—The Second Taijiquan Heritage and Development Conference officially launches a series of activities in Henan Province, China
On December 17, 2020, the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) announced the inclusion of over 300 years old Chinese Taijiquan or Tai Chi in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. The inscription indicates that Taijiquan, a shared cultural heritage, is widely recognized by the international community. After joining the ICH, Taiji enthusiasts from all over China gathered in Chenjiagou, Wenxian County, Henan Province, an important place that inherited Taiji culture and the birthplace of Taijiquan, for the opening ceremony of the Taijiquan Inheritance and Development Conference .
To ensure the continuity of the preservation of Taijiquan, the responsible organizers opened the Second Conference on the Heritage and Development of Taijiquan and Tourism Department of Henan Province, the CPC Jiaozuo Municipal Committee and the Jiaozuo Municipal on December 17, 2021 in Chenjiagou, Wenxian County People Government under the auspices of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The opening ceremony featured a video message from the ICH Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and saw the release of a plan of activities to celebrate the first anniversary of Taijiquan being on the ICH List by Li Peihua, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Wenxian County Committee and Governor of Wenxian County and speeches from representative heirs of seven Taijiquan community programs. Eight guests, including Jiang Jiding, Secretary of the Leading Party Group and General Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Henan Province, and Taijiquan heirs lit the opening ball for this year’s conference.
When the launch ball took to the sky, the Taijiquan global flash mob campaign was launched. The campaign featured unified fist-and-palm solutions from global Taijiquan practitioners shown in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as international landmarks like Times Square in New York and the Sydney Opera House, to mark the first celebrate anniversary of the I-inscription of Taijiquan.
In recent years, the Wenxian CCP County Committee and the county government have taken the inheritance, preservation, promotion, promotion, and commercialization of Taijiquan very seriously. The relevant authorities hosted several major competitions and events, such as the First Taijiquan Conference on Heritage and Development, the International Taijiquan Exchange Competition, the International Taijiquan Summit Forum, and the National Wushu Taijiquan Open Competition. In particular, the Belt and Road China Tai Chi Culture World Tour and the worldwide Taijiquan practice demonstration by 10 million people in 100 cities had a positive impact on the whole world.
Wenxian County, the cradle of Taijiquan, has developed Taijiquan-related cultural tourism segments such as Taijiquan plus tourism, wellness, education or production in order to find a unique, new industrial path. The county has also improved local support services and facilities including transportation, food, lodging and tourism, which has effectively increased the competitiveness and visibility of the Chenjiagou Taijiquan Cultural Tourism Zone. The Chenjiagou Taijiquan Cultural Tourism Zone is rated as a provincial tourist resort, one of the “2020 China Sports Culture Outstanding Projects”, one of China’s top 10 sports tourism attractions, and a base for popular science education and cultural industry demonstration at the provincial level. and sports tourism demonstration base.
Taijiquan, a symbol of traditional Chinese culture and a jewel of oriental culture, has become an important link for Sino-foreign cultural exchange. Taijiquan has been introduced in more than 150 countries and territories, with Taijiquan organizations in more than 80 countries and territories and hundreds of millions of practitioners. Every year around 800,000 Taijiquan enthusiasts visited Chenjiagou to make a pilgrimage in search of roots.
Yang Lei, secretary of the CCP Wenxian County Committee, said, “Wenxian’s strategic goal in the future will be to establish a Tai Chi Town of the World and Wellness Hub of China.” To this end, we will work to facilitate the inheritance, preservation, promotion, promotion, and commercialization of Taijiquan in order to increase its worldwide influence and popularity. We will continue to use the role of Taijiquan in building a community with a common future for humanity. “
