This Saturday (June 10) marks China’s first Cultural and Natural Heritage Day which will be held around Guangdong Province with more than 210 intangible cultural heritage activities. The main venue of the event is Kaiping in Jiangmen, while the branch venue is Danxia Mountain in Shaoguan.
Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, Shaoguan Danxia Mountain, do these two sites ring a bell? In fact, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages is an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, and Danxia Mountain an UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Accordingly, activities at the main venue in Kaiping will be mainly about cultural heritage, and activities about natural heritage will be highlighted at the branch venue Danxia Mountain.
In Kaiping, 69 provincial intangible cultural heritages will be presented by 438 inheritors on June 10 and 11 (Saturday & Sunday), and 80 intangible cultural heritages and traditional handicrafts from Jiangmen will be showcased during the weekend as well. There will also be cultural fair, free treasure evaluation, intangible cultural heritage theme gala, Diaolou artwork exhibition, Diaolou picture exhibition, seminar, and so on.
In Danxia Mountain, there are going to be lectures, seminars and solicitation of articles on natural heritage protection, aiming to raise the public’s awareness of protection towards cultural and natural heritages. In the meantime, an online live broadcast will be held to show the aerobatic flights by drones and how drones go on patrol over Danxia Mountain.
In 2006, the second Saturday of every June was marked as Cultural Heritage Day by the State Council. And the name of the festival was officially changed to Cultural and Natural Heritage Day in 2016. Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, focusing on the theme of dynamic intangible cultural heritage inheritance, will be held nationwide as a collective showcase of achievements on intangible cultural heritage protection since the 18th CPC National Congress.
Kaiping Diaolou and Villages (开平碉楼与古村落)
Add.: Zili Village, Tangkou Town, Kaiping, Jiangmen (江门开平市塘口镇自力村)
Self-driving: Enter the destination “开平自力村” on your GPS;
Bus: There are buses to Kaiping Changsha Coach Station in the large coach station in Guangzhou. The ticket is about 60 yuan, and it takes about 2 hours. In Changsha Coach Station, you can take local bus to go to the Diaolou Scenic Area;
Danxia Mountain Scenic Area (丹霞山风景名胜区)
Add.: Danxia Mountain Scenic Area, Renhua County, Shaoguan (韶关市东北郊仁化县城南9千米处)
Opening Hours: 24 hours
Admission: RMB 150 per ticket for adults; RMB 75 per ticket for children and seniors;
Self-driving: Enter the destination “丹霞山风景名胜区” on your GPS;
High-speed rail: Take a high-speed rail train from Guangzhou South Railway Station to Shaoguan East Station, then transfer to Shaoguan-Renhua bus to get to the destination.
(by Monica)
