Opening Ceremony of 2011 International Cultural Tourism Festival of Imperial City

The opening ceremony of 2011 International Cultural Tourism Festival of Imperial City was held on April 8 2011.The opening ceremony was held in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which was dazzling with lights on, the curtain raised with grand dances sacrificing to the Heaven.  At the opening ceremony, speeches were made by Lu Yong, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Zheng Xiping, director of Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks, Niu Qingshan, Dongcheng District governor, Mr. Amitabh Kant, managing director of PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) respectively. Dongcheng District people’s government of Beijing appointed six artists (Zhu Lin, Chen Leiji, Tang Can, Li Yugang and Sa Dingding) as volunteers to promote imperial culture, and granted them certificates.

The 2011 International Cultural Tourism Festival of Imperial City was launched in the form of “rotating the sun dial and lightening up the central axis with culture of imperial city”  jointly by Ding Xiangyang, vice mayor of Beijing Municipal People’s Government, Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman of CNTA, Lu Yong, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Zheng Xiping, director of Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks, Yang Liuyin, secretary of Dongcheng District Committee of CPC, and Mr. Amitabh Kant, managing director of PATA.

The opening ceremony were featured some fabulous performances of traditional Chinese cultural dances by Mr. Chen Leiji, a master of Chinese Guqin, who once participated in the performance of the opening ceremony of the 29th Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Other famous actors/ actresses or singers such as Tang Can, Li Yugang, and Sa Dingsing also performed.

 

The Festival launch was co-hosted by the Municipal Commission of Development, Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks and the People’s Government of Dongcheng District. Many leaders attended the opening ceremony. They  invluded Ding Xiangyang, vice mayor of Beijing Municipal People’s Government, Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman of CNTA (National Tourism Administration of the People’s Republic of China), Lu Yong, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Zheng Xiping, director of Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks, Yang Liuyin, secretary of Dongcheng District Committee of CPC (Communist Party of China), Niu Qingshan, Dongcheng District governor, Feng Xi, director of Dongcheng District People’s Congress, Xu Hongda, chairman of Dongcheng District People’s Political Consultative Conference, Yu Debin, Vice director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Chang Wei, Zhao Zhongyuan, Xu Xi, Xia Shujun, Gao Guiqiang, Piao Xuedong, Wang Hongbin, and Mao Jiong, leaders of Dongheng District. Attended the opening ceremony Amitabh Kant, managing director of PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association),and about 100 representatives including regional managing directors of 26 chapters of PATA such as the US and Thailand, CEOs of world famous tourism enterprises, and leaders of district or county tourism bureau of Beijing municipal city, leaders from relative committees, community, tourism association together with representatives of foremost tourism enterprises of Dongcheng District and over 30 media agencies.

Dongcheng District people’s government hosted a reception banquet after the opening ceremony, during which toasting speeches were made by Niu Qingshan, Dongcheng District governor, and Mr. Amitabh Kant, managing director of PATA respectively. Distinguished guests from home and abroad appreciated the performance of Zhongheshaoyue, a kind of traditional music form performed in the Hall of Ceremonial Music in the Temple of Heaven in ancient China, oral and intangible cultural heritage listed by Beijing municipal city, getting a sense of ever-lasting charm of traditional Chinese music. At the opening ceremony, the distinguished guests from PATA gasped at the charm of culture of imperial city in Dongcheng District and were amazed by the fabulous opening ceremony, the activity reported by several media agencies.

Under the leadership of Dongcheng District Committee of CPC and Dongcheng District People’s government, various activities in promotion, marketing and tourism culture will be held in the next month during the 2011 International Cultural Tourism Festival of Imperial City. The conduction of “2011 International Cultural Tourism Festival of Imperial City" will contribute to achieving the goals of building Dongcheng District as “the cultural center of the capital city and the window district of the World City”, building Beijing first-class tourism city for Beijing municipal tourism industry, and building Beijing municipality a World City with Chinese characteristics, by further enhancing the popularization of the culture of imperial city, promoting the creation of tourism brand of Dongcheng District and improving the overall image of Dongcheng District.