On May 23, the advertising video "Yichang is waiting for you" was played at Times Square, Manhattan, the "Intersection of the World", adding a new charming element for the Dragon Boat Festival celebrated in the city.
At the same time in the city of Yichang, thousands miles away from New York City, workers and participants have nearly completed the preparations for the opening of "Dragon Boat Cultural Festival in Qu Yuan\'s Hometown ", and were waiting for the guests, friends, and the approaching of this festival.
Owing to the vigorous promotion of cultural tourism industry plan of billions Yuan by the Party Committee and municipal government of Yichang city, the Ba and Chu cultures with long history began to integrate with eco-tourism, opening the gate of billion-level industry.
Section One
In a morning, while a guest from Jingmen called Zhang Zhan was taking photos of the "Great Retreat Monument" and the Yangtze River in Yichang Peace Park, the numbers "19381011" on the monument puzzled him. "October 11, 1938 is the time when Yichang people and Minsheng Shipping Company prevented Japanese troops from plundering and shipping war reserve into Sichuan Province. This place is called Jiumatou (a port name), the most popular place for navigation in the past. "An old man told Zhang. ”Oh, this is the reason! To memorize the glory history, the precious river bank is not developed " Zhang was somewhat moved and he decided to come back in the summer vacation to see the war resort-Shipai.
In such a way, Yichang meticulously takes care of and advocates every historical and cultural heritage under the development of tourism. In the "Three Gorges Family" Scenic Area, Ba and Chu songs and dances are telling the story of the national cultural kernel; in Chexi Village, the original ecology custom oozes its charm; in Changyang Folk Culture Village, Bizika culture is displayed in every aspect.
For the past five years, Yichang government and Yichang party committee in the long run have invested over 200 billion yuan, an average annual growth of more than 30%, in tourism infrastructure projects. The core competitiveness of the tourist industry of Yichang has been gradually improved with the help of soft power and hard power.
The quality and fame of Yichang City get escalated in the deep cultural and tourist cooperations. At the end of 2013, Yichang again won "the Most Popular Domestic Tourist Destination in Hubei" at China Tourist List of Hubei Province. On May 18, 2014, in the Central China Tourism Expo, Yichang won the title of "Beautiful China·the Most Charmingly High-speed Rail City".
Section Two
On May 23, 12 dragon boat teams started training at Xujiachong harbor in Zigui, Qu Yuan\'s hometown. As the unique collective athletic events in China’s history, dragon boat is more than itself because of the great patriotic poet, Qu Yuan.
Dragon boat is very popular in the mainland of China as well as in Chinese communities abroad. Dragon Boat Cultural Festival preparing group introduced the concept that "cultural stage for you to enjoy performance while travelling "-------"In this way, tourists who come here will feel familiar with Yichang because of Qu Yuan, dragon boat and poem clubs."
People can linger before the Jieliu Stone on Tanziling of Three Gorges Dam, listen to the whines of Xiajiang horn in the "Three Gorges Family" Scenic Area, sail a boat in Qingjiang gallery with wind and so on. “Similarly, when the boat passed Wuluozhongli Mountain, people can’t help thinking of the legend telling that Xiangwangtianzi( the hero of Tujia ethnic minority) blew out Qingjiang River by a horn.”said Ms Peng Junxia, an expatriate living in Singapore after a travel to Yichang and there are many places more beautiful than Yichang in the world, but none of them can hold a candle to Yichang in culture and glamour.
What Ms. Peng doesn’t know is that Yichang government and Yichang party committee have made great efforts in protecting the cultural heritage for many years.
Yichang enjoys a long history and various cultures. Now there is 1 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage,18 state-level intangible cultural heritages, 38 province-level and 64 city-level; Besides, Yichang has 10 state-level inheritors and 93 province-level inheritors, 4 sate-level “Lands of Folk Culture and Art”, 14 province-level “Lands of Folk Culture and Art” and 4 cultural and ecological protection experimental areas.
In recent years, Yichang advertised for the local historical figures and built broad stage for them via mass festivals like "Qu Yuan\'s hometown Dragon Boat Cultural Festival," "Cultural Heritage Day", "Guan Ling temple fair", "Lei Zu Temple fair "and "Changyang folk song competition". Besides, major scenic spots have developed a series of culture performances with strong local features like "Golden Age Three Gorges," the "Three Gorges · My Hometown," "Ritual Soul" ” Zhaojun’s Farewell" and "the Country and the Beatuy", cultivating the cultural charm of the tourist attractions.
In the three festivals of last year, the local culture programs with strong ethnic characteristics such as the \'bench dragon\', \'Sa yer ho\'(funeral dance of Tujia ethnic groups), \' shuaifa dance\'(hair-swinging dance), \'maogusi\'(hairy hunter dance) and \'huolun\'(fire wheel dance) were performed on the stage. In this year, many poets will take part in the Dragon Boat Festival and accordingly there will be more cultural factors “said Wang Yongping, the director of Cultural Administration Bureau.
Section Three
On May 18, the Seventh Central China Tourist Expo was opened in Wuhan International Exhibition Center.
In the expo, the tourist advertisement, "Falling in Love with Yichang" impressed many people. "A Love Letter to Yichang" is the main dish on that day. With the beautiful melody, two Yichang historical figures, "Qu Yuan" and "Wang Zhaojun", "came" to the scene, reading "A Love Letter to Yichang ", and meanwhile a nostalgic postman rode a bike, distributing the love letters which won thunders of applause and attracted many tourists to take photos there. Moreover, Yichang tourist products were very hot in the expo. As the tourist product suppliers, 3 AAAAA tourist attractions such as the Three Gorges Dam, 5 travel agencies including Xiazhou International Travel Agency, 9 tourist companies including Gaoxiapinghu Cruise Company signed tourist product contracts with buyers from home and abroad. Yichang Three Gorges International Travel Agency and Taiwan Lion Travel Agency signed an agreement, bringing Yichang key tourist products to Taiwan market with an estimated annual revenue of 12 million yuan; Yichang branch of China International Travel Agency and Wuhan Yangtze River Cruise Cooperation signed the "President Series Ship" agreement with an estimated annual revenue of 40 million yuan; Shunda International Travel Agency and Jiangsu Tourist Center signed a project contract and thus the annual revenue brought by Jiangsu tourists is expect to hit 1.2 million yuan. The cultural tourism objective is that by 2016, the city\'s cultural industry output exceeds 40 billion yuan and the city\'s total tourism revenue exceeds 60 billion yuan.
According to the billion-level industry blueprint, endeavors are made in building a number of cultural tourism parks including Pinghu Peninsula, Three Gorges Family and Qingjiang Gallery and in promoting the construction of the Three Gorges International Cruise Centre, the "Three Gorges Star" radio and television landscape tower, and Yichang Changjiang International Cultural Square. In the process of building the central cultural area, efforts are also given to constructing Yichang Theatre, the new museum and the Olympic Sports Center.
By now, the city has 3 AAAAA scenic spots: Three Gorges Dam, Qingjiang Gallery and Three Gorges Family, which ranks the first in Hubei, and 31 scenic spots which are AAA level or above.
On this basis, cultural tourism marketing campaigns like "A Love Letter to Yichang" are well underway across the country with tourist trains, chartered airplanes, chartered ships, caravans, etc. pouring into Yichang." In one quarter of this year, the city received a total of 8,583,000 foreign tourists with revenue of 6.39 billion yuan, respectively increasing by 25.3%, and 30.4%." said Liu Bing, Director of Municipal Tourism Bureau. (Reporter Zhao Wei，Correspondent Fan Ruiqing)