Wuxi river acts as centerpiece for Jiangsu cultural program

During the event, local scholars held a seminar on life along the Bodu River from the past to the present day, starting with Taibo－the eldest son of King Tai of Zhou.

Mao Jianping, director of the Taibo Cultural Protection Institute in Wuxi's Xinwu district, explained that Taibo was born in what is now Northwest China's Gansu province. He started out from Qishan in Shaanxi province, arrived in Wuxi six years later. The locals had very different manners and attire from those of the central kingdom, sporting tattoos and disheveled hair.

"The Wu people wore their hair short to fish the river, and their tattoos were a form of deterrent to scare away water snakes. It can be seen that the Wu people depended on fishing and hunting for their livelihood," Mao says.

"It is said that after Taibo established the Wu Kingdom, he vigorously developed water conservation measures and developed agriculture for production and the Bodu River, the first artificial canal in Jiangnan, was built at this time," he adds.

Taibo traveled thousands of miles to dig the first artificial canal in Chinese history. Bodu River, with a total length of 24.1 kilometers, has a history of 3,200 years during which its fate and the history of Wu culture are closely intertwined.

The mother river of Wuxi, however, has been plagued over the years by malodorous problems. Five years ago, the local government enacted a comprehensive renovation project for the river, including the remediation of the main river and its tributaries－covering a total length of 36.6 kilometers.

A biological purification tank combining artificial wetland techniques and the bio-contact oxidation method was applied to improve the quality of the river water.

The local government believes that integrated management of ecosystems, as well as culture, will meet the demands of nature and people to address ongoing local development.

In order to further stabilize the water quality, since August last year, the Xinwu district government started to renovate the river and the ecology of its surrounding areas, creating a cultural and leisure waterfront. The project has a total investment of 250 million yuan ($35.7 million) and a planned area of 895,500 square meters.

At present, the first stage, consisting of about 175,000 square meters of green land area and a total length of about 7 kilometers of hydrophilic walkway, has begun to take shape.