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foreign journalists visit the beijing grand canal museum. photo by reporter chang ming

yesterday morning, a themed interview activity on "coordinated development of beijing, tianjin and hebei" hosted by the news center of the 2024 forum on china-africa cooperation summit and the information office of the beijing municipal people's government invited nearly 60 reporters from more than 40 chinese and foreign media including the zambia news agency, kenya broadcasting corporation, kazakhstan's honest daily, kyrgyzstan's news.kg news agency, "uzbekistan 24" national tv channel, and people's daily to visit the three major cultural facilities in beijing's sub-center to fully understand the planning and construction of beijing art center, beijing city library, and beijing grand canal museum in the field of culture and tourism in the process of accelerating the construction of the sub-center and building a modern capital metropolitan area.

the first stop of the activity was the beijing grand canal museum. the beijing grand canal museum has a total construction area of ​​about 99,700 square meters. it consists of a shared hall, an exhibition building and a leisure water street. the design concept is derived from the three elements of ships, sails and water in the ancient canal landscape. before entering the basic exhibition hall, chinese and foreign reporters were attracted by the "capital tonghui map" on the second floor of the main building. the tour guide introduced: "on july 27 this year, the central axis of beijing was officially included in the world heritage list. this mural made of mosaics depicts the scenes of ancient beijing from yongdingmen to the bell and drum tower. the architecture of the forbidden city uses gold foil technology, which not only makes the work more ornamental, but also reflects the status of the forbidden city on the central axis."

the museum integrates exhibition display, social education, cultural protection and restoration, collection preservation and other functions. the "beijing-huatongyunyun yongji - beijing and the grand canal historical and cultural exhibition" vividly restores the development and evolution history of the grand canal through rich cultural relics and artworks.

one of the treasures of the beijing grand canal museum, the "qing qianlong period famille rose outside and blue and white hollow flower and fruit pattern six-sided vase" is of most interest to chinese and foreign reporters. this cultural relic made during the qianlong period of the qing dynasty not only uses two production techniques, famille rose and blue and white, but also the six hollow patterns on the outside highlight the preciousness of the cultural relic and the superb skills of ancient porcelain craftsmen. "everyone can take a closer look, through the hollow patterns you can see the blue and white inside." hearing the words of the guide, many reporters leaned over and got closer to watch, and soon the blue and white inside gradually emerged in front of everyone.

the reporter learned that the beijing grand canal museum is not only the leading project of beijing's construction of a "museum city" and the grand canal cultural belt, but also a landmark project to promote the coordinated development of beijing, tianjin and hebei and the construction of a national cultural center. chinese and foreign media reporters listened to the introduction of the museum's functional divisions and visited the exhibition. they all said that the exhibition hall is fully functional and the exhibition fully demonstrates the unique canal culture.

leaving the beijing grand canal museum, we came to the beijing city library, which has been open for more than half a year. beijing city library is the new building of the capital library, with a total construction area of ​​about 75,000 square meters. with the architectural design concept of "near the mountains, under the trees, and diligent reading", it has a collection of 8 million books and 2,400 reading seats. the library has a mountain reading area, a children's library, a non-legacy document/local document library, an ancient book document library, an art document library, a metaverse experience hall, a 24-hour reading area, a cultural exchange area, a leisure reading area and other types of functional spaces. it has the world's largest single library reading room, the largest intelligent three-dimensional book library in china and other highlight spaces.

entering the library from the south gate, the media reporters were immediately attracted by the scenery of the "forest book garden". everyone climbed up along the "spring paper path", "summer ink path", "autumn hair path" and "winter stone path", and praised the beautiful reading environment. here, the media reporters visited the metaverse experience hall, the 24-hour reading area, the intelligent three-dimensional book library, etc., and learned about the efforts of the municipal bureau of culture and tourism and the capital library to build a new generation of smart libraries and continue to promote the construction of "book-scented capital".

the last stop of the event was the beijing art center. the beijing art center is an important pole in the development pattern of "one theater and three sites" of the national grand theater. its exterior design is taken from the shape of the ancient granary on the canal, with a total construction area of ​​125,000 square meters. after its commissioning, the national grand theater has become the world's largest theater complex in the same city and with the same operating entity. since its establishment, the beijing art center has always adhered to the national grand theater's "people-oriented, artistic, and international" purpose of running the theater. on the one hand, it has introduced the classic repertoire of the national grand theater, and on the other hand, it has highlighted modernity, introduced musicals, modern dance, avant-garde drama, immersive performances and other art categories, and regularly carried out public welfare exhibitions, art popularization and other diversified and multi-dimensional art activities for the public, expanding new performing arts scenes, and creating an urban literary and artistic life check-in place and gathering place that attracts young audiences. chinese and foreign media reporters visited the opera house, theater, small theater and other venues, and deeply felt the unique charm of the "cultural granary".

chinese and foreign media reporters showed great interest in the three major cultural facilities in beijing's sub-center. they said that they were deeply impressed by the distinctive venue architecture, smart and convenient infrastructure, and rich and colorful cultural content of beijing art center, beijing city library, and beijing grand canal museum. these vivid demonstrations showed the outstanding performance of beijing's sub-center in promoting international cultural exchanges, prospering the literary and artistic ecology, and promoting the coordinated development of beijing, tianjin and hebei. they gave the three major cultural facilities a thumbs up.

source: beijing urban sub-center news

reporter: chang ming

process editor: u071