Hunan Daily New Hunan client reporter Huang Liuying
Xiaoxiangping Lake, the river is clear; Swing the oars and chop the waves, and compete for the current.
From June 3rd to 4th, the cleanest section of the Xiangjiang River and the highest level dragon boat race in the country came to a wonderful encounter.
More than 500,000 viewers! They cry out for the spirit of the dragon boat that strives to be the first; also screamed for the trip to Yongzhou where the mountains are close and the water is amiable; It is also applauded for the new appearance of the thousand-year-old city.
Run an event, elevate a city, and go both ways. It shows the fruitful results of competitive sports, national fitness, ecological civilization construction and the integration of cultural tourism and sports, and condenses the strong spiritual force of building a modern new Yongzhou.
The land of braves, vitality rushes.
Why did the only "baton" in the province fall on Yongzhou?
The China Dragon Boat Open is a brand event focused on by the China Dragon Boat Association, and has been held in more than ten cities across the country. This year's Open was held in 12 relays across the country, with Yongzhou being the only one in Hunan.
After the race, He Yi, Secretary-General of the China Dragon Boat Association, said that he was willing to strengthen cooperation with Yongzhou in the future and promote the long-term settlement of the China Dragon Boat Open in Yongzhou.
Why did the only "baton" in the province fall on Yongzhou? He Yi said, "The choice of Yongzhou was decided by the China Dragon Boat Association after in-depth investigation and careful study. ”
Yongzhou is located at the source of the Xiangjiang River, born because of the river, prosperous because of the river, and beautiful because of the river. Not long ago, Yongzhou's water environment governance experience and practices were praised by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and it is the only city in the province on the list.
Bailixiaoxiangping Lake has the high-quality water conditions for holding dragon boat races - the water surface is open, the water is gentle, the water quality is clear, and the surrounding environment is beautiful, and the supporting facilities are complete, which meets the rules of Chinese dragon boat racing and the requirements for holding national competitions.
Dragon boat sports is one of the traditional sports in Yongzhou, and dragon boat races are held all year round in Lengshuitan, Qiyang, Dong'an, Daoxian and other places. In particular, the dragon boat customs of Dao County have been passed down for thousands of years, and in 2021 it was included in the list of representative items of national intangible cultural heritage, which in addition to strong competitiveness, also has high aesthetic value and cultural inheritance significance.
The dragon boat movement that has blossomed everywhere has enriched the spiritual and cultural life of the Yongzhou masses, and laid a solid mass foundation for the China Dragon Boat Open Championship to settle in Yongzhou.
"For this competition, we have been practicing hard for more than two months!" Jiang Zhongle, a member of the Dongyangfang dragon boat team in Daozhou, had a dark complexion and said with a smile. This dragon boat team composed of community residents, with an average age of 40, won the first place in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 500-meter straight race and team overall score in the mass group, and was called the "master of kings" by the post-00s young players from Guangdong Ocean University.
On the field, the Yongzhou dragon boat team fought fiercely; Off the field, the Yongzhou crowd also did everything in order to grab the spot. Some people go to occupy seats at three or four o'clock in the morning, and some people take the ladder to watch the game. "I rushed back from the field to see the dragon boat, but I went late, and I could only look at the heads!" A video blogger laughed at himself.
Ling Wenwei, the coach of the dragon boat team of Fuzhou Changle Huiquan Club, said that in previous competitions in other cities, the audience seats were not full. Yongzhou Station is packed, and the enthusiasm of Yongzhou people for sporting events is surprising and worthy of respect.
"Dawn show fire!" Many Yongzhou netizens gave high scores to this dragon boat race held at their doorstep. In the local dialect, "knowing the fire" means very powerful.
Go with the flow and accelerate brand events. Sun Yaomei, deputy director of Yongzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, Television and Sports, introduced that around the Dragon Boat Festival this year, a series of events such as the 2023 National Intangible Cultural Heritage Dragon Boat Race in Dao County, the Majitang Dragon Boat Invitational Race in Baiya City, Dong'an County, the Qiyang Dragon Boat Race, and the Huangyangsi Dragon Boat Race in Lengshuitan will be held one after another.
"Fame because of the competition" is inseparable from years of deep cultivation in the cultural and sports industry
A dragon boat race, like a window, shows the vitality of the thousand-year-old city, and also shows the character of Yongzhou people to strive for the lead and move forward after waves.
In fact, as early as April, the 10th Hunan Province Traditional Ethnic Minority Sports Meeting was held in Jianghua, Yongzhou, with a total of 2,339 athletes from 31 delegations from 14 cities, prefectures and 17 counties and municipalities, the largest number of participants.
Just over a month later, large-scale sports events landed in Yongzhou again, which is a high affirmation of Yongzhou's ability to hold sports events and economic and social development. Relying on the holding of the competition, Yongzhou has launched special cultural tourism activities such as beer music festival, "Lingling Night Banquet" and "Rhododendron Party", released boutique tourism routes, comprehensively displayed the charm of Yongzhou, and made a "live chess" step to accelerate the creation of a unique cultural tourism city.
The "thousand-year-old city" is far away, and the city of sports is rising. In the past five years, Yongzhou City has held 122 large-scale group activities at this level, including 73 national and provincial activities, and more than 1,100 national fitness activities in various counties and districts of the city.
Successfully held the 2019 China • Yongzhou Chinese Badminton International Invitational Tournament, with nearly 100 Chinese from Canada, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places, as well as Hong Kong and Macao compatriots participating; The bid for international and national competitions such as the Tour of China International Road Cycling Race, Yangmingshan Mountain Bike Race, Sino-US Basketball Competition, National Youth Club Men's Basketball League, Boxing King Championship and other international and national competitions attracted tourists from inside and outside the province to watch the competition...
Create a "park-style" mass cultural and sports activity venue, forming a network of four-level national fitness facilities at the city, county (district), township (street) and administrative village (community) level and a 15-minute fitness circle in urban communities. The number of people who participated in physical exercise once a week or more was 4.499 million, reaching 82.5% of the city's population. Through sports and leisure activities, it can effectively stimulate tourism consumption, enhance the image of the city, and enhance the satisfaction and happiness of citizens and tourists.
Deeply engaged in the cultural and sports industry for many years, Yongzhou has successfully created its own national fitness brand event - "Damei Yongzhou" series of activities, which organically integrates marathon, mountaineering, hiking, health running and other sports with cultural tourism promotion, this sports mode of "walking while enjoying the scenery" is favored by running enthusiasts. At present, the event has been held 10 times, with 200,000 participants, and the average annual total number of participants has reached 3.5 million.
Continue to amplify the "tourism + sports" effect
Ecology and culture are Yongzhou's two golden "business cards", under the wave of the era of integrated development of cultural and sports tourism, the advantages of Yongzhou's sports tourism have been further highlighted, and the "new business card" of the famous cultural tourism city is becoming more and more eye-catching.
A batch of national, international and professional cultural and sports events have been selected to be held in Yongzhou. Yongzhou's unique landscape style and rich cultural tourism resources have added a leisure color to various professional events, helping the event to become a more colorful and comprehensive event.
On the other hand, Yongzhou also actively learns from the "top stream" Zibo and retains "traffic" with intimate urban services. Echoing this dragon boat event, Yongzhou carried out a series of night economic activities in the Lengshuitan area, where the event was held, publicly promising that parking will not be charged, that there will be no more than two pounds, that prices will not fly, and that businesses will not slaughter customers, giving tourists and citizens a sense of security.
For a long time, Yongzhou has been trying to dig deep resources in giving full play to the integration of sports industry and sports tourism to build a tourism brand. Last year, Shuangpai Yangmingshan was created as a provincial-level tourist resort, and Jianghua Shuikou Yao Ethnic Style Street was created as a provincial-level tourism and leisure block; Jiujiang Mountain, Lingling Ancient City, Jade Toad Rock Site, Goulan Yao Village, and Chen Shuxiang Red Cultural Park were selected as the key scenic spots of Hunan Cultural Tourism "Five Business Cards"; Shuangpai Huaqiangu passed the 4A scenic spot landscape quality assessment and created 2 3A scenic spots; Five units were listed as provincial key villages (towns) for rural tourism.
Abundant tourism resources and huge development potential also attract investors to Yongxingye. In 2022, the city will implement 31 key cultural tourism projects, with an investment of 10.67 billion yuan, with a completion rate of 140.14%; There are 48 cultural tourism projects with more than 50 million yuan of investment, completing 120% of the annual tasks, including 5 cultural tourism projects of more than 1 billion yuan, with a total investment of 18.568 billion yuan.
In the first quarter of this year, the total number of tourists in Yongzhou was 11,252,500, a year-on-year increase of 46.54%. The growth rate of the city's cultural, sports and entertainment industry operating income platform was 48%, ranking second in the province; The city's total wages in the cultural, sports and entertainment industries grew by 0.7%, ranking first among Class B cities and states.
The flowing water of the Xiangjiang River tells the touching story of the butterfly transformation of the ancient city, reflecting the happy expressions of the citizens - Xinyongzhou, Haoyongzhou, Meiyongzhou, Fuyongzhou.
(All photos in this article are provided by Lengshuitan District Rong Media Center)