Exhibition showcases architectures along the southern line of Zhongdong Railway

Sponsored by the Jilin provincial committee of the Chinese Democratic League, and organized by the Jilin Provincial Library and other relevant agencies, an exhibition was held at the Jilin Provincial Library on November 13 to showcase the architectures along the southern line of the Zhongdong Railway, the first modern railway of northeast China.

Through precious photos and technical drawings, the exhibition presented the changes that had taken place along the southern line of the railway over the past century and the architectures along it, and reflected how Chinese and Western architectural cultures converged over a century ago.

To enrich and enhance visitor experience, there was a QR code on each display board that led to audio and video information.

Since 2006, architectures along the Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia sections of the rail line have all been certified as cultural relics under key state protection.

In 2018, the four provincial regions signed a proposal on jointly protecting the architectures as a whole. The protection will be carried out under a program to pass down fine traditional culture and will get key national support.  

On October 16, 2019, it was announced that the architectures along the Dehui city (in Jilin) section of the rail line was in the eight batch of cultural relics under key state protection, along with the Kuncheng district in Changchun city (in Jilin).

Jilin Provincial Library, as a public cultural service provider, aimed to bring public attention to the cultural protection of the line, and explore how to build the architectures into a cultural brand for Jilin.