Cover news reporter Su Yu
What is the relationship between the lighthouse in Beijing's Tongzhou District and the Boya Tower at Peking University? Why is Tongzhou called "the first prefecture of Yanjing"? What is the relationship between Tongzhou and the Forbidden City and the Great Wall?
On February 4, with the "Welcoming the Opening of the Winter Olympics" event held by the Tongzhou District Culture and Tourism Bureau of Beijing, these mysteries were unveiled.
Tongzhou is located in the southeast of Beijing, at the northern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. In 2015, the Outline of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development Plan was reviewed and approved by Tongzhou to become the administrative sub-center of Beijing. In 2019, with the approval of the State Council, the Beijing Municipal Government office moved to Tongzhou.
As the center of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Liu Endong, a "gold medal reading promoter" in Beijing and a creator of Chinese comic strip stories, shared the origins of Tongzhou and canal culture and answered many questions that readers cared about.
▲ Beijing Tongzhou District Cultural and Tourism Bureau held the "Welcoming the Opening of the Winter Olympics and Talking about Tongzhou on the Canal River". Courtesy of the organizer
For example, what is the relationship between Peking University's "Boya Tower" and Tongzhou's "Lighthouse"? Liu Endong said that the Tongzhou Burning Lighthouse, the full name of the Burning Lantern Buddha Stupa, used to be the first of the eight scenic spots in Tongzhou - the ancient pagoda Lingyun, and Peking University's iconic Boya Tower is based on it.
▲ Left: Peking University Boya Tower, Right: Tongzhou Lighthouse. Image source: Peking University website, Beijing Tongzhou District Government website
Liu Endong graduated from the History Department of Hebei University in his early years, and in 2013, he moved his family to the Tongzhou Grand Canal to study the history of the Grand Canal and focus on creating a comic strip "Legend of the Grand Canal". In his creations, his brushstrokes travel through myth, history and reality, telling the history, culture and legends along the Grand Canal. In the "Book Fragrance Beijing Selection Activity" sponsored by the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, he was selected as the "Gold Medal Reading Promoter".
Through sharing, readers also learned about the relationship between Tongzhou and the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, and why Tongzhou is called "the first state of Yanjing". Liu Endong said that through this activity, he not only wants to show the connotation of cultural Tongzhou, charm Tongzhou and Jiaojian Tongzhou, but also wants to present a vigorous cultural tourism Tongzhou in front of readers.
A reader who participated in the event said that February 4 is the "opening day" of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, listening to the cultural stories of Tongzhou and the Grand Canal on the ancient Grand Canal, not only feeling the double celebration of the Spring Festival and the Winter Olympics, but also feeling the ancient and modern cultural inheritance of the Grand Canal.