Shandong province's cultural promotion efforts pay dividends

The promotion of local culture in East China's Shandong province using innovative means has been gaining traction in recent years, and a growing number of demonstration areas for such efforts have been sprouting up all over the province.

For example, a man named Zhang Hang has converted an old courtyard in Rencheng district of Jining city, the birthplace of Confucian culture, into 12 trendy spaces that are now used for catering, entertainment, and cultural activities.

"Jining is a city full of rich cultural heritage and it is my dream to turn culture into the latest trend. I hope everyone can have a place to relax in this bustling city," said Zhang.

For this project, Zhang has adopted a partner management model to enhance resource sharing and leveraged digital media to promote the local culture of Jining on a larger scale.

Over at Jining Seventh Middle School of Jining, traditional culture has been integrated into schools through special cultural courses based on The Analects of Confucius as well as through lessons and educational excursions related to traditional culture, said Liu Hui, the principle of the school.

Students paint Peking Opera masks at the Jining Seventh Middle School. [Photo by Wang Qian for chinadaily.com.cn]

Efforts to boost the innovative promotion of traditional culture have already paid dividends, as evidenced by the hordes of tourists at the Shandong handmade crafts museum in Daiyue district of Tai'an city during the recent May Day holiday.

To improve the added value of tourism products, the Shandong handmade crafts museum and the Taishanyou fair were established by the Taishanyou International Ecotourism Resort.

To establish a demonstration area that promotes the integrated development of culture and tourism, Daiyue district has modified the nature and its cultural and tourism industry with the help of professional consulting firms. It has also built three workshops featuring intangible cultural heritage to promote Tai'an handicrafts.

Elsewhere in the county-level city of Zoucheng, people can learn about local intangible cultural heritage like ancient ritual music, cuisine of the Confucian school, paper-cutting and gourd pyrography at the local exhibition hall.

The only county-level national intangible cultural heritage exhibition base in the province, the exhibition hall in Zoucheng showcases the efforts to protect intangible cultural heritage in the region.

Statistics show that Jining experienced a tourism boom in the first quarter this year, with 21 key scenic spots receiving more than 7 million tourists, exceeding the level compared with the same period in 2019.

Visitors learn about one of the exhibits at the Nishan Sacred Land Scenic Spot in Jining city. [Photo by Wang Qian for chinadaily.com.cn]

Located at the main area of the Nishan Mountain tourism resort, Luyuan village is among those that have benefited from the tourism boom. A total of 868 villagers have opened over 120 homestays and over 20 agritainment or cultural workshops there.

Cultural venues have also been leveraging digital media to promote their offerings in a more innovative manner.

For example, people can now explore traditional culture and view exhibits of the Confucius Museum using their digital devices.

Visitors view a garment at the Confucius Museum. [Photo by Wang Qian for chinadaily.com.cn]

Looking ahead, Shandong authorities are planning to roll out new projects to inject impetus to the development of the cultural industry. They will also be focusing on establishing digital cultural product trading and creating digital platforms to empower the industry. (Edited by Chen Chuxuan)