Yangtze culture lights up arts season finale and film awards in Yichang

By Chen Zai

Yichang turned the Yangtze into a silver screen on October 30, hosting both the finale of the 2025 Yangtze River Culture & Arts Season and the China Movie Data Gala. From flood-lit riverbanks to data-driven trophies, the night merged river civilization with 120 years of Chinese cinema.

Guided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, the National Radio & TV Administration, the China Federation of Literary & Art Circles and the China Writers Association, the arts season opened on September 12 with twelve major events, including “Illuminate the Yangtze,” “Yangtze on Screen” Film Week, “Audio-Visual Yangtze” Online Week and the closing show “Yangtze in Sight.” The seven-week festival was co-hosted by the Hubei Provincial Government, the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission and China Three Gorges Corporation.

At the finale, rapid-fire montages revisited highlights in photography, theater, music and literature, framing Yangtze culture as inclusive, creative and constantly evolving.

Immediately after, the China Movie Data Gala—co-organized by the Film Channel Program Center, the CPC Hubei Provincial Publicity Department and the Yichang Municipal Government—presented more than 30 awards across ten categories. Thirteen performance segments celebrated high-quality domestic cinema and marked 120 years of Chinese film. Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Cecilia Yip and more than 120 other industry figures walked the carpet, as big-data box office charts and live drone shots lit up the night across the river.

Parallel sessions, including filmmaker meetups, industry dialogues and the live-streamed city tour “Explore Yichang with Films,” ran throughout the day.

Over the past five years, Yichang has transformed events such as the China Yangtze Three Gorges International Tourism Festival and the Global Tour Operators Conference into international platforms, sharing Qu Yuan culture and local intangible heritage with audiences in more than 100 countries and territories.