China News Service, Yangzhou, October 3, Title: Visa-free bonus plus convenient services, Yangzhou issues China Travel invitation to tourists from all over the world
Author Xu Shanshan Cui Jiaming
In the golden autumn of October, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province ushered in the most pleasant time of the year. This ancient city, with a history of more than 2,500 years and famous for its three world-class business cards as "Canal Capital of the World", "World Culinary Capital" and "East Asian Cultural Capital", is making a late-autumn promise to global travelers with a more open and convenient attitude.
During the National Day holiday, a drone light and shadow show was staged on the banks of Mingyue Lake in Yangzhou. The drone formation spelled out patterns such as "Flowers in Bloom" in the air, and the bright light and shadow complemented the night view of Mingyue Lake, attracting many citizens and tourists to stop and watch. Photo by Meng Delong
As China continues to expand its visa-free “circle of friends”, “just go” trips to China are becoming the new normal in global tourism. Yangzhou has promulgated the "Eight Measures to Facilitate Foreigners Coming to Yangzhou" and set up a 240-hour transit visa-free processing area for foreigners in the arrival hall of Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport to achieve a "one-stop" service for the issuance of temporary entry permits and entry procedures. At the same time, the customs is equipped with multi-lingual self-service declaration terminals and has upgraded the digital smart travel inspection supervision model of "central coordination + on-site linkage + intelligent control points" to shorten the customs clearance time for foreign passengers to less than 15 minutes. In the field of payment convenience, Yangzhou has coordinated with financial regulatory authorities and payment institutions to study the opening of direct payment channels for international credit cards and support the function of scanning QR codes with mainstream overseas e-wallets to use cars; key business districts and scenic spots have accelerated the improvement of the foreign card acceptance environment, and overseas tourists can use international credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard for consumption in core business districts. "From customs clearance on arrival to daily payment, Yangzhou is providing full-chain facilitation services to make global passengers arrive more smoothly and have a better time." Yang Wenxi, chairman of Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport, said.
On October 2, Dongguan Street in Yangzhou was crowded with tourists. Night tour of the ancient city is full of energy. Photo by Meng Delong
A living experience of intangible cultural heritage, the cultural context of the canal is within reach
Yangzhou transforms its profound historical heritage into an immersive journey that can be touched and felt. Intangible cultural heritage skills such as woodblock printing, Yangzhou paper-cutting, Yangzhou lacquerware, and Yangzhou jade carvings are going abroad with the help of short videos and live broadcasts. The Yangzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum focuses on displaying Chinese woodblock printing techniques, Yangzhou lacquerware and other intangible cultural heritage products, and has in-depth connections with international travel agents. Travel salesmen and overseas bloggers from more than 10 countries, including France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and South Korea, visited the site and experienced woodblock printing with their own hands, transforming traditional culture from a static display into a live experience that can be touched and participated in.
Autumn scenery of Slender West Lake. The Five Pavilions Bridge in Yangzhou's Slender West Lake has pleasant autumn colors, and the painted boats shuttle across it, fully displaying the poetry and ancient charm of Jiangnan gardens. Photo by Meng Delong
A group of famous Korean travel bloggers went deep into Yangzhou for an immersive four-day and three-night visit. They strolled around Slender West Lake, went into Ge Garden and He Garden to read the classical gardens, and told Korean people the story of this thousand-year-old city from an overseas perspective. The cultural exchanges between Yangzhou and South Korea can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty - Cui Zhiyuan, a native of Silla, left his footprints in Yangzhou and became an important link for friendly exchanges between China and South Korea. Today, Korean bloggers, from the Yangzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum to the Dongguan Street Intangible Cultural Heritage Market, use their lenses to continue this cultural dialogue that spans thousands of years in the city where Cui Zhiyuan stopped.
National Day cultural tourism highlights are numerous, and heart-warming services highlight the city’s warmth
During this year’s National Day holiday, major scenic spots in Yangzhou launched a series of themed activities. Slender West Lake's "Splendid Slender West Lake·Celebrating Birthdays in a Prosperous Age" themed event was wonderfully staged, and the Wanhua Garden's live performance "More than March to Yangzhou" continued to appear; as night fell, thousands of drones lit up the night sky, and light and shadow scenes such as dragons and phoenixes, and prosperous birthdays presented tourists with a visual feast that blended technology and national style. The third exquisite chrysanthemum exhibition in Geyuan matched the rockery and ancient buildings, and Yangzhou Qing tunes and folk music ensembles aroused the resonance of tourists; He Garden's "Full Moon Sends Roaring and Celebrating Birthdays with Glory" series of activities combine Yangzhou Qing tunes, stick puppet intangible cultural heritage flash mobs and immersive night performances, allowing visitors to understand family tradition and culture in the century-old garden.
In terms of heart-warming services, the Yangzhou Municipal Government Canteen has been open to tourists for eight consecutive years, providing Huaiyang simple meal service. The dishes take into account the tastes of "one old and one young" and offer small dishes. Foreign tourists can take regular urban bus lines for free with their ID cards, and a number of special cultural and tourism lines connect core scenic spots and rural tourist spots. More than a thousand "Smiling Yangzhou" volunteers across the city stick to more than 70 service points, providing route guidance, luggage assistance, order maintenance and other services.
From the Millennium Canal to the international stage, Yangzhou is showing the world the modern cultural tourism vitality of an ancient Chinese city with its profound historical context, complete entry service system and precise global communication strategy. Cho Tae-sook, president of the Seoul Special City Tourism Association in South Korea, once commented that Yangzhou is "a charming city with a thousand-year cultural heritage and artistic splendor that complement each other." With an open and inclusive attitude, this ancient city invites travelers from all over the world to embark on China Travel, an immersive journey of discovery about Eastern life aesthetics. (over)
