What a spectacle looks like when poetry, light, drama, dance, and painting are shown together? Go for a visit to Xixing Ancient Town, and you might understand. It was there that the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Grand Canal’s inscription into UNSECO world heritage and the 2024 Eastern Zhejiang Canal Cultural Week took place.

It started with the films “Rhythm of the Grand Canal” and “From Xixing to Eternity of Poetry” that features the meandering canal, along with the local customs of thriving and living by the water. On the summer solstice ten years ago, the Grand Canal was titled as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is the 46th World Heritage site in China. The Eastern Zhejiang Canal (Xixing section), as an important component, is also known for its distinction in regional graces and heritages. As a side event for the celebration of the 10th anniversary and the 2024 Beijing-Hangzhou Dialogue, the Culture Week will comprise scores of events and activities that spotlight seven cultural themes in various forms, like poetry, light, drama, dance, and painting, to revive the history of the life on the canal and along the riverbank.

The riverside features a heritage fair and a salon for poetry lovers, along with booths featuring the region’s most representative bamboo lanterns, paper cuttings, and rock enamel works. Fashion-forward youngsters, all dressed as “flower girls” and “street vendors”, joined with the crowd heritage experience activities such as the making of lacquer fan and koi, reproducing the old days when Xixing was a trading hub for merchants in all sectors.

The art gallery was reopened on June 21, with a premiered photo show on the Eastern Zhejiang Canal. It presents works from fifty-seven artists and the drastic changes along the riverbank in their eyes with photos, devices, and handicrafts. The photo exhibition will be closed on October 13.

“It is all about Binjiang’s past and present,” said an official from the local authority. He was asked in what way the thrills of the region could be revived. He specified that now it is a “post-Asian Games era”, and efforts would be intensified for future better protection and use of the cultural legacies of the Grand Canal to set Binjiang a role model in this regard.