□ 文/本刊記者 文霞

東博會(huì)“魅力之城”探源、尋趣、賞魅

□ 文/本刊記者 文霞

前來(lái)參觀東博會(huì)的觀眾與東博會(huì)吉祥物“合合”合影

每年的中國(guó)—東盟博覽會(huì)（以下簡(jiǎn)稱“東博會(huì)”）期間，“魅力之城”展區(qū)都是當(dāng)之無(wú)愧的“人氣之王”。自第2屆東博會(huì)設(shè)置“魅力之城”專題以來(lái)，每年會(huì)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(guò)參加?xùn)|博會(huì)“魅力之城”的展演推介，許多“養(yǎng)在深閨人未識(shí)”的東盟城市走進(jìn)了大眾的視野和心里。近年來(lái)，柬埔寨暹粒、泰國(guó)清邁、越南芽莊等，借出任東博會(huì)魅城之機(jī)，逐步走紅，成為中國(guó)游客自助游的首選。越來(lái)越多東盟“魅城”借東博會(huì)平臺(tái)與中國(guó)的城市結(jié)為了友好城市。

2017年是“中國(guó)—東盟旅游合作年”，值此契機(jī)，讓我們隨著中國(guó)—東盟博覽會(huì)秘書(shū)處對(duì)外聯(lián)絡(luò)部副部長(zhǎng)唐海先生一起走進(jìn)東博會(huì)“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(guó)與中南半島的深重情誼；一支壯哉海航隊(duì)，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(lái)，中國(guó)與東盟國(guó)家親近相鄰，或山水相連，或隔海相望，良好的區(qū)位優(yōu)勢(shì)和相同相近的文明底蘊(yùn)，將中國(guó)和東盟國(guó)家緊密地聯(lián)系在一起。

“為深化中國(guó)與東盟的合作，推動(dòng)雙方合作從國(guó)家層面進(jìn)一步延伸到城市層面，東博會(huì)從第2屆起推出‘魅力之城’專題，11國(guó)根據(jù)當(dāng)屆東博會(huì)主題，選擇本國(guó)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(shì)和商機(jī)?！睎|博會(huì)秘書(shū)處對(duì)外聯(lián)絡(luò)部副部長(zhǎng)唐海說(shuō)，“東博會(huì)是一個(gè)國(guó)際化的平臺(tái)，隨著中國(guó)—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(jìn)各國(guó)魅城之間相互交流，也推動(dòng)了各國(guó)在產(chǎn)業(yè)園區(qū)和國(guó)際產(chǎn)能方面的深入合作。”

每個(gè)“魅力之城”都是由各國(guó)精心挑選。“每年?yáng)|博會(huì)通常會(huì)確定一個(gè)主題，類似2016年的‘共建21世紀(jì)海上絲綢之路——共筑更緊密的中國(guó)—東盟命運(yùn)共同體’，各國(guó)依據(jù)這個(gè)主題來(lái)選擇本國(guó)最符合的城市或地區(qū)作為‘魅城’?！碧坪８辈块L(zhǎng)說(shuō)，“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(mén)和優(yōu)勢(shì)企業(yè)、機(jī)構(gòu)等共同成立代表團(tuán)，通過(guò)特色產(chǎn)品展示、傳統(tǒng)文化展演、重點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目推介等豐富多彩的形式，在東博會(huì)‘魅城’展區(qū)全面展示自己的魅力。而具體的活動(dòng)組織和策劃牽頭部門(mén)，每個(gè)國(guó)家的情況不太一樣，有的由本國(guó)的東博會(huì)共辦部門(mén)統(tǒng)籌，有的則是由‘魅城’的市政府負(fù)責(zé)。以泰國(guó)為例，有時(shí)候由東博會(huì)泰國(guó)共辦方泰國(guó)商業(yè)部統(tǒng)籌安排，有時(shí)候則由魅城當(dāng)?shù)厥姓@主要由各國(guó)政府視具體情況來(lái)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(kāi)每位展覽工作者的辛勤工作?！碧坪８辈块L(zhǎng)表示，從事對(duì)外聯(lián)絡(luò)工作這么多年來(lái)，與東盟國(guó)家結(jié)下了不解之緣，即便國(guó)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(guó)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(guó)一個(gè)，但是那一年菲律賓的魅力之城多達(dá)4個(gè)！這是時(shí)任菲律賓總統(tǒng)格羅麗亞·阿羅約特別要求的?！碧坪８辈块L(zhǎng)回憶道，“時(shí)任菲律賓總統(tǒng)阿羅約覺(jué)得，菲律賓的風(fēng)光秀麗，一個(gè)‘魅城’不足以展現(xiàn)菲律賓之美，希望能多幾個(gè)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(shí)我們有些驚訝，但這也從另一方面表明了東盟方對(duì)東博會(huì)‘魅城’專題效果的肯定。對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)，這是一件很有成就感的事情?！?/p>

中國(guó)和東盟國(guó)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(guó)教科文組織世界歷史遺產(chǎn)名錄上，東盟國(guó)家有11處自然景觀和17處文化遺產(chǎn)，中國(guó)則擁有50處，雙方的旅游市場(chǎng)都擁有巨大潛力。“中國(guó)—東盟”是旅游資源優(yōu)勢(shì)互補(bǔ)的“強(qiáng)上加強(qiáng)”模式，促進(jìn)中國(guó)—東盟旅游合作，不僅帶動(dòng)雙邊貿(mào)易，也使民眾“親上加親”。2015年中國(guó)居民出境游客超過(guò)1．2億人次，接待入境游客1．3億人次，預(yù)計(jì)到2020年中國(guó)居民人均出游次數(shù)還將翻一番。據(jù)東盟秘書(shū)處預(yù)計(jì)，2017年將有1.21億人次域外游客到東盟旅游。

“各國(guó)魅力之城的展位位置也不是隨意布置的，需要經(jīng)過(guò)一個(gè)抽簽儀式。在每年的東博會(huì)‘魅力之城’專題展區(qū)抽簽儀式上，抽簽環(huán)節(jié)都會(huì)有創(chuàng)新的設(shè)計(jì)，年年不重樣。”唐海副部長(zhǎng)說(shuō)，“2016年的抽簽儀式就十分有意思，抽簽盤(pán)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(biāo)著1～11的阿拉伯?dāng)?shù)字，對(duì)應(yīng)11個(gè)‘魅城’展區(qū)的展位位置。每屆主題國(guó)第一個(gè)上臺(tái)抽簽，其余十國(guó)包括中國(guó)則按照國(guó)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(huì)高官會(huì)議’上，中國(guó)和東盟10國(guó)代表分別抽取了一塊‘披薩’，選定了本國(guó)的魅城展位位置，從1～11號(hào)展位依次是文萊、泰國(guó)、馬來(lái)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(guó)。”

“魅城”之魅

志合者，不以山海為遠(yuǎn)?！镑瘸恰彪S東博會(huì)走過(guò)12年，時(shí)間讓合作的誠(chéng)意結(jié)出了碩果?！懊恳荒?yáng)|博會(huì)之后，我們都會(huì)向各國(guó)‘魅城’收集反饋意見(jiàn)，不斷改進(jìn)。像是2016年的越南‘魅城’邦美蜀，就是一個(gè)對(duì)中國(guó)游客來(lái)說(shuō)比較冷門(mén)的城市。對(duì)于咖啡文化不是很了解的話，很多中國(guó)人可能在它來(lái)東博會(huì)推介之前并不知道它，可在第13屆東博會(huì)之后，人們都記住了這個(gè)越南的‘咖啡之都’。今年的‘2017得樂(lè)省咖啡節(jié)’，我們也收到越南方的盛情邀請(qǐng)，體驗(yàn)一回越式咖啡風(fēng)情。

“‘魅力之城’就像一座橋梁，為各國(guó)加強(qiáng)城市間交流合作鋪設(shè)道路。它是東博會(huì)不可或缺的重要專題，也是大家走近東盟的最佳平臺(tái)。這些年，通過(guò)‘魅力之城’牽線搭橋成為姊妹城市、由國(guó)家合作延伸到城市間合作的成功案例不計(jì)其數(shù)。其中最為典型的就是‘兩國(guó)雙園’。中國(guó)欽州和馬來(lái)西亞關(guān)丹都曾被選為本國(guó)的‘魅力之城’，通過(guò)東博會(huì)平臺(tái)和兩國(guó)政府的全力推動(dòng)，成功開(kāi)創(chuàng)了‘兩國(guó)雙園’的國(guó)際合作新模式，為兩國(guó)創(chuàng)造了巨大的商機(jī)。此外，東博會(huì)舉辦地廣西已建立97對(duì)國(guó)際友好城市，與世界194個(gè)國(guó)家和地區(qū)開(kāi)展貿(mào)易往來(lái)。

“我想，東博會(huì)‘魅力之城’專題的魅力，就在于把11國(guó)通過(guò)城市合作，更緊密地連在一起，形成東博會(huì)獨(dú)有的‘美景’吧。”唐海副部長(zhǎng)說(shuō)。

·聯(lián)系編輯：1164657225@qq.com

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