Anthology celebrates Yangtze River's rich tapestry and history

Chongqing Yangtze River Culture Institute has recently unveiled what it describes as the world's first comprehensive anthology of travelogues focused on the Chuanjiang River and Shu Roads. Titled A Compendium of Travel Records on the Chuanjiang River and Shu Roads, this collection marks the institute's inaugural research milestone since its founding in March.

Revealed during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Yangtze River Civilization Forum in Chongqing on Sept 15, the anthology spans 140 volumes totaling over 40 million words. It features more than 500 documents by Chinese and foreign experts who traveled and researched the Chuanjiang, a section of the Yangtze River mainly flowing in Sichuan province, covering topics such as geology, hydrology, transportation, economics, customs, and the environment.

"This collection weaves a rich tapestry of stories from both Chinese and international perspectives, fostering cultural exchange and offering fresh insights into preserving the Shu Roads area. It also supports efforts to provide literature for the region's potential application for World Heritage site status," said Zou Fudu, director of the institute and vice-president of Southwest University.

The Chuanjiang River and Shu Roads encompass the ancient transportation systems of the Chuanjiang waterway and the Shu Roads land route. The Chuanjiang refers to the upper Yangtze River, extending 1,020 kilometers from Yibin in Sichuan to Yichang in Hubei province, and passing through Sichuan, Chongqing, and Hubei. Meanwhile, the ancient Shu Roads system, crossing Sichuan, Shaanxi province, Gansu province, and Chongqing, is a cultural heritage site that showcases the blend of China's human engineering and natural geography.

In addition to the compendium, the institute released the Yangtze River Civilization Book Series: Upstream of the Great River Series (Volume 1). This 1.6-million-word collection examines the civilization of the upper Yangtze River through its natural, historical, cultural, and social dimensions.

The concept of "great river civilizations" pertains to ancient societies that emerged along major rivers, which offered essential resources like water, fertile land, and transportation, thereby nurturing societal growth. Prominent examples include the Nile River civilization in Egypt, the Tigris-Euphrates civilization in Mesopotamia, the Indus civilization in South Asia, and the Yellow River and Yangtze River civilizations in China.

The forum, held from Sept 15 to 18 in Chongqing, attracted participants from nearly 20 countries, including Egypt, Brazil, India, and the United Kingdom. Attendees engaged in discussions on cultural exchange and the inheritance of civilization, emphasizing the integration of Yangtze River civilization with those of other great rivers like the Nile.

Eleven events, including the 2026 Concert of World Great Rivers, the 2026 World Great Rivers Poetry Festival, and the Yangtze River Culture Tour and Exchange, were held across the southwestern city.

The forum also launched a joint research project on comparative studies of world river civilizations, establishing a regular academic communication mechanism between China and other countries.

Guests included Martin Jacques, British scholar and visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics' Asia Research Centre; Gregory Pardlo, American poet and winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for poetry; and Glyn Maxwell, British poet and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and recipient of the 2014 Cholmondeley Award for poetry.

"A fundamental aspect of civilization is about rediscovering and exhuming the past. We are all engaged in this process. This conference is exploring a fascinating manifestation of this," remarked Jacques at the forum's opening ceremony.

Alaa Hussein Mahmoud Menshawy, former director-general of Luxor Museum of Ancient Egyptian Art, emphasized the mutual benefits of collaboration in an interview: "We want Chinese technology to help us save these archaeological sites, and we can support China in site management and excavation."

The forum, now in its fourth year, is jointly hosted by Chongqing and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It remains the only provincial and ministerial-level permanent cultural forum themed on "Crossing Rivers and Seas, Mutual Learning of Civilizations" in the Yangtze River basin.

The Yangtze, the world's third-longest river, stretches over 6,300 km 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 near Shanghai. 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.

Chongqing, a city with over 3,000 years of history, is strategically located along 691 km of the Yangtze River. This position highlights its role in preserving the river's civilization and serving as an ecological shield. Home to over 32 million people, the city leverages its rich cultural heritage and industrial strength to advance research on the Yangtze River civilization. It plays a pivotal role in China's western development strategy and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, while also connecting the Belt and Road Initiative with the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt, a national development strategy proposed by China's top leadership, aims to establish a new global model for major river governance and reshape development dynamics across the Yangtze River Basin. It is poised to serve as a groundbreaking model for ecological civilization, drive innovation-led growth, and provide a platform for coordinated development in China.