Numerous historical sites ruined by Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip

China

Numerous historical sites ruined by Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip

2024-10-07 10:29 Last Updated At：20:57

Many historical sites in the Gaza Strip have become ruins after suffering devastating Israeli attacks over the past year since the outbreak of the latest round of conflict between Palestine and Israel.

The Great Mosque of Gaza, also known as the Al-Omari Grand Mosque, the largest and the oldest mosque in the Gaza Strip, was extensively destroyed in Israeli attacks late 2023.

Founded more than 1,400 years ago with an area of about 4,100 square meters, the Omari Mosque was an important historical monument in Gaza City and renowned in the Middle East, but now only its ruins remain.

Tareq Haniyeh grew up in Gaza City and often took tourists to visit the mosque before the conflict escalation when he worked as a tour guide. He's feeling quite upset about the ruined historic building.

"During World War I, the mosque was bombed by British naval ships, and it suffered the same fate after more than a century. [Israeli warships] blew it up from the sea. Every time I look up and see the ruins, I can't control my emotions, and sometimes I even cried. Some young people didn't quite understand and would come to ask what happened. Really, you can't imagine what this place means to my life," said Haniyeh.

The Omari Mosque is not the only ancient monument that has suffered devastating disasters. According to statistics from relevant Palestinian authorities, more than 280 buildings in the old town of Gaza City are over 100 years old, of which more than 100 are over 500 years old.

Over the past year, the prolonged conflict has caused huge damage to them, and some buildings even have no trace of their original appearance. Now local people can only recall the appearance of these historical buildings and their previous life through photos.

"It's not just us in Gaza City, but all of the people in the Gaza Strip are filled with sadness, because all the historical monuments in Gaza have been ruined, including the Gold Market, the Al-Omari Grand Mosque, the Hamam Al-Samra, the Pasha's Palace and the cathedral. None of them in Gaza City survived. People used to come here to visit the monuments. In the past, these places were crowded with people during holidays, and people held various events there, but now, we can only recall those scenes and see what they used to look like through photos on our phones," said Mahmoud Aral, another resident in Gaza City.

Russian tourists explore Chinese culture in picturesque historical sites

2025-03-11 04:10 Last Updated At：07:27

A group of Russian tourists recently visited a series of picturesque historical sites in east China's Jiangsu Province where they said seeing iconic locations reminded them of many classical Chinese movies and TV series.

The tourists, who included Russian landscape architecture experts and artists, traveled around many historical cities in Jiangsu, such as Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, and Changzhou.

Jiangsu is known for its elegant and refined regional culture, in particular the classical gardens in Suzhou, which are famous for their exquisite designs and layouts.

"The first Chinese film I watched on a Chinese television channel was 'Journey to the West'. But, in fact, Chinese films are also highly welcomed in Russia and we know Russian cinemas have screened many Chinese movies, such as 'Hero'. I have been studying Chinese culture for nearly 30 years, so, every time I visited China, I always found something new in things like rituals and food. Today, I visited some parks, which were new to me, and I want to recommend them to everyone. They should come and see these gardens for themselves. Besides, modern parks in China are also worth visiting," said Elena V. Golosova, President of the Landscape Architecture Committee of Russia and CIS Countries.

Russian artists in the tour group said their first-hand experience of Chinese culture heightened their desire to learn more about the country's tradition and promote more cultural communication between Russia and China.

"Thanks to these historical TV series, we can see Chinese traditions, banquet rituals, and different traditions and etiquette used in interpersonal interactions and communication. Surely, there are some details that I have never known before and I want to read and study all the content related to Chinese culture. In addition, I want to say that many people in Russia have strong interest in Chinese movies and China's art of cinematic presentation. Next week, Moscow Asian Film Festival will start featuring a series of movies and one section of the film festival will be about Chinese movies and it will last a whole day," said Anna Donchenko, a Russian artist who has studied Chinese painting styles.