Chongqing- On June 11, 2022, Cultural and Natural Heritage Day and the 1st Anniversary of the Memorial Hall for the Cultural Relics from the Forbidden City kicked off in Nan'an District, downtown Chongqing.

Focusing on the Coexistence of Culture & Business Travel, the anniversary event highlighted the aesthetic and epochal values of the Memorial Hall, starting the next cultural journey.

Located on Nanbin Road, the Memorial Hall officially opened on June 11 last year. It was the first themed historical memorial hall in China set up inside the relic site of the Forbidden City relocated to Chongqing.

Like a bright pearl in the core area of Chongqing's "Two Rivers and Four Riversides¹", the Memorial Hall carries on the tradition through multiculturalism. By infiltrating contemporary culture and art into life and integrating digital displays, research activities, and stories of the Forbidden City, the Memorial Hall has carried out more than 50 urban community activities and over 20 themed cultural lectures, art exhibitions, and performances, promoting the culture of the Forbidden City and the history of the war of resistance.

At the event, guests from major cultural preservation departments in Chongqing communicated the theme of revitalizing ancient buildings and exploring new methods of urban cultural preservation of buildings. Meanwhile, at the Post Office of the Memorial Hall, visitors enjoyed exquisite stamps at the stamp exhibition, Old and New Mountain City within Inches, learning about Chongqing's culture and art through these city stamps. In the Southward Relocation Hall, many avid readers immersed themselves in the world of the book, Architect and shared different perspectives.

During the War of Resistance, there were 3,694 boxes of cultural relics from the Forbidden City stored by the former site of Anderson Firm, which made important contributions to the protection of national treasures and the inheritance of Chinese culture. Under the joint promotion of the Palace Museum, Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, and the Nan'an District Government, Chongqing has renovated the cultural relics, created the surrounding environment, and presented a variety of business formats there. Eight buildings in the former site of Anderson Firm were constructed as cultural relics of the Memorial Hall for the Cultural Relics from the Forbidden City in Nanbin Road. The entire hall covers an area of about 2,500 square meters, including cultural venues such as Memorial Exhibition Halls, Cultural Lecture Halls, Education Classrooms, Forbidden Academy, bookstores, and more.

In the future, Nan'an District will actively promote traditional Chinese culture in the aspect of cultural relics protection and culture revival. At the same time, Nan'an will continue to strengthen the development of cultural and creative industries, academic research, cultural education, and so on, infusing the place with fresh artistic vitality and promoting the diversified and innovative development of Chinese traditional culture and contemporary culture.

Annotation:

Two Rivers and Four Riversides: It refers to the four riverbank lines of the Yangtze River and Jialing River, namely Nanbin Road, Changbin Road, Jiabin Road, and Beibin Road, with a total length of 394 kilometers and a hinterland area of nearly 231 square kilometers. The core area of the two rivers and four riversides is the intersection area of the Yangtze River and Jialing River, including regions surrounded by Chaotianmen, Jiefangbei area, Jiangbeizui area, Danzishi area, and Longmenhao area.