The Charm of Ancient Song Dynasty · Anshi Culture Week opens in Yinzhou, Ningbo

On the bank of the Dongqian Lake, experts from three places gathered together for a millennium meeting and international friends came to participate in the activity. On the occasion of the 1,002nd anniversary of Wang Anshi's birth, on December 18, the Charm of Ancient Song Dynasty · Anshi Culture Week opened at the Ningbo Academicians' Center. Music, poetry, and travel routes connect the three chapters of "retrospection", "encountering", and "the world", further enhancing Ningbo's urban brand as the birthplace of Wang Anshi's reform ideas, the starting point of fine governance of ancient prime ministers, and the birthplace of literary masters. 

Present at the activity, there were Zhu Huan, Deputy Mayor of the Ningbo City, Zhang Shangbing, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Yinzhou District Committee and Deputy District Mayor of the Yinzhou District, Xi Haifeng, Deputy Director of Ningbo Dongqian Lake Tourism Resort Administrative Committee, as well as relevant leaders and guests from the Fuzhou City of the Jiangxi Province and the Hanshan County of the Ma'anshan City in the Anhui Province. 

This activity was organized by the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and the People's Government of the Yinzhou District, and undertaken by the Ningbo Cultural Tourism Research Institute and the Yinzhou District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports. It will focus on the core of "Three Years of Governance in Yinzhou", form a number of highly recognizable theoretical achievements, build a number of high-level Wang Anshi cultural exhibition bases, create a number of high-level Wang Anshi literary and artistic masterpieces, cultivate a group of highly efficient carriers for the popularization of Wang Anshi culture, develop a group of high-quality Wang Anshi cultural tourism-industry-city integration projects, and strengthen the important engine role of Wang Anshi cultural construction in stimulating urban vitality and empowering industrial development. 

At the opening ceremony, a series of commemorative and inheriting activities were held to commemorate and inherit the deeds and spirit of Wang Anshi. The Ningbo City, the Fuzhou City, and the Hanshan County, where Wang Anshi left behind the ancient masterpiece of "Journey to Baochan Mountain", jointly established the "Anshi Cultural City Promotion Alliance"; the Dongwu Town Shan · Wai Study is located on the Tiantong Ancient Street where Wang Anshi passed by. It has been awarded the title of "Wang Anshi Themed Study" and will hold a series of activities such as "Anshi Lectures", "Anshi Poetry Recitation Meeting", and "Anshi Original Script Recitation" and so on in the future, becoming a base for the popularization of the Anshi Culture; the "Encounter Anshi by the Lake" digital and intelligent hands-on inquiry-based learning route has been released, and a ceremony was held to invite tourists to come and to present gifts. The main theme is Wang Anshi's "Journey to Yinxian" and his achievements in dredging the Dongqian Lake back then, connecting relevant tourism nodes, allowing more people to revisit the path Wang Anshi had walked by the lake and to feel the artistic conception in his poetry. 

At the opening ceremony, the Cixi Celadon Ou Music Art Troupe brought a rich, simple, beautiful, and elegant celadon Ou music performance. With a song called "Charm of Ancient Song Dynasty · Anshi", they embarked on a journey of "searching for the charm of the Song Dynasty" following ancient and beautiful notes; the main song "Singing the Praises of Anshi" in the album "Song Dynasty Songs Collection" jointly launched by the Publicity Department of the CPC Yinzhou District Committee and the Yinzhou District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports reflects Wang Anshi's steadfast and persistent personality through the authentic Song melody; the original script reading excerpts from "Listening to and Seeing Anshi" and the Xuhe Gaoqiang "Peony Pavilion" brought by the performance team from Wang Anshi's hometown of Fuzhou, Jiangxi demonstrated the inheritance and innovation of traditional art. 

In addition, Chinese and foreign friends jointly read Anshi's poetry and literature, released an animation about Wang's stories in Yinxian, and connected to the Wang Anshi Commemorating Ceremony at the Zhongying Temple, which also conveyed contemporary respect for Wang Anshi and his influence as a cultural celebrity internationally. 

This cultural week event also included the premiere of the MV for "Encountering the Millennium Love for Anshi", a lecture on "the Great Historical Significance of Wang Anshi's Governance in the Yinxian County", a theatrical performance of "Listening to and Seeing Anshi", a recitation of Wang Anshi's poetry, and an essay competition on "Wang Anshi and the Yinxian County", etc.. 

On December 18, as one of the activities of the Charm of Ancient Song Dynasty · Anshi Culture Week series, the "Encounter · Millennium Love for Anshi" short video series were released on various platforms such as the Yinzhou Release and the Yongpai App. 

The Ningbo Cultural Tourism Research Institute has produced a series of short videos titled "Encounter · Millennium Love for Anshi", using Wang Anshi's poems of "Farewell to the Women of Yin", "Lonely Tree", and "View of Mingzhou's Map" as the starting point, taking his life, emotions, and political ideals into consideration. These videos focused on three aspects, namely the "Emotions for the Yinxian County", "Governance of Yinxian for a Thousand Days", and "Influence for a Thousand Years", blending ancient and modern elements, and describing the "meeting" between Wang Anshi and Ningbo in a more contemporary narrative style.