The first Hunan Chili Cultural Tourism Festival was held in Xiangyin County, Hunan Province, on May 8th. The inauguration ceremony of the Hunan Provincial Chili Association was held simultaneously. The festival also released the "Zhangshugang Chili Brand Protection" Initiative, the top 10 most reliable trading platforms for Zhangshugang chili, the top 10 most popular chili products in Hunan, and five types of chilies with most distinctive local features in Hunan.
The festival was held both online and offline. It featured offline activities such as Chili Feast on Top of the World attended by diplomatic envoys to China, the Expert Summit on High-quality Development of Chili Industry of Hunan Province, and the first Hunan Chili Cultural Tourism Festival Chili Expo and online events such as short video creation by Li Wei, director of the Xiangyin County Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio, and Sports and deputy director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, tours to explore culture, ecology, research opportunities, and local cuisine in Xiangyin recommended by local internet influencers, and a worldwide collection of chili-related stories or local chili delicacies.
Zhangshugang chili planted in Zhangshu Town, Xiangyin County, Hunan Province, has more than two hundred years of history. It has been selected as "National Geographical Indication Product" and "National Famous, Speciality, Quality and New Agricultural Product". Zhangshugang chili products sell well in 126 cities in China.
Yos Sokhemrak, consul general of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Cambodia in Chongqing, said that this year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and China, and it is also the "Cambodia-China Friendship Year" jointly designated by the two countries. He was willing to be a 'chili ambassador' and use chili as a medium to spread Hunan cuisine and culture to the world. He hoped to take this event as an opportunity to deepen people-to-people exchanges between Cambodia and China and promote mutual understanding and respect.
On May 7th, the Chili Feast on Top of the World was held in Xiangyin County. "The friendly exchanges between the UK and China began in Xiangyin County, Hunan Province," said Jane Fulbrook, acting regional outreach counsellor of the British Consulate-General in Guangzhou, adding that Guo Songtao, a native of Xiangyin, was the first Chinese minister to Britain and China's first foreign envoy who once boosted China-UK friendly exchanges. In the future, Jane Fulbrook and her colleagues will take "chili" as a medium to introduce China, promote Hunan and Xiangyin to more British citizens, and seek more cooperation in the fields of economy, culture and tourism.
This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.
Translator: Xiao Juan
Chinese source: Chinanews
