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東博會“魅力之城”探源、尋趣、賞魅

□ 文/本刊記者 文霞

前來參觀東博會的觀眾與東博會吉祥物“合合”合影

每年的中國—東盟博覽會（以下簡稱“東博會”）期間，“魅力之城”展區(qū)都是當(dāng)之無愧的“人氣之王”。自第2屆東博會設(shè)置“魅力之城”專題以來，每年會期，其所在展廳必是摩肩擦踵、歡聲鼎沸，觀眾們盡可在這一方小小天地中，飽覽東南亞風(fēng)情。通過參加?xùn)|博會“魅力之城”的展演推介，許多“養(yǎng)在深閨人未識”的東盟城市走進了大眾的視野和心里。近年來，柬埔寨暹粒、泰國清邁、越南芽莊等，借出任東博會魅城之機，逐步走紅，成為中國游客自助游的首選。越來越多東盟“魅城”借東博會平臺與中國的城市結(jié)為了友好城市。

2017年是“中國—東盟旅游合作年”，值此契機，讓我們隨著中國—東盟博覽會秘書處對外聯(lián)絡(luò)部副部長唐海先生一起走進東博會“魅力之城”專題，了解“魅城”的前世今生。

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“魅城”之源

一條漫漫湄公河，奔流不息，串聯(lián)了中國與中南半島的深重情誼；一支壯哉海航隊，乘風(fēng)破浪，溝通了情深意重、繁花似錦的百年商路，維系了一條相通相近的文明紐帶。自古以來，中國與東盟國家親近相鄰，或山水相連，或隔海相望，良好的區(qū)位優(yōu)勢和相同相近的文明底蘊，將中國和東盟國家緊密地聯(lián)系在一起。

“為深化中國與東盟的合作，推動雙方合作從國家層面進一步延伸到城市層面，東博會從第2屆起推出‘魅力之城’專題，11國根據(jù)當(dāng)屆東博會主題，選擇本國具有代表性的城市作為‘魅力之城’綜合展示其貿(mào)易、投資、科技、文化、旅游等方面的優(yōu)勢和商機?！睎|博會秘書處對外聯(lián)絡(luò)部副部長唐海說，“東博會是一個國際化的平臺，隨著中國—東盟合作的不斷深入，魅力之城專題有了更深層次的內(nèi)容，不僅在旅游、文化、教育等方面促進各國魅城之間相互交流，也推動了各國在產(chǎn)業(yè)園區(qū)和國際產(chǎn)能方面的深入合作?！?/p>

每個“魅力之城”都是由各國精心挑選。“每年東博會通常會確定一個主題，類似2016年的‘共建21世紀海上絲綢之路——共筑更緊密的中國—東盟命運共同體’，各國依據(jù)這個主題來選擇本國最符合的城市或地區(qū)作為‘魅城’。”唐海副部長說，“被選中的‘魅力之城’一般由其市政府牽頭組織相關(guān)經(jīng)貿(mào)、文化、旅游等部門和優(yōu)勢企業(yè)、機構(gòu)等共同成立代表團，通過特色產(chǎn)品展示、傳統(tǒng)文化展演、重點項目推介等豐富多彩的形式，在東博會‘魅城’展區(qū)全面展示自己的魅力。而具體的活動組織和策劃牽頭部門，每個國家的情況不太一樣，有的由本國的東博會共辦部門統(tǒng)籌，有的則是由‘魅城’的市政府負責(zé)。以泰國為例，有時候由東博會泰國共辦方泰國商業(yè)部統(tǒng)籌安排，有時候則由魅城當(dāng)?shù)厥姓?，這主要由各國政府視具體情況來安排。”

“魅城”之趣

“我們非常高興地看到‘魅力之城’專題這么受大家歡迎，這一切離不開每位展覽工作者的辛勤工作。”唐海副部長表示，從事對外聯(lián)絡(luò)工作這么多年來，與東盟國家結(jié)下了不解之緣，即便國情不同、文化存在些許差異，但并不影響彼此成為很好的合作伙伴，“東盟國家的友人們都是十分友善而熱情的?！?/p>

“記得有一年的‘魅力之城’很特別。一般我們的‘魅城’都是一國一個，但是那一年菲律賓的魅力之城多達4個！這是時任菲律賓總統(tǒng)格羅麗亞·阿羅約特別要求的。”唐海副部長回憶道，“時任菲律賓總統(tǒng)阿羅約覺得，菲律賓的風(fēng)光秀麗，一個‘魅城’不足以展現(xiàn)菲律賓之美，希望能多幾個城市更好、更全面地展現(xiàn)菲律賓的風(fēng)貌。雖然剛得到消息時我們有些驚訝，但這也從另一方面表明了東盟方對東博會‘魅城’專題效果的肯定。對我們來說，這是一件很有成就感的事情?！?/p>

中國和東盟國家都擁有大美河山和特色鮮明的歷史文化，旅游資源亦十分豐富。在聯(lián)合國教科文組織世界歷史遺產(chǎn)名錄上，東盟國家有11處自然景觀和17處文化遺產(chǎn)，中國則擁有50處，雙方的旅游市場都擁有巨大潛力。“中國—東盟”是旅游資源優(yōu)勢互補的“強上加強”模式，促進中國—東盟旅游合作，不僅帶動雙邊貿(mào)易，也使民眾“親上加親”。2015年中國居民出境游客超過1．2億人次，接待入境游客1．3億人次，預(yù)計到2020年中國居民人均出游次數(shù)還將翻一番。據(jù)東盟秘書處預(yù)計，2017年將有1.21億人次域外游客到東盟旅游。

“各國魅力之城的展位位置也不是隨意布置的，需要經(jīng)過一個抽簽儀式。在每年的東博會‘魅力之城’專題展區(qū)抽簽儀式上，抽簽環(huán)節(jié)都會有創(chuàng)新的設(shè)計，年年不重樣?！碧坪８辈块L說，“2016年的抽簽儀式就十分有意思，抽簽盤做成了大披薩餅的模樣，被切分為11等份，每塊‘小餅’背后分別標著1～11的阿拉伯?dāng)?shù)字，對應(yīng)11個‘魅城’展區(qū)的展位位置。每屆主題國第一個上臺抽簽，其余十國包括中國則按照國名英文首字母排序依次抽簽。2017年3月，在南寧例行舉辦的‘第14屆東博會高官會議’上，中國和東盟10國代表分別抽取了一塊‘披薩’，選定了本國的魅城展位位置，從1～11號展位依次是文萊、泰國、馬來西亞、新加坡、緬甸、老撾、菲律賓、越南、柬埔寨、印度尼西亞和中國?！?/p>

“魅城”之魅

志合者，不以山海為遠?！镑瘸恰彪S東博會走過12年，時間讓合作的誠意結(jié)出了碩果?！懊恳荒陽|博會之后，我們都會向各國‘魅城’收集反饋意見，不斷改進。像是2016年的越南‘魅城’邦美蜀，就是一個對中國游客來說比較冷門的城市。對于咖啡文化不是很了解的話，很多中國人可能在它來東博會推介之前并不知道它，可在第13屆東博會之后，人們都記住了這個越南的‘咖啡之都’。今年的‘2017得樂省咖啡節(jié)’，我們也收到越南方的盛情邀請，體驗一回越式咖啡風(fēng)情。

“‘魅力之城’就像一座橋梁，為各國加強城市間交流合作鋪設(shè)道路。它是東博會不可或缺的重要專題，也是大家走近東盟的最佳平臺。這些年，通過‘魅力之城’牽線搭橋成為姊妹城市、由國家合作延伸到城市間合作的成功案例不計其數(shù)。其中最為典型的就是‘兩國雙園’。中國欽州和馬來西亞關(guān)丹都曾被選為本國的‘魅力之城’，通過東博會平臺和兩國政府的全力推動，成功開創(chuàng)了‘兩國雙園’的國際合作新模式，為兩國創(chuàng)造了巨大的商機。此外，東博會舉辦地廣西已建立97對國際友好城市，與世界194個國家和地區(qū)開展貿(mào)易往來。

“我想，東博會‘魅力之城’專題的魅力，就在于把11國通過城市合作，更緊密地連在一起，形成東博會獨有的‘美景’吧。”唐海副部長說。

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When it comes to exhibitions appearing at the China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), which is held annually in Nanning, Guangxi, China, you may be told that City of Charm de fi nitely deserves to be the most attractive one. Since 2005, City of Charm has been set as a featured theme of each CAEXPO, giving visitors a great view of local customs and practices of Southeast Asian countries;meanwhile, through exhibitions or promotion activities, the Chinese public has known about numerous ASEAN cities such as Cambodia’s Siem Reap, Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Vietnam’s Nha Trang, which have been prioritized by Chinese self-service travellers as their destinations. Furthermore, it is CAEXPO’s City of Charm that has helped more and more ASEAN’s Cities of Charm forge a sister-city relationship with their counterparts in China.

The year 2017 has been set as “China-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation Year”. The other day, Mr. Tang Hai, deputy head of the International Liaison Department under the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat, presented the general information of City of Charm when accepting the interview byChina-ASEAN Panorama.

The origin of City of Charm

China and ASEAN countries have been neighbors linked by waters and mountains since ancient times, and they have long been closely associated with each other, thanks to favorable regional advantages and similar cultural background.

“It was at the 2ndCAEXPO that City of Charm was launched,aiming to reinforce China-ASEAN cooperation and to help extend the state-level bilateral cooperation to the city level. China and ASEAN countries can choose a local city consistent with the theme of CAEXPO to be displayed comprehensively every year, through which visitors can learn about each city’s advantages and business opportunities in terms of trade, investment, science & technology, culture,tourism and so on,” said Mr. Tang, “CAEXPO serves as an international platform. As China-ASEAN cooperation continues to deepen, the connotation of City of Charm has been enriched, which is not only embodied by increasinglyenhanced mutual exchanges pertaining to tourism, culture and education but also by the closer cooperation between them in industrial parks and international industrial-capacity.”

Virtually, each City of Charm presented was elaborately selected by the participating countries. If a local city is designated as the City of Charm, as introduced by Mr. Tang,its municipal government will partner with not only sectors in charge of economy and trade, culture and tourism but also competitive enterprises or institutions to set up a delegation,which is committed to comprehensively demonstrating the city’s charm in various forms such as featured products displaying, traditional culture performance and key projects promotion.

The joy of City of Charm

“We are very delighted that City of Charm has been favored by the public, which is attributed to a lot of hard work by everybody who engaged in the exhibition,” noted Mr. Tang,adding that the af fi nity between ASEAN countries and him has taken shape during the years of working on international liaison and that differences in national conditions and culture cannot prevent him from fostering a good partnership with his counterparts in ASEAN.

“I remember that there was a very special year for City of Charm. Each participating country generally selects one city to be displayed in the City of Charm Pavilion each year, but the number of Cities of Charm introduced by the Philippines was as many as four in that year, a special request of the then Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to us,” recalled Mr.Tang, “Arroyo thought that one City of Charm could not suf fi ciently reveal the Philippines’ spectacular scenery, so she hoped that additional cities could be allowed to better and to more comprehensively show the Philippines’ charm. Though we were a little surprised upon hearing this news, on the other hand, it embodied ASEAN countries’ af fi rmation of City of Charm provided by CAEXPO. For us, it gave us a great sense of accomplishment.”

Both China and ASEAN countries abound in tourism resources, including magnificent landscapes, as well as distinctive history and cultures. Looking through the UNESCO World Heritage List, you will fi nd that ASEAN has 11 natural-landscape sites and 17 cultural heritages placed on it, while China has 50 in total. Thus, it can be seen that the two sides’ tourist markets have enormous potential to be unleashed.China and ASEAN complement each other in terms of tourism resources; therefore, facilitating bilateral cooperation can not only expand the scale of two-way trade but also make people in the region more associated with each other. Statistically,over 120 million Chinese residents chose to travel abroad in 2015 while 130 million foreign tourists arrived in China for sightseeing. The per capita tourism frequency of Chinese citizens is estimated to double by 2020 while it is predicted that 121 million tourists outside ASEAN would go sightseeing in ASEAN countries in 2017, according to ASEAN Secretariat.For the location of each participating City of Charm, Mr. Tang said that it is not arranged randomly, but decided by drawing lots, during which creative ideas are absorbed each year.

The fascination of City of Charm

“We routinely solicit ideas from the sponsors of Cities of Charm to for a better improvement when each CAEXPO finishes,” noted Mr. Tang. Speaking of the fascination of City of Charm, Vietnam’s Buon Ma Thuo, for instance, once was a city where few Chinese tourists had been, while it has been borne in mind that it is a city rich in coffee after the 13thCAEXPO held in 2016.

City of Charm is just like a bridge for exchanges and cooperation between cities of China and ASEAN. Currently,it has been an indispensable part of CAEXPO, and has evolved into an optimal platform to know ASEAN. Since the introduction of City of Charm, innumerable successful stories about sister city, as well as state-level and even city-level cooperation have been written. “Two Countries,Twin Parks”, for example, is the most impressive one. Both China’s Qinzhou and Malaysia’s Kuantan used to be selected as the City of Charm. It is through CAEXPO and the joint efforts of the two governments that a new international cooperation model has been created, bringing enormous business opportunities to the two countries. In addition,Guangxi, the venue of CAEXPO, has established 97 pairs of sister-city relationship with its counterparts outside China, and has made business contacts with 194 countries or regions throughout the world.

The Origin, Joy and Fascination of CAEXPO’s City of Charm

Written by Wen Xia / Translated by Xu Zhiliang