The 2022 China (Zhangjiagang) Yangtze River Culture and Art Festival, held from Aug 27 to the end of October in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, has hosted a variety of activities to promote the river's distinctive culture.

The festival was jointly organized by the Publicity Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Suzhou city government.

Guan Tiantao, an official from the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said that the festival featured 10 activities across six categories, bringing together 13 provinces.

"The festival is committed to being a platform to protect, inherit and enhance the waterway's culture. It is an important project for the construction of national parks with Yangtze River culture as their theme and pushes high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which consists of 11 provinces and municipalities," Guan said.

The festival, which began in 2004, has hosted over 100 activities in total and attracted more than 400,000 attendees, according to the organizer.

It took home an innovation award from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and was listed as one of the three cultural brands with local characteristics cultivated by Jiangsu. It was also among the first batch of Jiangsu's excellent cultural brands to promote mass culture and was upgraded to be a provincial cultural festival in 2021.

Xu Weirong, deputy director of Suzhou's tourism, culture, radio, film and sports bureau, said that this year's festival focused on four topics. They were: protection of cultural relics, intangible cultural heritage, arts exchanges and the integration of culture and tourism.

The festival featured a number of the Yangtze River-themed exhibitions and forums. For instance, an exhibition of 20 archaeological discoveries helped visitors learn about the once prosperous civilizations of the waterway. Another showcased 179 pieces of metal crafts made by inheritors of intangible cultural heritage who live along the river.

Liang Xi, vice-mayor of Zhangjiagang, said that this year's festival paid special attention to the integration of online and offline activities. Moreover, in order to ensure the public could share in cultural development, the festival arranged performances at reasonable prices.

To this end, the festival teamed up with the China National Arts Fund for the first time and introduced eight popular plays centered on Yangtze River culture.

A raft of national-level opera performances were also staged. These showcased the province's efforts to consolidate its position as a powerhouse of opera, a local official said.

During the festival, many influencers received invitations to explore culture and arts along the river. The local government designed several trips with fine tourist spots showcasing Yangtze River culture.

Located on the southern bank, Zhangjiagang is a county-level city that carries the responsibilities of promoting Yangtze River culture. In recent years, the city has established a national first-class association studying Yangtze River culture and the nation's first museum promoting the culture, a local official said.

A traditional dance is performed during the 2022 China (Zhangjiagang) Yangtze River Culture and Art Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]