Chongqing to Build a World Profound Cultural City and Tourist Destination | Work Plan

Chongqing- Cultural tourism is the embodiment of a city's soft power. According to the 6th Chongqing Municipal Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Chongqing's cultural influence and cohesion have been continuously enhanced in the past five years. For the next five years, Chongqing will accelerate the construction of a profound cultural city and a world-renowned tourist destination.

According to the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, Chongqing's cultural industries have continued to develop during the past five years, supporting the continuous promotion of tourism. The city's public libraries and cultural centers have achieved full coverage, and the national-level library rate ranks among the top in China. The average annual growth rate of the added value of the cultural industry has reached 12.5%. More than 40,000 cultural market players have been added, and seven national-level demonstration bases for cultural industries have been successfully established. Three new national 5A-level tourist attractions, 27 4A-level tourist attractions, one national-level tourist resort, four national-level tourism demonstration regions, and one national-level cultural and tourism consumption demonstration city have been built up.

At present, the in-depth implementation of national strategies, such as the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, is conducive to the development of new space for culture and tourism in Chongqing.

The 6th CPC Chongqing Municipal Congress proposed that Chongqing should further promote the energetical development of culture and continue to construct Chongqing as a profound cultural city in the next five years. At the same time, Chongqing should also persist in developing cultural industries to enhance the deep integration of cultural tourism and accelerate the construction of a profound cultural city and a world-famous tourist destination.

Chongqing needs to shape the tourism industry with culture and highlight culture through the tourism industry. With a new start, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development will promote the high-quality development of culture and tourism, meet the people's growing needs for a better life, and encourage the deep integration of culture and tourism. By 2025, cultural soft power will be greatly enhanced, tourism popularity and reputation will be significantly improved, and the establishment of world-renowned tourism destinations will be accelerated.

Specific measures 

Chongqing needs to start improving the quality of literary and artistic works to promote the energetical development of culture. Meanwhile, Chongqing will deepen the institutional reform and stimulate the creative vitality, continuously launching masterpieces that tell stories of the new era and people. The city will create a performance hub in Changjiahui by making use of Chongqing Sichuan Opera Art Center, Chongqing Guotai Art Center, and other theaters. Additionally, it will strive to launch more than one play or opera-themed on China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression every year.

The city will strengthen the integrated construction of urban and rural public cultural service systems and coordinate public cultural facilities' construction and service supply in urban and rural areas to improve the public cultural service system. Focusing on the development pattern of One District and Two Clusters¹, the organic integration of public cultural services with urban upgrading and rural revitalization and the balanced and coordinated development of urban and rural, and regional public cultural services will be promoted.

In the meantime, protection, inheritance, and utilization of cultural heritage are needed to strengthen. Chongqing should follow the principle of Protection, Rescue, Rational Use, and Strengthen Management². In accordance with the requirements for the resources' protection, utilization, and development of Three Arrangements and Seven Categories³, it is necessary to protect and develop historical and cultural heritages well, enhancing the urban cultural connotation and enriching the people's spiritual and cultural life.

The transformation and upgrading of the cultural industry are promoted. The digital cultural industry is going to be accelerated while the agglomeration and development of the cultural industry will be promoted. By the end of 2025, Chongqing strives to have two national-level and 40 municipal-level cultural industry demonstration parks. At the same time, 15 national-level and 120 municipal-level cultural industry demonstration bases completed the construction.

Chongqing and Sichuan will jointly speed up the construction of the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor by focusing on the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, concentrating on Bashu culture and the integration of cultural tourism. By 2025, the system and mechanism for the coordinated development along the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor are expected to be fully established. The reform and innovation in cultural tourism will be advanced with high quality. On this occasion, the international popularity and influence of the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor will continue to increase.

Moreover, the new tourism development pattern of One Area and Two Clusters will be constructed with prominent key points, distinctive features, and complementary functions. At the same time, tourist destinations with the themes like Metropolis, the Three Gorges, and Wuling Mountain will be shaped. Accelerating the construction of world-renowned urban tourism destinations, Chongqing endeavors to increase national 4A-level and above tourist attractions to 20 by the end of 2025; speeding up the construction of the Yangtze River Three Gorges International Golden Tourism Belt, the city strives to add 21 national 4A-level and above tourist attractions by the end of 2025; expediting the construction of Southeastern Chongqing Demonstration Region for the Integrated Development of Culture and Tourism in Wuling Mountains, Chongqing aims to add eight tourist attractions above the national 4A level by the end of 2025.

Furthermore, Chongqing will expand and strengthen the brand of Hongyan to build the city itself into first-class red tourism (visiting sites that have a modern revolutionary legacy) destination in China. By promoting the construction of Hongyan Cultural Park, the quality of red tourism will also be improved. A number of destinations of red tourism and education bases will also be upgraded and created. By the end of 2025, Chongqing strives to complete the construction of 25 A-level red tourist attractions and 20 classic red tourist routes.

Annotation:

1. One Area and Two Clusters: One District refers to the metropolitan area consisting of the urban functional core area, the urban functional expansion area, and the new urban development area; Two Clusters refer to the urban cluster in northeastern Chongqing with Wanzhou as the central city and the urban cluster in southeastern Chongqing with Qianjiang as the central city.

2. Protection, Rescue, Rational Use, and Strengthen Management:

Protection: in any case, we must insist on protection as the foundation.

Rescue: at present, China is in the peak period of infrastructure construction, and this period is the most arduous period for the protection of cultural relics. But the special nature of cultural relics determines that they will never be regenerated once it is damaged. Therefore, the contradiction between protection and exploration in the infrastructure construction process is inevitable. The key to solving this contradiction can only be rescued.

Rational use: if the public has forgotten the cultural relics, their various values (history, culture, education, and so on) ​​will not be realized. Therefore, we cannot protect those relics only but not promote their values. Cultural relic workers must study the connotation of Rational Use – on the premise of protecting cultural relics, the various values of cultural relics can be brought into full play.

Strengthen Management: currently, there are four main contents that China strives to strengthen cultural relics management. First of all, China needs to vigorously strengthen the construction of laws and regulations, establish and improve various rules and regulations, and control the cultural relic crime rate. Secondly, China needs to strengthen theoretical research and policy research on the protection and utilization of cultural relics. Thirdly, China strives to enhance the scientific and technological content in protecting and managing cultural relics, making full use of modern scientific and technical means and achievements, and promoting the modernization of cultural relics management. The fourth is to increase the education and training of cultural relic workers and try to improve the ideological and moral quality, professional quality, and management level of cultural relic practitioners.

3. Three Arrangements and Seven Categories: Three Arrangements refers to the three arrangements of famous cities, towns, and villages with profound history and culture, historical sites, as well as historical and cultural resource sites; Seven Categories refers to historical and cultural villages and towns, historical and cultural streets and traditional style areas, scenic spots, cultural relics protection companies and departments, historical buildings, intangible cultural heritages, and world cultural (natural) heritages.