The thousand-mile journey of the Millennium Canal ends: Jiangnan culture is "full of boats" to Beijing

Chinanews.com, Beijing, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The millennium canal has come to an end: Jiangnan culture is "full of boats" to Beijing

Reporter Wang title

In order to protect, inherit and make good use of the historical and cultural value of the Grand Canal, and promote the integrated development of culture and tourism along the Grand Canal, on October 10, as one of the highlights of the Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue of the 31 China Grand Canal Cultural Belt, the "Millennium Canal Thousand Miles Tour" collection group sailed from Hangzhou Wharf at the southern end of the Grand Canal and arrived at Tongzhou Caoyun Wharf in Beijing after three days.

The "Millennium Canal Thousand Miles Journey" wind collection group arrived at Tongzhou Caoyun Wharf in Beijing. Photo courtesy of the organizer

At the scene, the northern end of the Grand Canal was represented by Ji Qingyuan, a well-known painter who was a national first-class artist of the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts and the seventh grandson of Ji Xiaolan, to welcome the arrival of the wind collection group, and presented his ink treasure to Chen Xixi, the "flower girl" in Hangzhou, who gave him Hangzhou Longjing tea as a return gift. At the same time, Chen Xixi also presented the people of Beijing with the ointment sachets of Hangzhou's century-old shop Fang Huiju, the cultural and creative silk scarves of the Internet celebrity bookstore Xiaofeng, and the works of the canal painter Wu Liren, etc., to share the Jiangnan culture from Hangzhou.

Ji Xiaolan's seventh grandson, Ji Qingyuan, and Hangzhou's "flower girl" Chen Xixi exchanged gifts. Photo courtesy of the organizer

For thousands of years, the Grand Canal of China has been singing the mighty and galloping historical songs of the Chinese nation with water waves as a song and oars as a song, and has also been given to prosperous cities along the route.

The "Millennium Canal Thousand Miles Tour" cultural transportation activity has opened a new era of cultural transportation journey.

During the three-day trip north along the Grand Canal, the group took the passenger ship "Canal" of Hangzhou Business Travel Canal Group from Gongshu in Hangzhou, and went north along the Grand Canal, passing through Jiaxing in Zhejiang, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou in Jiangsu, Tongzhou in Beijing and other places, and carried out rich cultural exchanges along the canal.

During this period, the members of the wind picking group experienced the production of intangible cultural heritage pastries in Tangqi Ancient Town and tasted the traditional taste of the canal; Take a boat across the Yangtze River in Zhenjiang to experience "a water room in Guazhou, Beijing"; In the canal cultural exchange activities carried out in Yangzhou, the Hangzhou West Lake Women's Patrol, known as the "Eleventh Scene of West Lake", appeared in Slender West Lake and sent surprises to the people of Yangzhou in the same frame. At the same time, Zhu Hui and Dong Zhen, two special envoys of Hangzhou World Heritage Gold Medal Culture, lamented that "the Grand Canal is endless" and "the Grand Canal is an inexhaustible treasure".

After arriving at Tongzhou Caoyun Wharf in Beijing on the same day, as the representatives of the members of the "Millennium Canal Thousand Miles Tour", Chen Xixi, a national style blogger in Hanfu and carrying a bamboo basket on his back, and his partner "Merchant Yiqing", who carried the burden, together presented the century-old shopkeeper Fang Rejuvenating ointment sachet brought from Hangzhou, the cultural and creative silk scarf of the Internet celebrity bookstore Xiaofeng, and the works of the canal painter Wu Liren to Beijing citizens and tourists to share the Jiangnan culture from Hangzhou.

Ji Qingyuan, who received Hangzhou Longjing tea, as a feedback, wrote down the "Millennium Canal Thousand Miles Journey" as a gift in return.

Ji Xiaolan, the seventh grandson, Ji Qingyuan, wrote down the seven words "Thousand Miles of the Millennium Canal". Photo courtesy of the organizer

At the same time, Ji Qingyuan also shared the story of his ancestor Ji Xiaolan who once went down to Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River with Emperor Qianlong on a canal boat. He believes that the Millennium Grand Canal has a heavy historical and cultural precipitation, and this event also brings Jiangnan culture to Beijing, so that Beijing and Hangzhou can continue to be at the forefront of the new era.

In Houhai, Beijing, Hangzhou "Flower Girl" Chen Xixi and "Merchant Yiqing" attracted the attention of Beijing citizens and tourists, and students from Guangxi University of Arts performed on the spot, singing Guangxi folk songs, and the atmosphere was very lively.

Hangzhou's "Flower Girl" Chen Xixi and "Merchant Yiqing" attracted students from Guangxi University of the Arts who traveled here in Houhai, Beijing, to perform and take group photos. Photo by Wang

It is worth mentioning that the "Thousand Miles of the Millennium Canal" cultural transportation activity will be filmed in real time into a documentary "A Thousand Miles of the Millennium Canal", which will eventually be broadcast at the opening ceremony of the Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue of the 2023 China Grand Canal Cultural Belt.

As one of the organizers of the event, Zhang Yiqun, Director of the International Communication Department of the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Second-level Inspector, said that the "Thousand Miles of the Millennium Canal" event is one of the sub-activities of the 2023 Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue. The Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue aims to create an open platform, a cooperation platform, a communication platform and an international platform for the overall protection, inheritance and utilization of the cultural heritage of the Grand Canal, and has been successfully held for three sessions. This year's event highlights the cultural, cooperative, international, leading and mass nature, focuses on the achievements of the construction of Beijing's national cultural center and the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, uses the canal as a medium to promote international communication, and promotes the cities along the canal to jointly build in the flow of culture, win in economic circulation, and share in the popular lifestyle, so as to further enhance the influence and communication of China's Grand Canal Cultural Belt.

Hangzhou's "Flower Girl" Chen Xixi and "Merchant Yiqing" delivered Hangzhou's characteristic cultural and creative products to Hangzhou citizens and tourists in Houhai, Beijing. Photo by Wang

It is reported that the event was hosted by the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal People's Government, the Information Office of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government, the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government, the China News Service, and the World Canal Historical and Cultural Cities Cooperation Organization (WCCO), and was hosted by the Propaganda Department of the Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee, the People's Government of Gongshu District, the Propaganda Department of the Yangzhou Municipal Party Committee, the News Development Center of the Zhejiang Branch of China News Service, the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Gardens and Cultural Relics, and the Hangzhou Business Travel Canal Group. Hangzhou Water and Land Transportation Development Group Co., Ltd., Yangzhou Shugang-Slender West Lake Scenic Area Management Committee, and Beijing Grand Canal Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd. (ENDS)