Heritage celebrated nationwide

Activities hosted all over China for annual event held since 2006

BEIJING-More than 3,200 activities were held across China to celebrate this year's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which falls on the second Saturday of every June.

In the host city of Yan'an, a former revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China in northwestern Shaanxi province, a series of special events were organized to celebrate the day.

The beauty of cultural heritage depends on spirit inherited from generation to generation, said Liu Yuzhu, head of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

Revolutionary cultural heritage constitutes a source of power to inspire the Party and the people to stay true to the founding mission, Liu said.

The cultural heritage day has been celebrated since 2006, and in 2017 it was renamed Cultural and Natural Heritage Day.

This year, in addition to the major venue of Yan'an, other regions across China held promotional events, including an exhibition on guqin, the Chinese zither, a traditional Kunqu Opera performance and a photo exhibition of intangible cultural heritage representing significant achievements in heritage preservation at nearly 4,300 State-level heritage sites and in more than 5,350 museums.

In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, a four-day cultural fair starting on June 7 showcased 40 items included on the list of UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Exhibitions, shows, lectures and forums showcased how heritage has been preserved and developed in China.

A poetry recital was held at the National Library of China in Beijing on June 6, marking the beginning of the library's monthlong lecture series on the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

Aimed at raising the public's cultural awareness, the "open class on intangible cultural heritage", an educational television program that invites experts to tell stories about the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, was broadcast on Friday evening.

This year's traditional Dragon Boat Festival fell on Friday, part of a three-day nationwide break that spurred a boom in tourism.

During the holiday, a rich variety of festival activities, including dragon boat races and eating zongzi-glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves, were held across the country, including Zigui county in Central China's Hubei province. The county was home to noted ancient poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), for whom the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates.

In Southwest China's Chongqing, the national intangible cultural heritage items of Liangping district were displayed at scenic spots, offering tourists a glimpse into the profound local culture.

The exploration of new types of business models such as the combination of local culture with art performances has proved to effectively boost the integration and prosperity of both tourism and cultural industries.

Statistics from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed that China saw a total of 95.98 million domestic tourist trips during the three-day holiday, up 7.7 percent from the same period last year, while tourism revenue grew by 8.6 percent year-on-year to 39.33 billion yuan (about $5.7 billion).