Hangzhou has recently added nine second-group foreign exchange and cultural experiences points, namely, Tangqi Ancient Town, Xixi National Wetland Park, Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, Qingshan Village, Hemu Community, China Digital Music Base, Fuwen Township Central Primary School, Artinno Town and Lin’an Museum, bringing the total number to 21.

Through strict online and offline selection, nine additional foreign exchange and cultural experience points were chosen to facilitate overseas and domestic friends to perceive and fit into life in Hangzhou in respects of software and hardware conditions, level of internalization and sense of experience. The new experience points, including Xixi Wetland Park that involves diverse cultures, Tangqi Ancient Town that introduces Chinese silk to the world, and Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Venue Cluster that combines Qiantang River, lotus and other Hangzhou specific elements with the design concept, have vividly narrated the story of Hangzhou, showcased the charm of the city and enhanced Hangzhou’s international influence.

[Photo/Facebook account: Hangzhoufeel]

Changdai village in Xihu district, Hangzhou is the main production area of Longjing tea, one of China’s most famous green teas. In recent years, the village has integrated art with the local tea industry to breathe new life into the development of cultural tourism.

[Photo/Facebook account: Hangzhoufeel]

A month-long silk culture event is underway at Hangzhou China Silk Town, offering cultural experience activities and sales promotions this August.

[Photo/Facebook account: Hangzhoufeel]

The first stop of the “Song Dynasty (960-1279) Charm in Thousand Years – Hundred Museums Joint Exhibition” recently kicked off at the West Lake Museum in Hangzhou, showcasing 63 Song-style cultural relics and six porcelain masterpieces.

A number of new schools with beautiful scenery and unique characteristics will be put into use in September. With exclusive education concepts, these schools aim to offer customized courses or provide international education.

Fourteen new schools, including eight primary schools, two foreign language schools and four middle schools, are distributed in Shangcheng District, Gongshu District, Xihu District, Binjiang District and Qiantang District.

Some of the schools will have new headmasters who are experienced in education management and know the culture and history of the schools. Some of them are even provincial distinguished teachers. With improved education management, these primary and secondary schools are expected to make due contributions to adolescent education in Hangzhou.

The museum is the place for cultural collections. As a city of museums, Hangzhou owns 36,000 pcs/sets of state-owned movable cultural relics. The core work of the museums is to safely display the cultural relics to the public in a sound and intact condition.

Hangzhou System for Management of Museum Collections, which was drafted by Hangzhou Garden & Cultural Relics Bureau (HGCRB) at the end of 2021 and was officially implemented on July 1 this year, sets out unified standards for the protection and management of movable cultural relics in Hangzhou.

Also, HGCRB develops “Intelligent Garden & Cultural Relics” management system to offer the digital management of the collections of state-owned museums across the city by offering electronic vouchers and leaving real-time marks. In addition, HGCRB has guided the digital reform of Linping District Museum so as to realize the digital management of the movable cultural relics by using cultural relic fingerprints to effectively present their trajectory.

The improved museum management system facilitates the protection and publicity of the collections.

On August 11, the 3V3 Youth Basketball Match for Pairing Areas of Hangzhou was launched. Basketball youths from Aksu (Xinjiang), Delingha (Qinghai), Ganzi (Sichuan) and Enshi (Hubei), as well as the local basketball players of Hangzhou, gathered in Hangzhou Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium to attend the competition.

The champion teams took turns to exchange their skills, interpreting the sportsmanship of teamwork and tenacious struggle. The scene set wonderful performances, such as cheer leading, freestyle basketball and dance, and launched the Youth Calligraphy & Painting Exhibition themed by “Greeting the Asian Games and Jointly Building the Dream of the Powerful Country”, conveying the beautiful yearning for the Asian Games.

Zhejiang Museum has initiated a 100-museum project to invigorate the enriched Song Dynasty (960-1279) cultural legacy across Zhejiang Province. The first stage has been set up in a Southern Song Imperial Kiln Museum in Hangzhou and involves interactive activities and 63 sets of antiques.

“Usually, a temporary exhibition only lasts three to six months. Now, we hope the 100-museum project could last over 10 years. Every city in Zhejiang Province has its own distinct Song Dynasty heritage worth deeper research and learning,” said Ji Yunfei, vice curator of Zhejiang Museum.

The project begins with the Southern Song Imperial Kiln Museum, the first museum based on a millennium-old kiln in the country. It is a vital venue showing Song Dynasty porcelains.

In this epoch, the royal court established the Imperial Kiln in Hangzhou to fire ceramics for the royal family. Their elegant shapes and jade-like textures were the hallmarks of their manufacturing techniques, turning Zhejiang into an important production center of sought-after porcelain commodities in ancient China.

Except for top-notch Song Dynasty porcelains, the organizers also focus on scholars’ thoughts to show the open and inclusive society of the era.

One millennium ago, woodblock-printing technology accelerated the spread of literature and knowledge, evidenced here by the displayed ancient books covering literature, religion, technology and agriculture.

Hangzhou’s booming printing industry and its capital status made it a mecca for scholars and literatus. The growth of the population and a prosperous economy, as well as a widely distributed social consciousness, led to a thriving Hangzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).

The prosperity also changed women’s lives during the period. Throughout feudal dynasties, women were banned from going to school, and illiterate females were often considered to have better morals. However, open-minded families during the Song Dynasty made great strides, allowing their daughters and wives to study literature, calligraphy and painting.

A batch of cultured women began to realize their self-value through the arts and heightened their social status by improving their literacy, including Li Qingzhao, Lin Youyu and Wu Zhiduan.

The exhibition features women painters’ ink-wash works, through which visitors get a glimpse of the constraints on women’s spirituality and emotions. Their works differentiate from men’s by virtue of subtle emotions, delicate strokes and elaborate layouts, all now revered by modern connoisseurs.

Women also were allowed to attend keju (imperial examination), an exam exclusive to men in previous dynasties. During the period, officials selected by their exam results became dominant in the bureaucracy, so keju was an opportunity to become a high-ranking government official.

The Song period’s openness and inclusiveness was also embodied by the thriving maritime trade.

The royal court even enacted a law to guide the industry, which is believed to be the earliest maritime trade law in the world.

Official departments were established in Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Guangzhou and Quanzhou to dispatch ambassadors and welcome diplomats from other countries.

The 100-museum project is intended to explore the art, economy, culture, agriculture and technology of the Song period and present a well-rounded picture of the heyday of ancient China to young and emerging generations.

In a bid to attract more teenagers, the Hangzhou kiln exhibition is designed with free interactive activities and lectures on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays through August 31. Visitors need to make a reservation as seats are limited.

At the exhibition, children can experience rubbing stone inscriptions. The ancient scholars invented rubbing methods to reproduce stone inscriptions on paper, the only media available centuries ago to spread the words on stone inscriptions.

Visitors will be able to partake in an authentic and entertaining puppet show, arrow-throwing game (touhu) and woodblock printing – activities that were popular among locals many centuries ago.

“This exhibition not only displays ancient artworks, but also shows the lifestyle and aesthetics of our ancestors,” Ji said.

“Museums should play a role in public education. The exhibits and stories should be accessible to people. The 100-museum project is going to integrate exhibition with education and spread the Song Dynasty history among young generations.”

100-museum project exhibition

Date: Through September 21, closed on Mondays

Address: 60 Nanfu Rd

Admission: Free

Students from Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture stage an ethnic singing and dancing performance at the launch ceremony on Aug 9. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

Students from East China’s Zhejiang province and Southwest China’s Sichuan province gathered in Hangzhou on Aug 9 to celebrate the 19th Asian Games, local media outlets reported.

Over the next half month, nearly 200 children from the Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province will kick off a study trip revolving around the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

At the launch ceremony, students from Garze staged an ethnic singing and dancing show, express their excitement about visiting Hangzhou. Students from Hangzhou also sent gifts to welcome their friends from afar.

Tang Caibin, principal of the Qian Xuesen School in Hangzhou, shared Decoding 2022 – What to Know about the Asian Games at the launch ceremony. The book teaches about the Asian Games, reviewing the history of the Games and detailing the competition events.

A student from Garze said that before the launch ceremony, they visited the gymnasium and natatorium of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, which he was extremely impressed by and fully met his expectations.

The study trip, revolving around the mascots of the Asian Games, will combine modern technology with history and culture to thread together local cultural landmarks such as the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, West Lake, Gongchen Bridge on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Hangzhou branch of the National Archives of Publications and Culture, and China’s first robot town, Xiaoshan Robot Town.

Participants take a group photo. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

On the morning of July 23, Hangzhou National Archives of Publications and Culture (Hangzhou Branch of China National Archives of Publications and Culture) was officially put into use.

Numerous guests attended the ceremony to witness the addition of another cultural landmark to the construction of Cultural Highland in Zhejiang in a new era.

The collection and inheritance system for Chinese publications and culture of China National Archives of Publications and Culture includes the main central archives in Beijing and three branch archives in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Xi’an. The four archives jointly undertake the important tasks of the seed gene bank of Chinese civilization and the center for the reserve of national publication and culture resources in response to disasters.

On July 23, the central archives and the other two branch archives were also officially announced to be put into use.

Chinese publications and culture are a carrier that bears the imprint of Chinese civilization at home and abroad in ancient and present China. Based on the construction of National Archives of Publications and Culture, the project of handing down Chinese publications and culture is a major cultural project deployed by the state from the strategic height of cultural security and cultural revival. It is designed to hand down generation after generation Chinese publication and culture boutiques that feature “the inheritance of Chinese culture, the affirmation of cultural confidence,  the display of China’s image as a great power, and the promotion of cultural dialogue.” This project has been included in the central “14th Five-Year Plan” proposal.

The core functions of Hangzhou National Archives of Publications and culture are preservation, display, research, and exchange. It is a comprehensive venue integrating the functions of libraries, museums, art galleries, archives, and exhibition halls. It is also a reserve bank for the central archives in response to disasters, a bank characteristic of publications and culture south of the Yangtze River, and a gathering center for publications and culture resources in East China.

Hangzhou National Archives of Publications and Culture is also known as “Wenrun Pavilion.” The architectural features the “contemporary book collection building with the charm of gardens in the Song dynasty,” with a total construction area of 103,100 square meters, including 13 units in total, such as the main study room, the south study room, the Wenrun Pavilion, the mountain warehouse, and the auxiliary buildings.

Hangzhou National Archives of Publications and Culture “focuses on collection and combines collection and exhibition.” It is carrying out publication and culture collection through the “double channels” of unit submission and social collection, based on the local conditions of Zhejiang, targeted at the Yangtze River Delta, and intended to cover the Yangtze River Basin. While accepting donations, the archives also provides storage and escrow services for rare publications.

Up to now, Hangzhou National Archives of Publications and Culture has received a total of 1 million copies (pieces) of various publications submitted and donated by units and the society, including the “Communist Manifesto” in various languages, the bronze sword in the Yue Wang State of the Warring States Period, the first line of codes of Alipay and Health Code, and many other precious versions. The collection of various publications is still in progress.

The Hangzhou National Archives of Publications and Culture will be open for exhibition in the near future, and the four major themed exhibitions and the digital exhibition hall will also be open to the public.