CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- If the city of Chongqing was compared to a thick book, the bridge is the urban central axis of Datianwan – Helong Square – Cultural Palace.

As time changes, the Datianwan – Helong Square – Cultural Palace area is faced with problems such as backward facility function, poor public space quality, weakened cultural image, and unfamiliar citizen relationship, which need to be protected and upgraded urgently.

Two years ago, the protection and upgrading project of the Datianwan – Helong Square – Cultural Palace area was launched, and many citizens of the mountain city came here one after another, saying their "farewell" and giving their "expectation".

On December 30, 2022, "familiar" but "strange" Datianwan Stadium, Helong Square and the Working People’s Cultural Palace appeared together again in front of citizens.

Inherit the history and reproduce the urban culture line

The former Datianwan – Helong Square – Cultural Palace area bears the pride of Chongqing people. How to inherit the history and retain the soul of the city? "Repair the buildings as they were, and restore the original style of cultural relics" has become the principle of the regional protection and upgrading project.

For each process and procedure, adhering to the principle of "sample first", the project's cultural protection and repair team makes a sample first, and then carry out large-scale construction after the sample is accepted by all parties involved in the construction and cultural protection experts.

As the center building of the Cultural Palace, the Grand Theater of the Working People's Cultural Palace is the important representative of the architecture in the southwest of Chongqing, with modern, concise, solemn and grand appearance. Today, two lifelike giant reliefs and a pair of torches have been added to the exterior wall of the Grand Theater.

Improve people's livelihood and paint the city's appearance and responsibility

Since the founding of New China, Chongqing has been the political and cultural center of Southwest China. More than half a century later, the statue of Helong at Lianglukou is still witnessing the rapid development of Chongqing.

In front of the statue, a new 125m long and 18m wide footbridge connects the Datianwan Stadium and the Working People's Cultural Palace. This is the central culture corridor of Helong Square, integrating pedestrian traffic, urban landscape and cultural corridor.

Trees with Chongqing characteristics planted on both sides of the footbridge, alternate with black and white magnolia lamp posts; two escalators and three vertical elevators have been built to facilitate the citizens to go up and down; at the same time, the separation of people from vehicles in the cultural corridor on the ground square has also been achieved through the newly-built passage for vehicles.

While Datianwan Stadium and the Working People’s Cultural Palace are protected and improved, supporting underground garages are also built by making full use of underground space. Among them, there are 780 new parking lots built in Datianwan Stadium and 720 new parking lots built in the Working People's Cultural Palace, which will be open to the public, thus meeting the needs of citizens for parking and truly doing practical things for the public.

Towards the future and high-quality urban life

On the morning of December 30, the Datianwan Stadium was filled with citizens.

The "brand-new" Datianwan Stadium contains an artificial grass football field and a standard 400m runway. 5 basketball courts, 8 table tennis tables, 2 tennis courts, 1 air exhaust court, 2 gate courts, etc. have been newly built in the outdoor ecological sports park. In addition, Datianwan Stadium will gradually integrate into the system intelligent construction process, new generation information technology, as well as a series of advanced technologies such as Internet applications, big data, cloud computing, etc.

The Working People’s Cultural Palace at the other end of the area is also bustling. Non-core function buildings and closed enclosures have been demolished, and pedestrian entrances and exits have been improved to allow citizens to enter and leave freely; A photography exhibition for the employees of the Federation of Trade Unions is held on the tidy and spacious Cultural Palace Square, recalling the history with "old photos" and looking forward to new Chongqing with "new photos".

From now on to the 2023 Spring Festival, various cultural, artistic and sports activities will be held for citizens in Datianwan – Helong Square – Cultural Palace area.

A "free fitness week" activity will be held at Datianwan Stadium, and the related venues will be open to citizens for one week for free, so that citizens can participate in relevant fitness projects free of charge;

On the National Fitness Plaza, there will also be a theme photo exhibition held at Datianwan Stadium, which will show the past, present and future of Datianwan Stadium in the form of pictures;

In the new year, why not go to Datianwan Stadium, Helong Square and the Working People’s Cultural Palace? (Translated by Hu Chuanmin, Fathom Language Limited)