China News Service, Tangshan, September 27 (Wang Xiafei) On September 27, the fourth "Great Wall Covenant" global promotion event and world cultural heritage dialogue kicked off in Qian'an City, Tangshan, Hebei. Well-known experts, scholars and photographers from home and abroad gave keynote speeches and dialogues on the protection of the Great Wall’s cultural heritage and exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
This event is sponsored by the Hebei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Tangshan Municipal People's Government, and the China Great Wall Tourism Marketing Alliance, and is hosted by China News Service Hebei Branch, China News Service Guoshi Express, Tangshan Municipal Committee Propaganda Department, Tangshan Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, and Qian'an Municipal People's Government. The event aims to use the Great Wall as a link to promote the protection, inheritance and utilization of world cultural heritage, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, let more people get closer to the Great Wall, understand the Great Wall, protect the Great Wall, and tell the story of the Great Wall to the world.
As one of the first batch of world cultural heritages selected in China, the Great Wall is a witness of history, a symbol of spirit, and a bridge for cultural exchanges between the East and the West. The number of Great Wall resources in Hebei ranks second in the country, and it is the most complete and representative section of the Great Wall in China. Since its inception, the "Covenant at the Great Wall" series of activities, based on the concept of "mutual learning among civilizations and global dialogue", has successively entered Qinhuangdao, Chengde, Baoding, Tangshan and other places, and has gradually become a brand with increasing influence.
Chang Bin, member of the Standing Committee of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee, said in his speech that this brand activity uses the Great Wall as a link and dialogue as a bridge to deeply explore the value of the Great Wall in its times, explore paths for heritage protection, and build an important platform for exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations. Tangshan is rich in precious and unique Great Wall cultural resources. The city's 228 kilometers of winding Great Wall are deeply rooted in the texture of the mountains and rivers of eastern Hebei. Brick by stone, they bear witness to the rich history of exchanges and integration of various ethnic groups; each pillar, each pillar, carries the excellent genes of the Chinese nation's continuous self-improvement.
Chen Lujun, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of China News Service, said that in the face of the accelerating changes in the world over the past century, dialogue among civilizations has become increasingly valuable. The Great Wall is the spiritual totem of the Chinese nation and a bridge for dialogue between Eastern and Western civilizations. From the banks of Laolongtou to the depths of Yanshan Mountain, we meet again at the foot of the Great Wall and continue to explore practical paths for cultural heritage protection, civilizational exchanges and international communication. We must use a language that integrates Chinese and foreign countries to clearly explain the cultural value carried by the Great Wall and the vivid practice of Chinese modernization, so that more overseas friends can start from the Great Wall to understand China and fall in love with China.
Wang Rongli, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Hebei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, introduced that Hebei is rich in Great Wall resources and is an important province in the construction of the Great Wall National Cultural Park. Hebei has solidly promoted the protection and utilization of the Great Wall through measures such as formulating protection plans, conducting cultural relics surveys, and innovative joint inspections. She proposed that we should build a bridge of dialogue to explain the value of the Great Wall, deepen exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and work together to protect and inherit the Great Wall, so that the Great Wall, a treasure of human civilization, can continue to shine with the glory of the times.
The Great Wall in Qian'an stretches for 45.3 kilometers along the Yanshan Mountains. Among them, the 1.5-kilometer-long marble Great Wall in Baiyangyu has attracted attention because the base of the city wall and the foundation of the watch tower are both made of marble. Cao Xiangdong, member of the Standing Committee of the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Qian'an Municipal Party Committee, said that Qian'an adheres to the development of "cultural tourism + various industries" and has built a "Luanhe Highway No. 1" all-region tourism loop in recent years, implementing "Great Wall + Wellness", "Great Wall + Study", "Great Wall + B&B" and other scenarios. Tourists from home and abroad are welcome to visit Qian'an, appreciate the "rhythm" of the Great Wall, explore the "beauty" of the Great Wall, and witness the "newness" of the Iron and Steel Great Wall.
In the theme promotion session, the episodic stage play "Echoes of the Great Wall·Scroll of Mountains and Rivers" begins with the history of Qi Jiguang's border garrison. It integrates episodic interpretation, laoting drums and other art forms to look back at the historical process of the Great Wall from construction, protection, bloody resistance to cultural relics restoration. This session also released the Great Wall’s premium tour routes, making the history and culture “feelable and travelable”. During the keynote speech session, many experts interpreted the era path of Great Wall protection from the perspectives of cultural inheritance and practice.
At the event site, the participating leaders and guests also issued certificates to the outstanding works of the "Promise at the Great Wall" 2026 World Cultural Heritage International Photography Exhibition. This photography exhibition received a total of 3,220 groups and nearly 5,000 works, and nearly 100 works were selected and displayed on site. It is divided into three chapters: "The Backbone of China, the Magnificent Great Wall", "Thousand-Year Context and Craftsmanship Inheritance" and "Echoes of Time, World Heritage City". It uses bilingual pictures and texts in Chinese and English to intuitively show the vitality and vitality of the Great Wall in the new era. Yemeni photographer Mohammed Ahmed and Qian'an native photographer Cai Changying, who have participated in the submission for three consecutive years, shared their respective emotional ties to the Great Wall from the dual perspectives of "foreigners" and "hometown people", demonstrating the diverse charm of the Great Wall as a world cultural heritage.
During the event, a series of activities such as "Great Wall Night Talk" interviews, the 2026 Qian'an "Great Wall Appointment" hiking event, "What is the Great Wall—Historical Culture and Contemporary Value of the Great Wall" expert dialogue, and "Great Wall Appointment·Civilization Mark" collection tour will also be held, allowing people at home and abroad to experience the natural scenery and cultural heritage along the Great Wall during walking and dialogue.
In recent years, Qian'an City has insisted on taking cultural tourism as the main direction of transformation and upgrading. The local tourism resources are rich, with a total of 163 tourism resources, 2 national 4A-level tourist attractions, and 2 national key rural tourism villages. Qian'an has many cultural heritages, including 258 immovable cultural relics and 100 representative items of intangible cultural heritage.
