Spring is bright, everything grows, and the scenery on both sides of the canal is beautiful. Whether it’s Fuyicang, the granary in the world, Qiaoxi historic district with ancient charm, or Hangzhou Museum of Arts and Crafts with rich exhibitions, it’s like a bright pearl, dotted and connected in series with the thousand-year-old context of the canal, outlining a beautiful picture of ancient and modern times, the integration of water cities and the interdependence of people and water.
The flowing canal is a precious legacy left to us by our ancestors, which is full of rich heritage and new vitality. With the promulgation of “Hangzhou Grand Canal Cultural Protection, Inheritance and Utilization and National Cultural Park Construction Plan”, Hangzhou has further planned the layout for the development along the Grand Canal, solidly promoted six key projects: protection and inheritance, research and excavation, environmental support, water conservancy and shipping, integration of cultural tourism and digital reproduction, and concentrated on implementing a number of landmark projects, fully activating canal cultural genes, bringing vitality to the city and injecting power into development.
Inherit in protection and develop in inheritance. “In the process of promoting the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park with high standards, Hangzhou will maintain the authenticity, integrity and continuity of the cultural heritage of the Grand Canal to the greatest extent, and combine the inheritance of the traditional cultural spirit of the Grand Canal with the injection of the spirit of the times to make the Grand Canal fresher and more beautiful, and make the people along the coast live better.” The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Development and Reform Commission said.
Activating and utilizing historical buildings to promote the ancient charm of the canal to glow with new features.
How can the historic buildings of the canal, which have passed through a long period of time, bloom in the present? The answer given by Hangzhou is: let the ancient buildings promote the activation and utilization on the basis of retaining the historical flavor.
Bricks and tiles, glass domes, silkworm culture …… Qili Hotel, Hangzhou Canal, which is located on the bank of the ancient canal, was transformed from 11 former national factory silk storage warehouses. The blue brick exterior wall of the warehouse, the characteristic tin windows and the freight stairs used in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China have all been preserved intact.
“The exterior wall of the hotel follows the style of the ancient buildings of canal shipping and storage, while the interior is a modern package with the color of Chinese style.” Lantian, assistant general manager of Qili Hotel, told reporters that with the whistle of canal cruise ship and the lingering Zen from xiangji temple, silk culture, canal culture and storage culture meet and merge here.
From buildings to bricks and stones, Qili Hotel keeps every inch of objects worth collecting, where visitors can touch the bricks and stones and feel the history. “In order to better inherit the canal culture, we will regularly hold canal culture exhibitions in the public areas of the hotel, and also launch non-legacy creative experience activities such as tie-dyeing batik, oiled paper umbrella, abacus craft, etc., and do a good job in afternoon tea for canal cruise ships, boat banquets with canal theme elements, weddings and other products. On the basis of protecting historical sites, we will build a hotel with characteristic cultural themes.” Say blue sky.
Qili Hotel is a vivid epitome of Hangzhou’s adherence to the concept of “cultural inheritance and activation” and interpretation of the historical and cultural value of the canal in modern form. After careful protection and repair, a large number of industrial remains and folk buildings along the canal are showing new vitality-
Nowadays, Qiaoxi historical and cultural block has become a happy home for residents to live and work in peace and contentment in the comprehensive renovation, protection and restoration; Hangzhou Museum of Arts and Crafts and other five national-level museum communities also include historical relics and contemporary fine arts in the museum, which makes many tourists linger.
Let the canal culture be amiable and sensible.
Infiltrate the people’s beautiful life
On March 21st, the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park (Linping section)-Chongxian Tangqi section project officially started. The project has been included in the provincial “4+1” key project in 2022, the provincial “600 billion” key project and the Hangzhou key project, with a total investment of 1.905 billion yuan and a total renovation area of about 656,300 square meters.
“Chongxian Tangqi Section Project is an important practice of the beautiful long river construction in Linping District. With the project as the engine, we will also focus on implementing a number of landmark projects to promote the overall improvement of the environmental appearance, economic development and quality of life on both sides of the canal.” The relevant person in charge of the Science and Technology City Management Committee of Linping Grand Canal said that at present, we have basically formulated and completed the Three-year Action Plan for Cultural Protection, Inheritance and Utilization of the Grand Canal and National Cultural Park Construction in Linping District, and will promote the protection, inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal with higher quality in the future.
To protect and make good use of the Grand Canal, in the final analysis, we must benefit the people. In order to better integrate the canal into the city life and improve the people’s livelihood on both sides of the canal, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal Museum, Grand Canal Waterfront Public Space, Xiaohe Park and other projects are under intensive construction.
“The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal Museum is positioned as an innovative, experiential, cultural-tourism integrated cultural complex, aiming to build a world-class experiential museum and cultural-tourism destination that shows the cultural connotation of the Grand Canal. At present, the second phase of the project has entered the engineering construction stage; Adhering to the characteristic cultural genes and values of small, refined, beautiful, beautiful and strong canal cultural protection, Xiaohe Park will provide surrounding residents with a waterfront green space integrating land and water transportation, cultural experience, sightseeing and leisure after its completion and opening. ” The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Development and Reform Commission said.
The Millennium Grand Canal has been flowing so far, and it contains unlimited opportunities and possibilities. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Hangzhou’s high-quality overall planning of the cultural protection, inheritance and utilization of the Grand Canal and the high-standard construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park will not only make the masses feel more beautiful and gain more benefits, but also provide strong spiritual support for the whole city to strive to be a model city of Zhejiang’s high-quality development and construction of a common prosperity demonstration area.