Till now, Yichang has held the Qu Yuan Cultural Festival for three times since 2010. The fine wishes that Yichang would spread its culture of Dragon Boat Festival to the whole nation of China and the world have gradually come true.

　　Yichang presents strong cultural vitality continuously.

　　Back to two thousand years ago, perhaps it had never occurred to the great poet Qu Yuan that he would live in the memory of his folks, and that his works would be recited by the members of more than twenty poetry clubs in his hometown in two thousand years. Traditional activities such as hanging the sprigs of calamus, wearing sachets, taking shower with mugwort in the water and dragon-boat racing are held in Qu Yuan’s hometown, Zigui County.

　　Yichang was chosen to hold the First Awards Ceremony for Qu Yuan Prize in Poetry, which is set by the Poetry Institute of China. This is also a reward to Yichang City for its long-time pursuit in poetry.

　　The memorial and respect paid to this great poet are memorable. In 2014, a seminar on China intangible cultural heritage was held in Yichang during the Qu Yuan Cultural Festival. Digital collection and protection was applied for the first time in the celebration of Dragon Boat Festival. The four places, Zigui County and Huangshi City in Hubei Province, Miluo City in Hunan Province and Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province are written down into the World Intangible Cultural Heritage because of their common traditional customs in Dragon Boat Festival. Cultural inheritors from these four places thus got the chance to know each other. They assisted the grand occasion altogether to protect and inherit the culture heritage.

　　Yichang has great cultural creativity.

　　It’s vital to bring traditional culture to life, so as to make the remote Zigui prosperous. Fortunately, traditional Dragon Boat Festival activities attract a great many tourists; Yichang local tourism companies are now focusing more on culture spreading, rather than just tourism marketing when they sign cooperation agreements to bring local tourism to the world. It is Zigui’s strong culture that has attracted a great deal of investment, including 4.6 billion RMB of newly assigned green tech projects.

　　Celebrating the festival provided opportunities for Yichang to build and improve its facilities of traffic, urban construction and tourism. Citizens got the chance to experience traditional Chinese culture by celebrating the festival and memorizing Qu Yuan. During the cultural festival, directors who represented eight media from Hubei Province, Hunan Province and Sichuan Province had a field trip in Yichang, which demonstrates that Yichang has started useful exploration to its neighboring cities in its development of culture industry.

　　Yichang demonstrates cohesive culture.

　　During the Qu Yuan Cultural Festival, Yu Guangzhong, a famous Taiwan poet, came to Yichang and couldn’t help writing a long poem Mourning Qu Yuan in Zigui when he got overwhelmed by the Dragon Boat Festival atmosphere. Zhen Chouyu, who is also a Taiwan poet, made his presence in Yichang as well. His lecture attracted ten times audience than predicted that it had to be given in a gym instead of the prearranged hall. Zhanghua County in Taiwan has long been friendly connected with Yichang. Each year before Dragon Boat Festival, both Zhanghua and Yichang hold activities in honor of Qu Yuan, which shows the same origin of people in these two places and it links them even more closely.

　　What’s more, from May to October, a promotion video program of Yichang, Yichang Waits for Your Coming will be repeatedly broadcasted on the huge outdoor screen on Times Square in New York, presenting America Yichang’s grand vision and culture, such as Three Gorges Dam, the view of a smooth water area at the top of steep gorges, Xiajiang Haozi, which are work songs of men towing boats along Yangtze River, fork songs that are sung in the fields during or after work, and so on.

　　Open up to the world and let the world pay heed to Yichang. The confidence and strength that culture gives to Yichang makes it sparkling during its development.