Anyone who has read the Chinese classic Three Kingdoms will be familiar with Jingzhou, as a third of the battles mentioned in the book were fought there, some 1,700 years ago.
Yesterday, however, the city on the Yangtze played host to a more peaceful event - the Olympic torch relay.
The Jingzhou leg was the last of three in Hubei province, after Wuhan, the provincial capital, and Yichang, home to Three Gorges Dam.
Yesterday's route mostly followed the ancient city walls, which were first built at the order of Emperor Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC), the first ruler of a unified China and whose mausoleum in Xi'an features the world-famous terracotta warriors.
Over the centuries that followed, the walls were extended and rebuilt many times by emperors and generals, including Guan Yu of the Three Kingdoms Dynasty (AD 220-280), and the first emperors of both the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
The walls were also demolished several times, including by the Khitans during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and by Kublai Khan during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
The walls that stand in Jingzhou today were built in the 17th century.
Wang Xiangxi, mayor of Jingzhou, said: "Jingzhou is an old city that has experienced many ups and downs. We want to take this opportunity of staging the Olympic torch relay to showcase the Chu culture, which is as ancient as the Greek one, but still waiting to be explored."
Jingzhou is regarded as the heart of Chu culture, which was centered on the powerful Chu State in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and Warring States Period (475-221 BC).
Over recent years, many artifacts from those periods, including bronzes, lacquer ware, silks and writings on bamboo strips, have been unearthed in and around the city.
Yesterday's relay featured 208 torchbearers, 18 of them foreigners.
Among them was James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce China, who was sponsored by the computer maker Lenovo Group.
He said he was carrying the torch as "a representative of US investors and the American people in general".
After leaving Jingzhou, the Olympic flame moved on to Hunan.
The province will host a three-day relay from today, which will visit the ancient city of Yueyang, the provincial capital Changsha and Mao Zedong's hometown of Shaoshan.
Source: China Daily
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article