A launch ceremony for 2022 China Tourism and Culture Week was held on Sept 6 in Beijing, officially starting a global event which runs until the end of this month.

During the event, overseas Chinese culture centers and tourism offices along with international branches of people.com.cn will host a series of online and offline art exhibits, video shows, lectures, and forums, centered on five thematic parts -- intangible cultural heritage and poverty reduction, revitalization of rural China, urban development, Yellow River culture, and tourism and culture along the Silk Road.

The aim of staging this global project is “to showcase a real, beautiful China -- its latest innovation, progress and achievement in tourism and cultural sectors, its rich tourism products and services, as well as its initiatives to promote international exchange and cooperation between China and the rest of the world”, said Hu Heping, culture and tourism minister, in a keynote speech at the launch ceremony.

An online learning platform for Chinese Tourism courses (https://course.chinaculture.org/) developed by the Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for tourism agencies and tour guides worldwide was unveiled during the ceremony.

Initiated in 2016 and co-sponsored by the Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation and the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and people.com.cn, the annual overseas tourism and culture week is widely recognized as a key vehicle to promote Chinese culture and tourism worldwide.