Why does Wuzhen stand out from many ancient towns?

"Three years ago, I watched a performance at the Wuzhen Theater Festival. It was an eye-opener for me to appreciate modern, avant-garde, and avant-garde drama works that are unmatched by other art festivals." Now, Hong Kong The former administrative director of the West Kowloon Cultural District, Ru Guolie, most often said to friends in the cultural circle, "You must go and see it."

In fact, many people who have been to Wuzhen may have a question in their minds. Among the countless ancient towns in China, why does Wuzhen, Tongxiang City, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, stand out? The Wuzhen Art Festival is well-known both at home and abroad, the Mao Dun Literature Award was honored as "hometown", and the World Internet Conference was located here... How has this Jiangnan town allowed poetry and distant places to blend here in the past 20 years?

Show historical features

Wuzhen is a typical ancient water town in the south of the Yangtze River. The water is the street and the bank is the city. The buildings on both sides of the bank face the river, forming a charming scenery of the water town. The Shihe River and the Chexi River, tributaries of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, trickle continuously, dividing Wuzhen into four districts, which the locals call Dongzha, Nanzha, Xizha and Beizha.

At first, this ancient town was not a tourist town. Its tourism development dates back to 1999. A fire during the Spring Festival caused Chen Xianghong, then director of the Tongxiang Municipal Government Office, to be sent here to resettle the victims. Because of his effective work, he was transferred to the director of the Wuzhen Ancient Town Protection and Tourism Development Management Committee, and he and his team carried out the protection and tourism development of Wuzhen for 20 years.

"Wuzhen started tourism 10 years later than Zhouzhuang and 4 years later than Xitang." For Chen Xianghong, a student from Beizha, Wuzhen and newly appointed, "Wuzhen is a dream. I hope that my "My hometown is becoming more and more recognized." But at that time, the streets along the river were in disarray and the decaying walls and tiles posed a problem for him.

Chen Xianghong’s team spent half a year inspecting several famous ancient towns in China, and the idea became clearer - Wuzhen needs to be "subtracted". The specific method of operation is to take the style of Wuzhen a hundred years ago. Compare the pictures and dismantle anything that is not harmonious.

In 2001, Wuzhen Dongzha Scenic Area was officially opened to the outside world, and with its original water town style and historical and cultural heritage, it became a famous ancient town tourist attraction in China.

If Wuzhen Dongzha focuses on building a tourist town and magnifies resource differences, then Xizha, which is being developed later, focuses on product differences.

In 2007, Wuzhen Xizha Scenic Area, which took four years and invested nearly 1 billion yuan, was officially opened. The entire scenic area is equipped with supporting facilities such as a tourist service center, tour buses, water buses, direct drinking water, natural gas, broadband network, etc., as well as unique Jiangnan-style B&Bs, star-rated resort hotels, private villas renovated from old houses, etc., guest rooms There are more than 2,000 rooms in total, which can accommodate more than 4,000 people at the same time.

Building a smart town

Some people say that the World Internet Conference made Wuzhen a success. In fact, it is not Wuzhen’s vision and achievements in the construction of smart scenic spots that won it the chips. ? Reports have long pointed out that the expert group put forward several conditions when selecting sites across the country: first, the Internet economy is relatively developed; second, find a small town like Davos and give it the charm of the Internet; third, Third, it can represent China’s thousands of years of traditional culture. After repeated comparisons, Wuzhen became the best choice.

In fact, at the beginning of the construction of Xizha Scenic Area, Wuzhen completed the underground laying of trunk optical fibers, laying a solid foundation for Smart Wuzhen. As early as 2002, the scenic spot launched the Wuzhen official website. In 2006, the Wuzhen reservation network was developed and launched. In the same year, the scenic spot officially launched the electronic ticket sales and inspection system. As of 2017, the scenic spot has completed the full WIFI coverage project. The scenic spot has also launched a facial recognition service for hotel guests. Just "swipe your face" and you can enter and exit the scenic spot unlimited times before checking out. Today, driverless pilots, full coverage of wireless signals, mobile payment anywhere and anytime, charging pile services, smart medical care... allow Wuzhen to develop intelligently.

In addition to the World Internet Conference, so far, Wuzhen has successfully hosted various large-scale events such as the Go Summit, the closing ceremony of China Fashion Week, multiple domestic and foreign car companies, multiple brand new product launches, etc. Wedding reception event.

"Today's Wuzhen is not only a platform to display the extraordinary charm of ancient Chinese culture and the traditional essence of oriental life, but also a disseminator of traditional culture and an exchange envoy for Chinese and foreign cultures." Wuzhen Tourism Co., Ltd. Yao Jie, assistant to the president, said.

Shaping cultural IP

"'Little Bridges and Flowing Waters' is the most unique feature of many ancient towns. This kind of Wuzhen is so easy to copy. Difference is a system, our resources It’s different, the products are different, and the spirit is also different.” In Chen Xianghong’s view, in order to avoid the homogenization of scenic spots, the way they thought of to break through was to build a cultural town. "The core cultural product created by Wuzhen is undoubtedly the Wuzhen Theater Festival.

The idea of ??holding a theater festival in the town originated in 2008. Chen Xianghong was invited by the well-known actor Huang Lei to watch "Secret Love" at the Shanghai Grand Theater "Peach Blossom Spring". At that time, Chen Xianghong realized that the people watching the show were all young people, which coincided with Wuzhen's customer base, and this interactive method was very good.

After four years of preparation, the first Wuzhen Theater Festival kicked off in May 2013. 1 day and night, 6 international dramas, 175,80 spectators, 183,000 tourists and local residents... The first Wuzhen Theater Festival has delivered outstanding results.

"The Wuzhen Theater Festival has truly created the artistic world of small towns in China." According to Yao Jie, during the 6 years since the festival was held, a total of 118 plays from 27 countries and regions on five continents and 435 Specially invited plays from home and abroad are staged in turn, 89 groups of young people compete for shortlisted works, more than 9,000 ancient town carnival performances, 123 small town dialogues, and millions of tourists attend this grand event.

After the success of the drama festival, the first Wuzhen International Contemporary Art Exhibition in 2016 also arrived as scheduled. On March 30 this year, the second Wuzhen Contemporary Art Exhibition once again met with the public. 60 artists/groups from 23 countries and regions around the world, with a total of 90 works/groups, kicked off this art show. the prologue.

In October 2015, the "Mu Xin Art Museum" named after Mu Xin, an American artist, writer and Wuzhen native, officially opened. The art museum has successively held multiple exhibitions such as "Lin Fengmian and Mu Xin", "Nietzsche and Mu Xin", "Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu", and a Mu Xin concert at the end of last year. Today, Muxin Art Museum and Wuzhen Grand Theater have become new landmarks in Wuzhen.

"Perhaps these attempts will not bring direct economic benefits, but they are the seeds of Wuzhen's development in the next 20 years, and are also the original intention of Wuzhen's tourism industry to adhere to culture and protection. Perhaps decades later, "Children who grow up in a strong cultural atmosphere will have a second Mu Xin and a second Mao Dun," Chen Xianghong said.