Pudong New Area starts new year on a healthy footing
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On the first day of 2024, 2,024 individuals from various professions embarked on a walk along the Huangpu River in the Pudong New Area to welcome the new year.
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The photo captures an enthusiastic moment from a stage play during the Pudong New Area New Year Art Show.
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A dragon dance performance captivates the audience at the Pudong New Area New Year Art Show.
Watching the rising sun, listening to waves crashing on the shore, enjoying lush greenery, or reviewing the legend of the eastern bank of the Huang River transforming from an "industrial rust belt" to a "life show belt" are all part of a new walking activity.
At the sound of a starting gun, 2,024 people from all trades started walking along the Huangpu River in the Pudong New Area to embrace the new year.
Zhong Tianshi, a gold medalist in the cycling event at two Olympic Games and a deputy to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, is filled with excitement for the year.
"On the first day of 2024, strolling along the riverside of Pudong, looking at the bustling skyscrapers and watching the lively fireworks, was a unique experience. Thinking of this as my hometown, my heart is filled with happiness."
Zhong trained in Pudong before becoming an Olympian.
With the full opening of the core section of Pudong Binjiang, the Lujiazui area has become a public leisure space in the city center that integrates sightseeing, commercial and cultural leisure. The origin of the Healthy Walk activity was MIFA 1862, which integrates fashion, art, and exhibitions.
The space is the former site of the Boyd & Co shipyard, which was founded in 1862, and the area is known as one of the birthplaces of modern industrial civilization in China.
Nowadays, MIFA 1862 has not only become an important attraction on the "world-class waterfront nightlife belt" showcasing Shanghai's business, tourism, culture, sports and exhibition, but also a landmark on the Huangpu River.
Walkers also passed by the "Century Peace Bell," forged to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Pudong's development, as if echoing the grand aspirations of residents for a better tomorrow in Pudong at the turn of the millennium.
Finally, everyone arrived at the brand new cultural and tourism landmark, the Museum of Art Pudong in Lujiazui, and enjoyed a panoramic view of the unique charms of Pudong's riverside development at Grand City Hall.
Performances of dragon dances and diabolo playing, as well as cultural and artistic interaction from stage show "The Romantic Show of Shanghai," and Haichang Ocean Park, were fully integrated into the health walking event, promoting the integrated development of regional culture, sports, and tourism, fostering a vibrant gathering of people.
The great changes in Pudong left all participants of the health walk deeply moved.
"Thirty years ago, Pudong was a farmland and now it is a shining pearl by the Huangpu River," said Fang Fang, head of the Trading Operations Management of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Fang came to Shanghai to study in 1993, and she has worked in the financial sector for 30 years, witnessing the tremendous changes in Pudong.
"Those who share the same aspirations should not be far away from the mountains and seas," she said. "In the new year, let us, under the Party and the state leadership, work together to create a new era and new miracle in Pudong."
Sun Yu, head of Pudong's culture, sports and tourism bureau, said the development of undertakings in Pudong could not be separated from the hard work and efforts of people from all trades.
"Everyone is striving to advance on the track of leading the high-quality development of the new area," Sun said.
"Though the road is long, by walking, it will be reached; Though the task is difficult, by doing, it will surely be accomplished.
"I believe that this sentence expresses everyone's mindset on the first day of the new year: hard work brings early spring, and practical efforts are timely."
