Why Not Plan a Tour to Kaifeng? An Ancient Capital City Still Prosperous Today

Why Not Plan a Tour to Kaifeng? An Ancient Capital City Still Prosperous Today

时光带不走的繁华汴梁，你不来看看吗？

One of China's most famous paintings, Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival created by the famous painter Zhang Zeduan during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), faithfully reflects the prosperous and harmonious life of people in Kaifeng city of Henan province, the capital city at that time, becoming the highlight of Kaifeng's brilliant culture now. In the database recording Henan's journey to Xiaokang (a moderately prosperous society), there is an animated video about the prosperity of Bianjing (today's Kaifeng) in the Northern Song Dynasty, just like a live version of the famous Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival.

芸芸众生千百态，喜怒哀乐汇一堂。北宋画家张择端的《清明上河图》忠实地反映了当时都城开封繁华富庶、歌舞升平的生活景象，成为文化开封最闪亮的名片。在“纪录小康工程”河南数据库中，就收录了一段关于重现北宋时期汴京城内繁华景象的动画视频，如同“动态版”的《清明上河图》，让人百看不厌。

Click on the video

"With the falling of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng, an international metropolis, has gradually become a local central city of Henan. However, Kaifeng is a symbol of the prosperity of the Song Dynasty and a peak of the Chinese civilization, so it is still a place for the public to experience the Song Dynasty culture and learn the Chinese civilization. The importance of Kaifeng has never changed from this perspective." During an interview with dahe.cn on November 23, Dr Liu Tao, head of the Department of Cultural Industry Management of Henan University's School of Cultural Industry and Tourism Management and a researcher at Henan University's Collaborative Innovation Center of the Yellow River Civilization, talked about Kaifeng's development dividends brought by its profound history and culture accumulated as an imperial capital city for 8 dynasties. "Today, against the background of promoting cultural city construction and new urbanization development, the profound cultural accumulations of the Northern Song Dynasty have become the main resources for Kaifeng to enhance its special cultural charm and quality," said Liu Tao.

“北宋之后，开封逐渐由万方辐辏的国际型大都市沦落为河南的地方性中心城市。但是，开封象征着宋代的盛世繁华与华夏历史文明的发展高峰，可以作为大众体验宋代文化、了解华夏文明的可靠窗口，这一地位却始终未有改变。”11月23日，河南大学文化产业管理系主任、河南大学黄河文明省部共建协同创新中心研究员刘涛博士在接受大河网记者采访时，谈到了开封的厚重历史文化给这座八朝古都带来的发展红利，他说：“如今，在注重人文城市建设、推动新型城镇化发展的时代背景下，北宋厚重的文化积淀又成为开封增强特色人文魅力、提升城市内在品质的最主要资源。”

In the next five years, Henan will strive to significantly improve the quality of cultural development, deepen the popularity of core socialist values, highlight the influence of Central Plains culture, promote the protection and utilization of cultural heritage, make cultural tourism and innovation a pillar industry, and thus remarkably raise its level of civilization, according to the 11th Party Congress of Henan Province.

河南省第十一次党代会提出，今后五年河南要努力实现文化发展质量显著提高，社会主义核心价值观更加深入人心，中原文化影响力更加彰显，文化遗产保护利用更加充分，文旅文创成为支柱产业，社会文明程度显著提升。

Kaifeng, an imperial capital city for 8 dynasties in history, represents the brilliant culture of the Central Plains. Even in today's Kaifeng, there are still many elements of the Song Dynasty, such as folk drum dance, woodcut New Year pictures, Chinese opera, Kaifeng embroidery, etc. Those distinctive folk customs make visitors feel as if they even came back to Bianjing a thousand years ago.

开封素有八朝古都之称，历史悠久，是整个中原文化体系的代表。即便在如今的开封，也能找到许多关于宋文化的元素，盘鼓、木版年画、戏曲、汴绣......这些颇具特色的开封民俗文化聚集在一起，一如走在千年以前的繁盛汴梁。

Kaifeng's rich tourism resources, the Qingming cultural festival in spring, lotus cultural festival in summer, chrysanthemum cultural festival in autumn, etc.,  have made its increasingly vigorous cultural tourism a pillar industry. Statistically, Kaifeng had received 45.102 million tourists with a revenue of 27.74 billion yuan by the end of October in 2020. According to Liu Tao, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), Kaifeng will accelerate the integrated development of cultural tourism and innovation, build itself into an international cultural tourism city,  protect/inherit/carry forward the Yellow River culture, promote cultural undertakings and industries, continuously raise its level of civilization and build itself into a world-renowned historic and cultural capital at a high level to reshape its cultural soft power into a backbone of high-quality development.

春季的清明文化节、夏日的荷花文化节、秋季的菊花文化节......丰富的旅游业态让开封文旅焕发出更多的活力，成为开封的支柱产业。据统计，截至2020年10月，开封市累计旅游接待总量4510.2万人次，累计综合收入277.4亿元。刘涛介绍，“十四五”期间，开封将加快推进文旅文创融合发展，打造国际文化旅游名城，保护传承弘扬黄河文化，繁荣文化事业和文化产业，不断提升城市文明水平，高水平建设世界历史文化名都，让文化“软实力”成为高质量发展的“硬支撑”。（中文来源/大河网 记者/刘思嘉 见习记者/王紫仪 实习生韩潇文 翻译/赵汉青 海报/王君艺 审校/白玉杰）