Yangtze River civilization research gains new base in Chongqing

Chongqing, a river city with more than 3,000 years of history, is turning to its rich cultural roots to strengthen its research on Yangtze River civilization with the launch of a new dedicated institution.

The Chongqing Yangtze River Culture Research Institute was officially inaugurated at Southwest University on March 18. The move marks a significant step in the city's efforts to study, preserve, transmit, and creatively develop Yangtze River culture.

"How to effectively protect, inherit, and promote Yangtze River culture is a major mission of our time," says Zou Fudu, vice-president of Southwest University and director of the new institute. He adds that the university will actively collaborate with other universities and research institutions nationwide to carry out systematic, innovative and pioneering research on the protection, inheritance, and promotion of Yangtze River culture.

Under its five-year development plan, the institute aims to become a nationally leading research institution with a global perspective. It will integrate Chongqing's unique characteristics, consolidate innovative achievements, and contribute to national strategies.

The project will focus on systematic research and interpretation of the Yangtze River cultural system, conservation and spatial planning of the cultural ecosystem, revitalization and living inheritance of cultural traditions, as well as cross-cultural exchanges among major river civilizations and international communication of Yangtze River culture.

The Yangtze, the world's third-longest river, flows 6,300 kilometers from glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau through Chongqing, Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, and Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. About 691 km of the river runs through Chongqing.

For thousands of years, the river has sustained communities along its banks with abundant natural resources. As one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, it provides drinking water for more than 400 million people.

Located along the river's upper reaches, Chongqing is home to over 32 million people and combines strong industrial capacity with strategic geographic advantages. It serves as a key pivot in China's western development strategy and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, while also linking the Belt and Road Initiative with the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

"The interaction, mutual assistance, and relay of the two great civilizations represented by the Yellow River and the Yangtze River have shaped the remarkable development of Chinese civilization," says Hu A'xiang, a history professor at Nanjing University.

He notes that while the Yellow River laid the foundation for the early prosperity of Chinese civilization, the Yangtze River has played a leading role for nearly 1,000 years.

"Research on Yangtze River culture should adopt multidimensional perspectives to conduct more comprehensive and in-depth explorations. The establishment of the Chongqing Yangtze River Culture Research Institute adds another professional academic platform for Yangtze River culture research," he says.

Similar research organizations exist in Hubei and Jiangsu provinces, such as the Hubei Province Yangtze River Cultural Institute and the Yangtze River Culture Research Institute at Yangzhou University in Jiangsu.

As both an ecological barrier and a cultural center in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Chongqing has nurtured unique Bayu culture, gorge culture and immigrant culture. Ba and Yu are the historical names of Chongqing.

In recent years, the city has stepped up efforts to promote Yangtze River culture.

Since 2023, Chongqing has hosted the Yangtze River Civilization Forum for three consecutive years. Last year, the event attracted experts and scholars from the United Kingdom, Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan, and other countries who study the Nile River basin, ancient Mesopotamia, the Amazon and Indus river basins, and other great river civilizations.

In 2023, Chongqing partnered with Cairo to pursue joint World Cultural Heritage status for Baiheliang in Chongqing and the Raoudha Nilometer in Egypt.

Baiheliang, or White Crane Ridge, is a giant stone ridge in the Fuling section of the Yangtze's upper reaches. Ancient people carved fish images and inscriptions into the rock to record water levels, creating what is widely regarded as the world's earliest hydrological monitoring system, used from 763 to 1963.

The nilometer, an Egyptian invention for measuring Nile water levels, is represented by the Raoudha Nilometer in Cairo. It remains one of the best-preserved examples of this ancient technology.