在过去的这段日子里，来自五湖四海的我们一起享用美妙的中国美食，一起畅饮啤酒或者小酌中国白酒，一起乘坐汽车或火车去各地采风，从陌生人变为朋友。

        带着恋恋不舍的心情与分离的忧伤，近120位出席首届浙江省国际友城媒体合作传播论坛的外国嘉宾，挥手告别刚刚结识的朋友。我也是其中一员。

        在过去的这段日子里，来自五湖四海的我们一起享用美妙的中国美食，一起畅饮啤酒或者小酌中国白酒，一起乘坐汽车或火车去各地采风，从陌生人变为朋友。

        怀着激动心情，我们从大运河最南端的杭州乘车出发，前往良渚博物院参观，博物院里集中展示了新石器时代的良渚文化。中国的文明源远流长，而良渚正是中国古代文明的摇篮之一。从出土的陶器、漆器以及玉器来看，良渚工匠心灵手巧。

        亲眼得见被联合国科教文组织列为世界遗产的5300年前良渚古城遗址，我们心潮澎湃。中国政府投入大量人力物力保护这一文化遗产，我们深感钦佩。在这方面，很多国家都可以向中国学习。

        良渚博物馆参观结束后，我们乘车前往桐乡市北部的乌镇。作为中国南方的典型古镇，乌镇的民居鳞次栉比，青砖灰瓦白墙形成鲜明对照，这让我们印象深刻。沿河漫步，我遇见了石桥、柱廊、水榭、河埠、木窗木门。如画般的风景让我们着迷。我甚至梦想在这样风景宜人的村庄里过着美好的生活。

        乌镇的印花蓝布在世界享有盛名。事实上，乌镇是印花蓝布的起源地之一。实地观赏印花蓝布的制作，再次让我们意识到中国古代的手工业有多么辉煌。

        我们夜宿乌镇。晚饭后，我们都在乌镇闲逛。河道两旁灯火璀璨，建筑物的细节和石桥轮廓，在恰到好处的灯光中一一显现。

        第二天一大早，我们启程前往杭州湾大桥。大桥全长36公里，横跨位于华东长江三角洲的杭州湾和钱塘江。它将上海与宁波之间的陆地距离缩短了120公里，驾驶通行时间从4小时缩短到2个半小时。建设这座大桥充满挑战，这让媒体团清楚地认识到中国日益强大的经济实力，以及这座桥将对长江三角洲的经济发展做出怎样的贡献。

        这一点同样显现在宁波舟山港，作为一个超级大港，它连续10年货物吞吐量全球第一。港口位于中国南北交通和沿海海运路线的交汇点。宁波舟山港通过运河网络联通重要的内河航运直达中国内陆，成为连接“一带一路”经济带的重要节点。宁波舟山港与世界上100多个国家和地区的近600个港口有贸易往来。这次参观中，我们还得知5G技术已在这一现代化港口投入使用，使得集装箱信息服务更为可靠，集装箱监管也更为迅捷有效。

        宁波这座城市活力彰显，新经济发展朝气蓬勃，是浙江通向世界的门户。提一句，我最为钦佩的大提琴家之一马友友，祖籍宁波。

        采风之行的最后一天，我们乘坐高铁从宁波返回杭州。造型优美、极具现代感的列车以时速300多公里的速度行驶，窗外的乡野风景一闪而过。我们每个人都很兴奋，唱歌拍照，很是开心，一小时旅程转眼结束。

        当天晚上，在告别晚宴上，在采风行程中的经历和有关浙江的经济发展，自然而然地成为我们共同的话题。我们回忆同出同进宛若一家的团队经历，回想在旅程中每次拍集体照时摆出的“狂热”姿势，不禁大笑。晚宴后，我们还观看了《印象西湖》表演，这是我们在浙江采风行的最后一站，大家甚至感觉有点“忧伤”。

        不过，我们将会把所见所闻带回各自的国家。最为重要的，此行将让浙江和我们各自国家之间的友谊和关联，以及中国和国际社会的友谊和关联变得更为密切。对我们之中大多人来说，离开不是告别，而是各自珍重、下次再见。

Building Lasting Bridges of Friendship in Beautiful Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province

It was with appreciation, sadness, and many embraces that the 70 foreign guests who attended the commendable “Zhejiang Media Cooperation and Communication Forum with International  Friendship Cities“ held in the dynamic city of Hangzhou, had to say goodbye to their newly gained Chinese and foreign friends on 14 October.

What was so important during the Forum was the opportunity afforded to have ongoing informal exchanges, establishing new contacts and friends, not only with our gracious Chinese hosts but also among all the foreign delegates. In fact, many new friendships were forged while enjoying the excellent Chinese cuisine, or over a glass of beer or Chinese white wine or during our pleasant bus or train trips.

All the foreign delegates were very enthused about the prospect of seeing more of the beautiful  Zhejiang Province particularly having heard about the Province’s colorful history inter alia during the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties and in fact serving as the capital during the Song Era. We were also aware of the fact that Zhejiang Province is one of the most prosperous and developed provinces in China. In this regard, we noted that Zhejiang province has followed its own development model, described as the “Zhejiang model” with the unique “Zhejiang spirit “ and its strong focus on prioritizing entrepreneurship that has become legendary in China and abroad.

It was therefore with great excitement that we boarded the buses in Hangzhou, the southern terminus of the remarkable Grand Canal, heading for one of Zhejiang Province’s most amazing cultural sites, the Liangzhu Museum, an archeological museum dedicated to the Neolithic Liangzhu culture. In fact, Zhejiang is one of the birthplaces of ancient Chinese civilization where human activities can be traced back to more than one million years. The Liangzhu people were very skilled craftspeople as reflected by the pottery, laquer ware and jade artifacts unearthed. It was fascinating to view the remains of the Archeological Ruins of Liangzhu which date back 5,300 years and which was also inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage list recently.  All of us appreciated and admired the effort, human resources and funding that the Chinese authorities were making available to preserve its cultural heritage. There are a lot of lessons that our countries could learn from China in this regard.

We now headed by bus to Wuzhen, lying in the northern part of Tongxiang City, a typical 1,300-year-old ancient town in Southern China and one of China’s top ten historical and cultural towns. Wuzhen is one of the six famous ancient water towns south of the Yangtze River. The small town with its charming houses and black bricks and gray tiles contrasting sharply with the white walls made a great impression on us. It was wonderful to wander along the riverside with its many stone bridges, colonnades, balconies, piers, wooden windows, and doors. We were struck by the picturesque scenery and had dreams of living in a little charming and relaxed village like this with its agreeable atmosphere!

 Wuzhen is inter alia is also known for its blue printed cloth which is very famous around the world. In fact, Wuzhen is one of its original manufacturing locations. Watching the process of making blue printed cloth once again reminded all of us of the amazing craftsmanship of ancient China.

That evening we stayed over in Wuzhen and many of us took a stroll after dinner through the beautiful Village, with the streets and water beautifully lit, subtly highlighting various architectural features and bridges.

The next morning after a hearty breakfast we headed towards one of the many amazing engineering and transport feats in China, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge! The mesmerizing beauty of this spectacular bridge impressed the group immensely. This 36-kilometer-long ocean-crossing bridge is the longest ocean crossing in the world, spanning across the beautiful Hangzhou Bay on the East China Sea and crossing the Qiantang River at the Yangtze delta. It shortens the ground transport distance from Ningbo to Shanghai by 120 km and travel time from four to two and a half hours. The construction of this sea-crossing bridge, filled with challenges, was another clear indication to the group of China‘s increasing economic power and of how this bridge will contribute to boosting the economic development in the Yangtze River Delta, also called the Golden Industrial Triangle.

From here the group proceeded to the quaint little village of Fujialu, west of Chongshou, Cixi City, Ningbo where we admired the social progress, the relaxed village life and enjoyed captivating traditional Chinese music. We witnessed how top priority was being given by the authorities to the process of rural revitalization, based on a people-oriented urbanization concept of the integration of urban and rural development and the improvement of people’s livelihood. It was clear to the group during the visit that the enhancement of the residents’ living standards created a growing sense of happiness among the residents in this highly liveable village.

From here we traveled to the most impressive port of Ningbo and Zhoushan, one of the world’s busiest ports in terms of cargo tonnage. The port is at the crossroads of the north-south inland and coastal shipping routes, including canals to the important inland waterways to the interior of China and will be a key hub in connecting with the exciting Silk Road Economic Belt. The port maintains economic trade with almost 600 ports in more than 90 countries and regions in the world and is the third-largest container port in the world, after Shanghai and Singapore. The group was also fascinated to hear that 5G technology was already used at this modern port to facilitate reliable container communication services and establish faster and more effective container monitoring. This was a further concrete manifestation of China’s remarkable economic growth and development.

The evening was spent in the dynamic city of Ningbo situated on the estuary of the Grand Canal of China. It is indeed a “city of culture” and a “gateway to the world” with its very vibrant and open economy. It is also a city of great natural beauty being surrounded by mountains, rivers, and lakes. Among Ningbo‘s many talented artists and scholars is one of my own all-time personal favorite cellists namely Ma Yoyo!  We all regretted that we did not have time to visit Ningbo‘s famous tourism attractions like the Tainyige museum, Moon Lake, the Xikou Xuedou mountain scenic areas and others.

On the last day of our excursion, we were all very excited to board China‘s famous highspeed train from Ningbo back to Hangzhou. Everyone marveled at the sleek and modern train that clocked speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour with the countryside flying past! The train journey was interspersed with a lot of fun, singing, and photo-taking! The one hour train journey was over all too quickly and upon our return to Hangzhou, we were driven to an exquisite lunch venue during which we stopped at the famous and beautiful West Lake with its incredible scenery, serenity and panoramic views. The West Lake with its breathtaking beauty and cultural riches is indeed unique in a global nature and cultural context and is simply a must-see destination!

After lunch, we traveled to Dream Town in the antique town of Cangqian, Hangzhou as well as to Artificial Intelligence Town at the Hangzhou Sci-Tech City. The group stood in awe of these impressive manifestations of Chinese economic development and innovation. It was very evident to us, how China is very effectively seizing strategic opportunities in key business, science and technology realms, selecting strategic segments and priority areas relevant to long term development and actively promoting coordinated innovation, through focused and rational resource allocation. All of us could sense the spirit of tangible entrepreneurship, creativity, and enthusiasm at these amazing institutions. Once again, we agreed that there was so much that our countries could learn from China!

That evening, after a most enjoyable farewell dinner, sadly as our “last stop“, we attended the “Impressions of West Lake” performance which indeed left all of us with “enduring memories“of Hangzhou! We were all enthralled and deeply moved by this spectacular performance of music, light, and dance on the stunning West Lake, with nature, mountains, and water, as its “natural” backdrop. In a TV interview afterward, I said that that this stunning performance represented a perfect reflection of the interaction and harmony between nature, culture, and humanity! This stunning cultural manifestation was indeed a highlight and very fitting farewell to Hangzhou!

The next morning during our “sad farewells“, we could not stop talking about the impressive “cultural and economic treasures” of Hangzhou and Zhejiang Province, a message that all of us would take back to our home countries! We recalled the camaraderie, regular “group photos“, never-ending clicking of cameras, laughter and fun we had while we “discovered” the impressive Zhejiang Province.

Most importantly we forged closer friendship and relationships not only between Zhejiang Province and our respective countries but also between China and the international community at large. For most of us, it was not a question of saying goodbye but simply “until we meet again!”