, tens of millions of overseas Chinese were a true testimony to the history of Chaoshan people going out to sea to fight.
The Shantou Overseas Chinese Relics Museum, which is across the street from the Open Port Cultural Exhibition Hall, is China’s first cultural relics museum with the theme of overseas Chinese relics.
In the Chaoshan dialect, "xin" means "authorization", and overseas overseas Chinese remit to their hometown through non-governmental channels such as "Shuike" and Overseas Chinese Approval Hall.
In June 2013, the "Overseas Chinese Approval Archives" was selected into the Memory of the World Register and became the common memory heritage of mankind.
Among the 160,000 pieces of "Chinese Overseas Chinese Relics" declared for collection, the Shantou Overseas Chinese Relics Museum's collection accounts for more than 60%.
"From a batch of overseas Chinese in Chaoshan, we can see that the older generation of overseas Chinese have the courage to pioneer, keep their promises, and love their homeland." said Lin Qingxi, curator of Shantou Overseas Chinese Museum.
Lin Qingxi said that all the Chaoshan overseas Chinese batches in the museum will be processed electronically. At present, more than 115,000 overseas Chinese batches have been entered into the database of the Guangdong Provincial Archives Bureau. The database can be used to carry out research on the sorting of overseas Chinese batches.
Today, overseas Chinese still play an important role in the development of Shantou.
Statistics show that in the past 40 years, Shantou has introduced more than 5,000 foreign-invested enterprises and actually utilized 9.38 billion US dollars of foreign capital, of which nearly ninety are overseas Chinese.
As the only national innovative development platform in China with the theme of "Overseas Chinese" and "economic and cultural cooperation" as the link, the Shantou Overseas Chinese Economic and Cultural Cooperation Pilot Zone has become a new milestone for the Shantou Special Economic Zone.
Shantou is aiming at its new positioning as a sub-central city in Guangdong Province, and strives to build a dynamic special zone, the hometown of overseas Chinese in Hemei, and the Pearl of East Guangdong.
Today's Shantou is making full use of its advantages as a hometown of overseas Chinese, and the door to opening up is opening wider and wider.
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