Foreign visitors will one day once again come to China to take in the country’s many splendid tourists attractions. That day is still some way off but this has not stopped local tourism authorities launching a contest to put Jiangsu Province on the map for many.
This week has seen the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism launch the competition, named “Charm of Jiangsu” Tourism Routes Collection Event. That mouthful might be better explained by saying the Department is seeking “Verses from Afar” that describe hot tourism spots in Jiangsu using poetry.
The catch is, each entry may only be two lines of verse, while authorities are also hoping entrants will get creative with their poetry and submit their entries as videos or possibly, even as HTML5 (H5).
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Those willing to do so are in with a chance of some serious prize money. A total of ¥150,000 in prize money is up for grabs, broken down as ¥30,000 for the overall winner, three second place prizes of ¥20,000 and six third place prizes of ¥10,000.
In order to cast the contest’s net as far and wide as possible, the province’s Department of Culture and Tourism has splashed out on publicising the competition using PR Newswire, one of the world’s biggest paid-for press release websites. Not content for only English, versions of the PR Newswire story have also been released in French and Spanish, while the official website for the competition also features German, Japanese and Korean versions.
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By way of inspiration, the press release features a host of information relating to Jiangsu’s tourist attractions. Did you know that the province currently boasts three world cultural heritage sites, namely the Suzhou Classical Gardens, Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing and the Grand Canal?
Jiangsu also makes ten appearances on the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, including Nanjing Brocade, Suzhou Embroidery, Yangzhou Lacquerware, Yixing Zisha Pottery, Lianyungang Donghai Crystal and Nantong Blue Calico.
Then there is our very own Nanjing and neighbouring Yangzhou, respectively listed by the United Nations Creative Cities Network in the fields of literature and gastronomy. They are joined by the elegant ancient towns south of the Yangtze River’s lower reaches, the Ming and Qing Dynasties’ (1368-1912 CE) ancient city walls that have stood strong through the ages, the canalled cities with their own peculiar customs and the magnificent Chu-Han culture (206-202 BCE).
Those interested in entering the “Charm of Jiangsu” poetry competition may find more information on the official website. The closing date for entries is 9 July, 2020.
