The main-venue event of the 2026 Cultural Festival of Western Hills and Yongding River, Beijing was held on October 30. Staged within the distinctive industrial space of the No. 3 Blast Furnace at Shougang Park, the immersive blast furnace concert delivered a powerful cultural gala, illustrating the development achievements and renewed vitality of the Western Hills-Yongding River Cultural Belt.

This year's concert brought together famous artists, professional symphony orchestras and choirs for a 90-minute-long repertoire. Through sound and light effects, the performances breathed new-era vitality into the repurposed industrial heritage site.

A rich array of supporting activities took place on-site. On the afternoon of October 30, the west-side ring corridor on the second floor of the No.3 Blast Furnace hosted "Long-Lasting the Motherland, Ingenuity Gathered in Beijing" (山河永定 京聚匠心), a joint folk-art exhibition displaying folk cultural resources and local customs from eight districts along the Western Hills-Yongding River Cultural Belt. At the south square of Shougang Park, the a dynamic intangible cultural heritage (ICH) show centered on the "Two Parks and One River" (Shougang Park, the Beijing Garden Expo Park and the Yongding River) gave visitors direct exposure to time-honored heritage craftsmanship. Ten themed tourist routes under the theme "Lush Western Hills, Charming Yongding River" (西山含翠·永定流韵) were also unveiled. The routes invite visitors to witness the sweeping changes across the cultural belt.

Drawing on high-quality cultural, commercial, tourism, sports and exhibition resources from districts along the cultural belt, the festival arranged a suite of signature activities falling under four categories: cultural inheritance, culture-tourism integration, sports and leisure, and cultural communication. Venues including the Summer Palace, Yunju Temple and the Beijing International Sculpture Park launched special thematic exhibitions and ICH experience weeks.

The festival also launched the AI-driven creative and communication initiative "Western Hills and Yongding River: Rivers and Mountains in Brushstrokes" (西山永定·画里山河). The program builds an online outreach network via AI-enabled platforms to share cultural stories of the Western Hills and Yongding River through digital means.

(Source: Beijing Daily)