All the way to the west along the Qiantang River, where it meets the Fuchun River, lies a long strip of land directly looking at the rivers. This piece of land is known as the Zhijiang area. The Zhijiang area not only refers to the Zhijiang National Tourism Resort, it also includes places such as Zhuantang and Shuangpu. On the west, it is adjacent to the Fuyang district by the river, and on the east, it faces the districts of Binjiang and Xiaoshan across the river. 

Sitting right in the middle, the Zhijiang area has naturally become the focal point for the Zhijiang Art Corridor, and the plan to establish the corridor was announced at a recent press conference themed “Preserving Party’s ‘Red Roots’ and Making Zhejiang ‘an Important Window of China’” and held by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Zhejiang Provincial Committee. The first batch of projects selected for the corridor include the Archeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, the China National Archival Library of Publications (Hangzhou Center), the China Academy of Art, the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, the Zhijiang Cultural Industry Belt, the Southern Song Dynasty Imperial City Ruins, the Editorial Center of the Series of Ancient Chinese Paintings, the Zhejiang Art Museum, the China National Silk Museum, the Zhijiang Screenwriters’ Village, the China Internet Writers’ Village, among others. 

Meanwhile, the plan has been written into the newly published Roadmap to Build Zhejiang into a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity through High-Quality Development. It is a continuation of the “Double-Eight Development Strategy”, which, published on August 8, 2003, has pointed out that “the cultural resources of Zhejiang should be fully tapped so as to build a culturally advanced province”. The establishment of the Zhijiang Art Corridor is a crucial step towards achieving the goal; it is also a response to the call of the new era: to realize common prosperity, it is imperative to focus first on cultural development.

Similar to the Hangzhou West Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, which is centered on science and technology innovation, the Zhijiang Art Corridor is just another major strategic decision made by Zhejiang province to drive cultural innovation. Since its launch four years ago, the Hangzhou West Science and Innovation Corridor has achieved high-quality and high-speed leapfrog development: average annual growth rate of industrial added value stands at 22.1%, average annual growth rate of high-tech industry at 21.9% and the added value of digital economy core industries accounts for one quarter of the province’s total. If the Science and Innovation Corridor is any indication, Zhjiang Art Corridor will become another driver for economic growth, supported by the robust development of cultural industry: in the first half of 2020, the added value of Hangzhou’s cultural industry reached 228.5 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2% over the previous year. 

As an indispensable component of art, architecture is an essential part of many art projects and the unique charm of the Zhijiang Art Corridor can be found in the architectures of those sites which are located within.

Surrounded by green hills and clear waters, the Xiangshan campus of the China Academy of Art is thus called largely because the Xiangshan Mountain lies right in the middle of the campus. Overseen by Professor Wang Shu, the first Chinese citizen to win the Pritzker Prize, the world’s top prize in architecture, the overall planning of the campus is specially tailored for ecological protection, as well as creating an open, inviting and garden-like atmosphere. On the campus, many corridors or structures that stride, go through or are attached to buildings, waters and hillsides can be found, which serve not only as footpaths, but also as places for communication and exhibition or even as venues for classes and meetings. 

Looked at from afar, the silhouette of Zhejiang Art Museum lowers from Yuhuang Mountain in the east layer by layer to the west, “as if a giant stone tumbling down”, blending eventually with the West Lake. Cheng Taining, designer of the museum, went to great lengths to make its roof look like a traditional Jiangnan (south of the Yangtze River) sloping roof. “White walls and black tiles, with a Jiangnan style” is the basis, and the use of steel, glass and stone materials and the interspersion of square cones and horizontal blocks lend the building a strong feel of sculpture. Paul Andreu, designer of National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, once said that if another architectural project like that of the Zhejiang Art Museum came up, he would definitely join. 

The whole campus of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, on the other hand, takes the shape of a butterfly, with the symbolic meaning of “breaking out of the cocoon and transforming into a butterfly”. An avenue of musical notes, resembling the staff, runs through the campus from west to east. The 16 teaching and office buildings as well as dormitories spread on the campus like musical notes on sheet music.

Underlying these remarkable architectural buildings is a sense of cultural confidence and cultural self-awareness, and, above all, a commitment to the historical responsibility of cultural development. Indeed, each and every project selected for the Zhijiang Art Corridor is a veritable cultural landmark.

The Archeological Ruins of Liangzhu City is one of China’s largest prehistoric city sites, long hailed as the “First City of China”. It shows and testifies to the great achievement of prehistoric rice-cultivating civilization of China’s over 5,000 years ago, and is an outstanding example of early urban civilization. The Southern Song Dynasty Imperial City Ruins, one of the most important capital cities in Zhejiang’s history and throughout the Chinese history, reveals an imperial palace with over 130 halls and pavilions. A large number of stone carvings are well preserved in the former imperial garden on the Phoenix Mountain, which is expected to be turned into the Southern Song Dynasty Imperial Palace Heritage Park. As Zhejiang’s oldest higher institution of music, the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music is one of the main cradles of modern music education in China, and the China Academy of Art has produced crops of top talent since its inception in 1928. 

Ultimately, the aesthetic value of architectures and the cultural significance of these landmarks are meant to help improve the quality of life. Gao Shiming, president of the China Academy of Art, proposed to develop the Zhijiang Art Corridor into the largest community of art education in the world, in which every one is able to enjoy an artistic life. In fact, the Xiangshan campus of the China Academy of Art has already brought palpable changes to neighboring areas since its opening in 2007. A nearby village called Waitongwu village saw two of its tea processing plants repurposed and changed into art galleries, and over 20 artists have set up painting and sculpture studios here. 

Another “village”, hidden within the Xixi National Wetland Park, is the newly launched Zhijiang Screenwriters’ Village. Quite a few heavyweights, including Liu Heping, best known for his historical works such as All Quiet in Peking, have already been attracted to the place, and will mentor young and aspiring screenwriters. Forums, workshops and training camps will be also held regularly for these screenwriters.