Cruise boats shuttle back and forth on the Grand Canal in Wuxi at night. [Photo/wxrb.com]

The second Grand Canal Culture and Tourism Expo is scheduled to run from Sept 3 to 7 in the main venue of Wuxi and the sub venue of Huai'an in Jiangsu province, according to officials at a press conference held on Aug 20.

With the theme of "integration, innovation, and sharing", this year's expo will make full use of the historical and modern culture, as well as the tourism resources along the Grand Canal with the goal of helping revive the cultural and tourism industry impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic through city cooperation.

A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Grand Canal is the longest and oldest canal in the world. Running from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in the south, it passes through eight provinces and municipalities, of which Wuxi is the only city that it passes through its downtown.

According to organizers, the expo will consist of seven sectors involving 15 key activities, including nighttime visits on the Grand Canal, an opening ceremony, stage performances, exhibitions, forums, cultural heritage items displays in the sub venue, and interactive activities.

An original dance drama and a live performance will be staged that explores the development of the Wuxi section of the Grand Canal. Three large-scale exhibitions will showcase attractive culture and tourism tours, creative cultural products, as well as the food culture themed around the Grand Canal respectively.

Two forums focusing on cultural and tourism industry cooperation and consumption will be held. In addition, a series of new travel options and new projects in the cultural and tourism fields from cities along the Grand Canal will be launched.

According to the press conference, Wuxi will expand cooperation with more cities along the Grand Canal to enrich the expo, while more enterprises and projects are expected to participate in the expo.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this edition of the expo did not invite international canal cities to exhibit. However, foreign envoys in China, as well as representatives of overseas cultural and tourism offices in China will attend related activities in Wuxi. In addition, foreigners in Jiangsu province can participate in a short video contest on the video sharing platform Douyin to share the beauty of the Grand Canal to the world.

The expo will also adopt digital technologies to attract more visitors. A number of live streaming events will show various expo activities to online viewers. People can also enjoy public cultural services, travel experiences, and entertainment services based on artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IoT), and 5G technologies.