Huangpu River Festival revealing the best of Shanghai
Autumn is an ideal season to visit Shanghai. In concordance with the 2017 Shanghai Tourism Festival, which starts on September 9, up to 64 activities will be held to promote city walks, art and culture, and food and leisure across all neighborhoods and districts of Shanghai.
Themed on China's Road and Belt Initiative, this year's grand parade on the opening night will include 15 Silk Road countries and regions. Among the 23 participating foreign countries, Egypt, Israel and Croatia are going to showcase their distinctive cultures with floats on the busy streets of Shanghai for the first time.
During the monthlong tourism event, the Huangpu River Festival, named after the mother river of Shanghai, is going to be a new name card for Shanghai.
The two-day festival celebrates the completion of the 45-kilometer-long riverfront that connects four districts ─ Yangpu, Hongkou, Huangpu and Xuhui ─ and the Pudong New Area.
By then, more than half of the riverfront in downtown Shanghai will be accessible. A total of 500 hectares of public space along the Huangpu River will be filled with a slew of activities, including sporting events, concerts, performing arts, exhibitions, readings, as well as wining and dining parties.
On the opening night on September 23, a large-scale gala show will be presented at the Pudong section of the waterfront. The Jazz at Lincoln Center from the United States will stage two night performances at the Huangpu section of the riverfront, close to the intersection of Miaojiang and Wangda roads.
Other highlights of the festival include a 5-kilometer marathon relay through the city’s riverfront from Yangpu District to the Pudong New Area. Starting at 8am on September 24, each section plans to recruit 1,000 runners and lasts about an hour.
The race near the Xuhui section of the riverfront will be family run only, and all runners are encouraged to finish the race within 90 minutes. Those who are interested can register themselves at www.shang-ma.com.
The 5-kilometer marathon relay (in red, blue, yellow and green) through the city’s riverfront walkways from Yangpu District to the Pudong New Area starts at 8am on September 24.
At the same time, around 100 families with children between the ages of five and 12 will be invited to the Hongkou section of the riverfront to create a huge drawing covering 1,500 square meters under the guidance of Neil Buchanan, an English television presenter and musician best known for his work on the TV program “Art Attack.”
To register, check Shanghai Media Group’s news app “Knews24” for more information.
