China News Service, Hangzhou, August 21 (Cao Dan) When thousands of years of cultural context are condensed into hourly rhythms, every time the time is struck, it is the echo of civilization. On the evening of August 20, the "Zhejiang Cultural Clock Ten Thousand Screens Project" was launched in Hangzhou, issuing an invitation to the whole society to co-create cultural public welfare. Using large electronic screens throughout urban and rural areas as a carrier, Zhejiang's cultural heritage can be brought into daily life along with the hourly time.
Zhejiang is an important empirical site for millions of years of human history, 10,000 years of cultural history, and more than 5,000 years of Chinese civilization history. In November 2025, Zhejiang released an important cultural gene map, which decoded the province's 3,023 important cultural elements from the four dimensions of material, spiritual, regulatory, and symbolic, forming 10,855 cultural genes, and systematically sorted out the top ten provincial cultural symbols such as Liangzhu culture, Wuyue culture, and Songyun culture.
On August 16, Zhejiang Cultural Clock was unveiled at the Xizi Covered Bridge in Hangzhou. (Photo courtesy of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism)
The Zhejiang Cultural Clock, launched on this basis, refines the cultural symbols of the ten major provinces into 12 micro-videos of about one minute, which are played on the electronic screen on time every hour, transforming the academic cultural content into a visual and scene-based dynamic narrative, allowing the audience to complete a civilization tour that spans ten thousand years in a day.
"In ancient China, there were morning bells and evening drums, and time seemed to freeze at this moment. The sound of bells penetrated the streets and spanned time and space. It was not only a mark of time, but also a gathering of people's hearts." said Chen Guangsheng, Party Secretary and Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism.
Zhejiang Cultural Clock is like a cultural micro-landmark distributed in Zhejiang Province. The hourly broadcast makes the big screens on the streets and venues more poetic and rich, like a modern version of the "Bell Tower" and "Drum Tower" of the city. The Ten Thousand Screens Project focuses on making culture more accessible to the public—when citizens stop on the streets, shop in shopping districts, and wait for the subway, they inadvertently encounter Liangzhu civilization, Wu Yue style, and Song Dynasty elegance.
It is understood that on New Year's Day in 2026, the Zhejiang Cultural Clock will make its debut on the Xizi Covered Bridge in Hangzhou. Up to now, more than 23,000 screens in Zhejiang have regularly played the cultural clock video, covering diverse spaces such as city landmarks, cultural venues, tourist attractions, transportation hubs, financial outlets, and event scenes.
At the launch ceremony, Zhejiang Cultural Clock’s public service announcement was officially released, and the first batch of “Zhejiang Cultural Clock Ten Thousand Screen Project Partners” were awarded letters of appointment. It is reported that the program adheres to the principles of public welfare communication and voluntary participation. Places with broadcast conditions such as hotels in business districts, chain stores, cultural tourism attractions, and public venues can sign up. All promotional videos can be downloaded and used for free.
