Yangzhou, a city featuring both the ancient culture and modern civilization, should preserve the time-honored tradition while keep up with the times, according to Zhu Minyang, mayor of Yangzhou when interviewed after a press conference for food festival, to be held in September.

The food festival "Silk Road Cuisine Display – Yangzhou Week", was hosted in the city, aiming to strengthen the cultural exchange between China and the Silk Road countries, Italy in particular, and facilitate the convergence of Yangzhou's modern civilization and traditional culture, Zhu said.

Construction industry, the pillar and competitive industry of the city, has contributed 276 billion yuan to the GDP of Yangzhou in 2014, up by 12 percent year-on-year.

The city should take advantage of the Belt and Road Initiative to promote industrial transformation and upgrading as well as make the construction industry a brand of the city, Zhu added.

Apart from the industrial achievements, the city also enjoyed a fast development in tourism. In 2014, the city attracted more than 450 million tourists withtotal tourism income reaching 60 billion yuan. Furthermore, the Grand Canal, which flows through the city,was also listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2014.

The mayor compares the city with "a book", which makes people want to explore its cultural essence and inner beauty. He also welcomed people from home and abroad to attend the series of activities to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of city in September.

Zhu Minyang, mayor of Yangzhou accepts an interview in Beijing. [Photo/cri.cn]