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ZHANGJIAGANG, China, Aug. 31, 2022 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

The 2022 Yangtze River Culture Festival kicked off on Aug 27 in Zhangjiagang, a

port city in East China's Jiangsu province, and will run until October. The

annual gathering has become a habit for artists, scholars and inheritors of

intangible cultural heritages in the Yangtze River Basin, according to the

Organizing Committee of Yangtze River Culture Festival. As the event has been

held for 19 consecutive years, people cannot help to ask why the small city is

so influential in the whole Yangtze River region.

There are 181 bends of more than 90 degrees in the main stream of the Yangtze

River, and the last one forms Zhangjiagang Bay. Today, here is an ecological

scenic spot where the river can be seen and nostalgia remembered. Not far away

is the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge, which began operations in

2020, with the high-speed trains on it running between Shanghai and northern

Jiangsu. Especially on the bridge, people can enjoy the magnificent river and

the city skyline on the riverbank.

Despite that Zhangjiagang, about 130 kilometers away from Shanghai, is only a

county-level city in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, it is always ranked among the

top three county-level cities in China in terms of economic strength. It is

generally believed that the spirit of Zhangjiagang people's striving for the

first comes from their riverside life experience featuring the courage to make

the tide.

Zhangjiagang was founded just 60 years ago, but archaeological discoveries show

that it was where the first civilization in the Yangtze River Basin emerged.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, it was an important port for Sino-foreign

exchanges, with palmette patterns typical of the western style appearing on

excavated porcelain.

The young Zhangjiagang city is not only seeking to elevate its economy to the

next level, but more importantly to build itself into a highly civilized city.

Since the 1990s, a high level of civilization has been its pride, and the

Yangtze River Culture Festival is one of its major initiatives.

Liu Pengchun, an artist who has attended the festival many times, said that

artists from the Yangtze River Basin have diverse living habits, but the

festival organizers manage to meet their different needs, which attracts people

to the festival. Zhangjiagang boasts the best group of volunteers in China.

Another reason why the festival can be echoed across the basin is that

Zhangjiagang respects cultural expression, where the diversity of Yangtze River

culture can be fully showcased on the stage.

In recent years, the concept of preserving the Yangtze River and promoting its

culture has gained unanimous recognition in China. Themed "Integrate, Promote,

Share", this year's festival allows the audience to interact online and

offline, learning about the diverse and splendid cultural relics exhibitions,

intangible cultural heritage displays, cultural performances and more from the

Yangtze River Basin.

In 2014, BBC producer Simon Reeve recorded the colorful Yangtze River culture

with his documentary 'Sacred River: Yangtze River' in which he also expressed

his concerns about over-exploitation. It is a pity that he has never been to

Zhangjiagang. Zhangjiagang is an indispensable choice for anyone who wants to

understand the Yangtze River and the Chinese people living along it today.

Source: The Organizing Committee of Yangtze River Culture Festival

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   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=428303

   Caption: The view of Yangtze River in Zhangjiagang city