Yuan Jiajun, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the CPC, delivers a keynote speech at the conference on Sept 21. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

Zhejiang should continue striving to develop its culture in order to enhance the province's soft power, according to Yuan Jiajun, secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, in his speech at a government conference in the provincial capital of Hangzhou on Sept 21.

The conference was held to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the implementation of the Zhejiang Culture Research Project.

The Zhejiang Culture Research Project is a research program involving thousands of social science and humanities scholars. It focuses on the study of Zhejiang's socioeconomic development in modern times, its longstanding cultural history, and its numerous historical cultural figures, as well as on collecting historical literature on the province's economy, politics, culture, and society.

The project has led to research on a total of 1,160 topics and the publication of nearly 1,500 academic books.

One book features Chinese paintings from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), making significant contributions to China's art history studies. To complete the 25-volume work, the editorial team of Zhejiang University Press spent more than 10 years collecting images of more than 1,500 paintings from the dynasty, which had been scattered all over the world.

Yuan believes that the implementation of the project has helped promote the province's cultural traditions and expanded its intellectual influence at home and abroad.

In his speech, Yuan spoke about Zhejiang's achievements in preserving its cultural traditions and historic relics. Over the past 15 years, the province's West Lake, Grand Canal, and Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City have been inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage list. In addition, Zhejiang has added more items to the national-level intangible cultural heritage list than any other province in China for many years.

In order to further improve Zhejiang's culture in the new era, Yuan has called for the spread of traditional art among the general public, improving the social credit system, creating influential works of art, constructing cultural landmarks, utilizing advanced information technology, and deepening institutional reforms.

To conclude his speech, Yuan called on all levels of leadership in the Zhejiang government, as well as on media outlets, culture-related companies, high-end talent, and the general public to work together to carry out the province's cultural project for the new era.