China Media Group (China Radio International):
At the 2019 China Internet Media Forum held recently, Tianjin proposed to build a "internet-famous city" for the first time. What is your understanding of the "internet-famous city", and will Tianjin become next "internet-famous city"? Thank you.
Chen Zhemin:
"Internet-famous city" is a buzzword derived with the development of new media, and it is also a fashionable cultural tourism label given by the people, especially the youth, who yearn for a "poetic life". Tianjin is very willing to make itself a "internet-famous city." First of all, with its rich resources in cultural tourism, Tianjin has the foundation and great potential to become an "internet-famous city". It is a national, historical and cultural city and one of China's first outstanding tourist cities. With regard to geographical location, it is situated in the center of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration. The Tianjin Port is the largest comprehensive port in the north and the Tianjin International Cruise Home Port is one of the six major cruise tourism development zones in China. As the saying goes, "if you want to understand modern China, you should understand Tianjin." For more than 600 years since the establishment of the city, especially since 1840, many major historical events related to the country's direction of development either happened in Tianjin, or had a close connection with Tianjin. In particular, the nine concessions made it a unique city with a mixture of ancient and modern elements in both Chinese and western styles. Known as the "city of world architecture", Tianjin has preserved 877 historical buildings. Many historical celebrities once lived in Tianjin, including not only political figures such as Yuan Shikai, Li Yuanhong, Feng Guozhang, Xu Shichang, Cao Kun, Zhang Xun, Duan Qirui, but also prominent cultural celebrities , like Yan Fu, Liang Qichao, Li Shutong, Zhang Boling, Yan Xiu, and Cao Yu. Tianjin is also one of the first areas in China where the local Communist Party branch was established. Li Dazhao, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhang Tailei and many other Party leaders once studied and worked in Tianjin. Today, there are still 126 revolutionary sites . In terms of natural ecological resources, Tianjin boasts mountains, seas, rivers, lakes, wetlands and hot springs. Now, the city has two world cultural heritage sites, namely the Great Wall and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It has 28 key cultural heritage sites under the protection of the state, 212 at the provincial level, and 101 national A-level tourist attractions. Last year, the number of tourists in the city reached 230 million, an increase of 8% year-on-year. Its total tourism revenue was 391.4 billion yuan, growing by 10.4% year-on-year.
Second, Tianjin has taken action to build a "internet-famous city". In July this year, Tianjin launched a two-year plan for tourism development, which included 20 initiatives, 20 policies and effective measures . In the following two years, we will strive to "promote tourism across the whole region, improve the quality of tourism, standardize tourism management and maximize tourism benefits". We will build over 50 top-quality tourist routes such as celebrity home tours, cultural exhibition tours and rural leisure tours to enhance quality, increase market share of Tianjin's tourism sector and improve the city's image.
Third, the mission to make the "internet-famous city" a "popular draw" in the long term will depend more on comprehensive factors such as the city's cultural heritage, economic power, and innovation. To achieve that goal, we will continue to work hard. Here, I sincerely invite media friends to visit Tianjin to gain a clearer perspective of the city, introduce the city, and help it become a "internet-famous city". Thank you.
