The relationship between culture and cities

This is the first article to explain the relationship between culture and cities with the proposition of "a culture shapes a city", headline on the front page of "Hezhou Daily" on December 14, 2010

1 A culture shapes a city

——An in-depth perspective on Hezhou’s building of Hakka culture brand

Editor’s note: “Architecture is the appearance of a city, and culture is the soul of a city.” For a long time, Hezhou's diligent efforts to build a Hakka cultural brand have made Hakka culture integrated into the skin and bones of the city like the spring breeze and drizzle, affecting the development and character of a city. This newspaper uses the original and "symbolic" proposition of "a culture shapes a city" to interpret the profound impact of Hakka culture on Hezhou from a strategic height, a cultural perspective and a prose style. and display.

Author: Zhai Wei Liang Dazheng

The strong cross-strait friendship means that the guests belong to the same family. As the 2010 Guangxi-Taiwan Hakka Association and the first Hakka Culture Tourism Festival in Hezhou City (hereinafter referred to as the "One Meeting and One Festival") slowly came to an end, Hezhou once again completed a gorgeous turn, with the event's rich Hakka customs and the shining Taiwan Elements has made an important contribution to the exchanges between Hakka culture and Guangxi and Taiwan.

The success of "One Meeting, One Festival" is just a microcosm of Hezhou's efforts to build a Hakka cultural brand. In recent years, Hezhou has continuously created Hakka cultural products, held Hakka cultural events, and carried out cultural exchanges with Taiwan. It has not only successfully created Hezhou's city card and shaped Hezhou's urban character, but also made Hezhou a strategic fulcrum to promote cross-strait exchanges. , find new development coordinates in serving the overall situation of the country, thus nurturing a new round of great opening up and great development.

A shining business card to the world

For a long time, Hezhou, which is located in the eastern corner of Guangxi, has been ridiculed as "the bottom of the province". This city has been "marginalized" "Border town", in today's world economic globalization and regional economic integration, even though it has the "exclusive advantage" of being located in the "thorough thoroughfare of the three provinces" of Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi, it has always lacked a business card that can "call out", so that The world smells the unique fragrance of Hezhou's "deep alley wine".

Looking at Guangxi, Nanning became famous because of the Folk Song Festival, Qinbei Defense became popular because of the Beibu Gulf, Guigang and Wuzhou became popular because of the Xijiang River... Our "neighbors" are all because of the accurate shooting. By playing cards, it has gained enough attention, gathered popularity, won policies, gathered a "momentum" for urban development, and ushered in a spurt of great development.

The young Hezhou realized that popularity is productivity, we need to play a good card and hand out a shining business card to the world!

Looking at yourself, what can you do to not only represent yourself but also attract the world?

Hezhou is a city with rich Hakka culture. There are about 800,000 Hakkas in the city, accounting for about 40% of the city's population. More than 60% of the city's people can speak Hakka. As one of the most representative cultures here, Hezhou not only has colorful traditional Hakka folk culture, Hakka folk songs and numerous Hakka cultural masterpieces, but also has the most complete, largest and oldest Hakka enclosure in South China. House complex and the only Hakka Ecological Museum in my country.

“Playing Hakka cards well and playing Hakka chess well will play a huge role in making Hezhou’s development flourish!” The municipal party committee and government assessed the situation and began to explore the creation of Hakka culture.

So, in 2005, Hezhou City hosted the 6th ASEAN (ASEAN) Hakka Friendship Conference and Economic and Trade Fair. During the event, Hezhou’s picturesque landscape, passionate Hakka singing and dancing, rich and simple Hakka customs, unique Hakka food, elegant and unique Hakka houses and long-standing Hakka history attracted visitors from the 10 ASEAN countries and China (Hong Kong) The Hakka guests from China, Australia, Taiwan), Japan and South Korea were deeply intoxicated. In the guests’ happy praise and word of mouth, Hezhou’s “Hakka” reputation suddenly rose!

Hezhou, which had a good start, took advantage of the situation and held a series of activities to build Hakka culture, making the "Hakka" business card shine brighter and brighter! Hezhou Daily and Hezhou TV launched Hakka special columns and published Hakka research results such as "Hezhou Hakka", which witnessed Hezhou's persistence in Hakka culture; Hezhou's top ten original Hakka pop music selections and a series of Hakka art masterpieces that won national awards , played the melody of Hezhou’s exploration of Hakka culture; in the China-ASEAN Hakka Beauty Competition and the Global “Hakka Girl” Image Ambassador Competition, the beautiful figures of Hezhou’s “Hakka girls” walking gracefully under the spotlight also symbolized “Hezhou "Hakka" is moving towards the world...

As the forms of various cultural activities continue to innovate, their connotations continue to enrich, their grades continue to improve, and their influence continues to expand, Hakka culture has quietly infiltrated and influenced this world. This city makes Hezhou a veritable “Hakka city”.

At the same time, Hezhou has also achieved good results in creating high-quality products of Hakka culture: the Hakka mountain opera "Selling Peach" won the gold medal of the national "Star Award"; the Hakka folk dance "Hezhou Drum God" won the fifth national folk art award Festival Gold Award; "Sneakers" won a special award and was broadcast on CCTV's "Variety Show"; the local original Hakka song "Moonlight Light" was adopted as the theme song of the Hong Kong TV series "Wine is Hometown". It has been widely circulated in Hakka areas around the world and has become a masterpiece for Hakka people to express their homesickness... Hezhou has gone global because of Hakka culture; Hakka culture has been promoted because of Hezhou.

Facing a pool of activated spring water, the Hezhou Municipal Party Committee and Government realized that not only was the Hakka card played correctly, but it also had to be played more excitingly! In 2007, Hezhou once again held the Hakka cultural event - Guitai Hakka Association, and for the first time proposed the strategic concept of building a "Guitai Hakka Culture Tourism Experimental Zone".

After several years of hard work, this spring, the autonomous region government approved the establishment of the Guangxi-Taiwan (Hezhou) Hakka Cultural Tourism Cooperation Demonstration Zone, and positioned the function of the demonstration zone as Guangxi-Taiwan Hakka cultural exchange and cooperation in the "Demonstration Zone Development Plan" The first choice place, the pioneer area for the innovative development of cultural tourism in Guangxi, the preferred area for Guangxi-Taiwan economic and trade cooperation to expand development space, and an important regional tourism distribution center.

“Hakka culture has become a veritable shining ‘business card’ for Hezhou to implement its ‘going global’ strategy.” said Peng Xiaochun, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee.

Some experts believe: "Guangxi has positioned Hezhou as a demonstration zone for Guangxi-Taiwan (Hezhou) Hakka cultural tourism cooperation, focusing on the brand of Hakka culture. This is a marriage of culture and kinship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait."

In the just-concluded "One Meeting, One Meeting", Li Daqiu, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC of the Autonomous Region, and Peng Xiaochun, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, unveiled the Management Committee of the Guitai (Hezhou) Hakka Culture and Tourism Cooperation Demonstration Zone. Guposhan Hakka, which is affiliated with the demonstration zone, Projects such as style towns have also started, marking that the construction of the demonstration area has entered a substantial stage.

In just a few years, Hezhou has entered Guangxi’s development strategy because of its Hakka culture!

A strategic fulcrum to promote exchanges between Guangxi and Taiwan

Looking at the world, the major development of any region is to find its own position in the general trend of world development, thereby conforming to the trend, Set sail.

How should Hezhou people, who have achieved "going out" because of Hakka culture, examine their own positioning at a higher level, so as to promote their own development while serving the overall situation?

Under the guidance of General Secretary Hu Jintao’s sixteen-character policy of “building mutual trust, shelving disputes, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and striving to create a win-win situation”, economic, trade and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait have become more frequent in recent years, and the feelings of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have also continued to grow. Get closer. In repeated exchanges with Taiwanese compatriots, Hezhou deeply felt the kind of family affection among Taiwanese compatriots that is thicker than water. The municipal party committee and government were inspired by this: relying on Hezhou’s unique Hakka culture to promote exchanges and cooperation between Guangxi and Taiwan!

In fact, exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan did not happen overnight in Hezhou. Hakkas all over the world have the same roots, and Taiwanese merchants can easily find a sense of language and cultural identity in Hezhou. In the early days of Hezhou's development, many Taiwanese entrepreneurs came to Hezhou to invest and start businesses, injecting vitality into Hezhou. Hezhou's "Taiwan Commercial and Residential City", "Taiwan Street" and many other buildings with a strong Taiwanese flavor are living witnesses.

In order to further deepen exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan, in July this year, the Hezhou Hakka cultural tourism and economic and trade delegation led by Hezhou Municipal Party Committee Secretary Peng Xiaochun, and the Guangxi economic, trade and cultural delegation led by the Autonomous Region Party Committee Secretary Guo Shengkun visited Bao Island Taiwan.

As soon as the Hezhou delegation "stepped on the stage", it first "sounded" and won the crowd. At the opening ceremony of the 2010 Guangxi-Taiwan Economic, Trade and Cultural Cooperation Forum held at the Grand Hotel in Taiwan, Hezhou Hakka singers won applause from the attendees with their distinctive local characteristics and original Hakka songs and wonderful performances!

The next trip was even more exciting.

The Hezhou delegation set out from Taipei and traveled throughout Taichung and Tainan. In Hsinchu County, they performed a wonderful show for one and a half hours on the same stage with the Shuqilin Orchestra of the county, attracting more than 1,300 local Hakka relatives. The Hakkas brought by Hezhou City The program set off a whirlwind of Hakka culture in the local area; a photo of Secretary Peng Xiaochun playing table tennis with Hsinchu County Magistrate Qiu Jingchun and the book "Two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family" quickly occupied the pages of major media and websites; in Hualien and other places, Hezhou representatives The group went deep into the grassroots and farmers, spoke Hakka, sang Hakka songs, and talked about Hakka sentiments, which brought them closer to the compatriots on the island...

A colleague from the Taiwanese media talked to reporters about the Hezhou delegation. When talking about his feelings about going to Taiwan, he said: "I feel that the Hezhou delegation's trip is very special. The theme is clear and the focus is focused. Focusing on the two key points of cultural tourism and economic and trade cooperation, the Hakka culture card is played to perfection!"

This "One Meeting, One Session" also continues this excitement: the number of participants in Taiwan reached more than 300, the highest number in history! At the opening ceremony, guests from Taiwan, on behalf of the Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang Wu Boxiong, presented to Hezhou a number of handwritten inscriptions highlighting Hakka culture and cross-strait ties. Hezhou also presented the Warring States Qilin Zun crafts and Yao embroidery unearthed in Hezhou to friends in Taiwan. ; At the "Hakka Style? Cross-Strait Love" concert, hosts from Hezhou and Taiwan co-hosted in Hakka. Singers and artists from both sides of the Taiwan Strait sang and I came on stage, and together they presented a feast of Hakka culture and art; At the Guangxi-Taiwan Hakka Culture and Tourism Development Forum, scholars from both sides of the Taiwan Strait expressed their opinions and suggestions, and fully discussed "the inheritance, development and future of Hakka culture"; at the opening ceremony of China's first high-definition digital Hakka music film "Moonlight", the cross-strait interpretation The movie "Moonlight", which tells the emotional journey of two generations, has officially started filming... The rich and diverse cultural activities have witnessed Hezhou's efforts to build an exchange platform between Guangxi and Taiwan, and have greatly boosted the "essence", "qi" and "spirit" of the city of Hezhou. ".

The excitement is not limited to the cultural field. At the signing ceremony of this "One Meeting, One Festival" investment project, 35 projects were signed in one fell swoop, with a total investment of 3.92 billion yuan! The project involves urban infrastructure construction, industrial park construction, deep processing of forest products and minerals, food processing, trade and tourism, ecological agriculture and other fields, effectively promoting all-round cooperation between Guangxi and Taiwan.

Wang Fuqing, Vice President of the Association for Cross-Strait Relations, said: "This year, Secretary Peng Xiaochun led the Hezhou delegation to carry out a series of exchange activities in Taiwan, which has become a new highlight of Guangxi-Taiwan exchanges. For a long time, Taiwan and Hezhou have The Hakka people visit each other and have cultural interactions, and various exchange activities are carried out frequently, which has become a strategic fulcrum to promote exchanges between Guangxi and Taiwan through the exchange and inheritance of Hakka culture. ”

A kind of urban character has quietly formed.

Hezhou people who are making great strides towards the world have discovered that consciously cultivating a cultural brand is intrinsically related to the development of a city. The song "Moonlight" not only spreads Hezhou's popularity and reputation, but also awakens the city's own impulses and desires, giving Hakka culture a new era connotation, and then turns into a powerful passion for self-sublimation. and motivation, so that it can stride forward with an open, cooperative and inclusive attitude.

Once upon a time, the biggest embarrassment of Hezhou, the "thoroughway of three provinces", was that it had neither "highway" (highway) nor "iron" (railway).

At the "One Meeting, One Festival", Chen Yongqi, vice chairman of the Zhongyuan Hakka Chongzheng Association in Taipei City, told reporters: He had been to Guilin in 1987, but due to the traffic congestion and reputation at that time, He was so young that he had no idea that the scenery in Hezhou, only two hundred miles away, was so beautiful and that there were so many Hakka relatives living there. Otherwise, he would have come here without hesitation to visit relatives and invest.

In order to change this embarrassment, in 2005, a "Transportation Facilities Construction Battle" aimed at realizing the leap-forward development of Hezhou's transportation pattern started in Hezhou. Five years have passed. At that time, the closed "end of the province" was connected to the "highway" and the "rail". A one-hour traffic circle in the city and a large-scale transportation pattern integrated into the three-hour economic circle of the Beibu Gulf and the two-hour economic circle of the Pearl River Delta are about to emerge. Even Chen Yongqi couldn't help but sigh: "Now that the highway and railway are connected, it is much more convenient!"

With the changes in the transportation pattern, Hezhou has also gained a different temperament and style: China Resources Electric Power, Yurun Group , Snow Beer, well-known companies are competing to set up shop; Huguang market, train station, passenger transportation center, and distribution centers are busy with traffic; Huihao Commercial and Residential City, Taiwan Street, and Shanghai Street, new buildings are rising from the ground; Lingfeng Mountain , artificial lakes, both sides of the river, a city full of scenic spots... At the Ninth Plenary Session of the Second Municipal Party Committee held in August this year, Hezhou further positioned itself as an "emerging industrial city in Guangxi and a regional transportation hub in Guangdong, Guangdong and Hunan" , a famous eco-tourism city in South China, and a national circular economy industry demonstration zone.”

All of this tells people that Hezhou is showing its progress, vitality and vitality to the world with an open attitude, and people are also From this, we can truly feel the pace of Hezhou's transformation from "city girls, rural attire" to "Guidong New Town, colorful scenery".

“Citizens are the true subject, core and soul of a city, and are the true bearers and inheritors of a city’s character. Every Hakka event is held, allowing the simple Hezhou people to undergo the process of liberating their minds. Experience, changing concepts and improvement have also enriched and innovated Hakka culture time and time again, thus achieving a broad-minded mind that embraces all rivers and is inclusive.

” Bai Xi, Mayor of Hezhou City, said.

Hakka enclosed houses are characteristic buildings that embody the spirit of “unity” and “huguan” of the Hakka people. But as long as you come to the Hakka enclosed houses in Hezhou, you will definitely find that Not only is the door open to welcome you, the simple Hakka hosts will also enthusiastically serve as "tour guides" and "chefs" for you, introducing you to the history, customs and human relations of the enclosed houses, and letting you taste Hakka-style delicacies such as stuffed tofu and so on. . Visitors from all over the world have unknowingly integrated into the Weiwu.

Hezhou is also known as a museum of "dialects", living harmoniously in this city where Hakkas are the main ethnic group. There are 21 ethnic groups including Han, Yao, Zhuang, Miao and Hui. As popular as Hakka, there are Mandarin, Guiliu, Cantonese and other languages. At the same time, there are also Jiudu, Yao, Zhuang, etc. among the people. In addition to speaking Hakka, most Hezhou people can master 3 or 4 languages ??at the same time. As long as outsiders use any of these languages ??to ask for directions, The locals can give you satisfactory answers.

At every large-scale Hakka cultural event, a group of enthusiastic and busy volunteers are active, although they are very bilingual in Mandarin and Hakka. It’s hard work, but always energetic and enthusiastic, because everyone has a sacred sense of mission in their hearts, hoping to become the disseminator of Hakka culture and friendship, the embodiment of the city’s spirit, and the display of Hezhou’s image through each event. .