Articles by A.M.

The Lantern Festival is the last important festival during the Chinese Spring Festival. It falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month each year, the first full moon night of the new year.  The Lantern Festival in 2024 coincided with the Western Valentine’s Day, 14, February. To celebrate the Lantern Festival, Linshu County in Shandong Province presented a colorful cultural feast by holding a variety of joyful folk activities.  The Fuyuan Street Community, for instance, held a lively garden party, which attracted many locals to participate in. The traditional lantern riddle guessing led everyone back to the ancient time….

During the Spring Festival, the bustling and lively Hedong District of Linyi City is crowded with people. The rural dramas are being sung, and the traditional Yangge dancers are happily preforming with gongs and drums around the scenic spots and markets. “Every house hangs red lanterns and posts Spring Festival couplets. Every village offers a good show. So go back to the hometown to celebrate the New Year!” During the 2024 New Year time, Shandong Rural Culture Tourism Festival is lasting until the beginning of the lunar February. The festival is focusing on organizing the New Year’s goods fair, village…

Whirring and squeaking, the big windmill is singing. Together with the sky and the soil, oh, how beautiful! Together with the little buddies, oh, the happy buddies! Hao’s windmill in Pingyi County, Linyi City of Shandong Province, embodies the ancient skills passed down generation after generation. Each windmill requires more than 30 steps to finish, including cutting, coloring, drying, bundling, bonding, polishing, drilling, assembling, and packaging before completion. It is a municipal intangible cultural heritage. Family Hao’s business could be traced back to the Daoguang period (1782-1850) of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Hao’s ancestor Dongye Gaosheng learned the…

Entering the Year of the Dragon, the inheritors of the local intangible cultural heritage from Junan County in Shandong Province begin to display their skills and talents, creating festive and popular products with dragon as the main element. Starting this January, Mr. Ding Dawei, the inheritor of Gaoyu wood comb in Junan County, began to receive customized patterns for making the samples. From receiving orders to the completion of the produces, he worked for more than half a month in order to complete a thousand customized combs for a Xiamen customer.  Right after the combs were packaged and shipped out, he…

“The temple fair is beautiful, and the dragon-lion performances are fabulous! A great time for both adults and children!” Ms. Wang, a tourist from Jiangsu Province, said cheerfully at the trendy garden party in Zhuquan Village, Yinan County of Linyi City, Shandong Province. She was taking photos in front of the lion dance performance with the majestic sounds of gongs and drums. Yinan County launched a variety of folk performances during the Spring Festival 2024, including dragon and lion dances, Han fashion costumes shows, intangible cultural heritage events and more in its scenic spots and urban areas. There were more…

As the Chinese Spring Festival is approaching, Linyi recently launched the 2024 New Year’s Shandong Rural Culture Tourism Festival. With Shuiyu Tianyuan in Pingyi County as its center, the ceremonial event was held simultaneously in all the districts and counties of Linyi City.  Quite a few related organizations in Linyi hosted the event, including the City Marketing Department, the Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, and the Municipal Radio and Television Station. Shandong’s handmade arts as intangible cultural heritage are on display during the festival. New Year’s goods fair is to be seen,…

Gourds have been widely cultivated in China as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1046BC-256BC). Gourd pyrography as a folk artform can be traced back to the Jiaqing period (1796-1820) of Emperor Renzong in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1912). Mengshan Gourd Pyrography, is very popular in Wenshui Town of Pingyi County in Linyi City, Shandong Province. One representative of this artform there is Mr. Chen Qinggui, whose gourd pyrography compositions are well-known due to the vivid and skillful techniques. His gourd paintings describe landscapes, human figures, or zodiac signs. Exquisite and unique, his works show the high niveau of this traditional Chinese…

Recently, Luozhuang District Committee of Linyi City invited 10 overseas students studying at Linyi University from Guinea, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Russia and other countries to participate in the activity of “Shandong Celebrating the Chinese New Year – Luozhuang Trip with New Year’s Flavor”. The students experienced the unique charm and characteristic of the local culture there with much typical Chinese tradition. The students visited Miaomiao Paper-cutting Studio and Yimeng Exhibition Center in Luozhuang District, where they dived into the New Year’s atmosphere and enjoyed paper-cutting, ceramics, pottery culture and more. Existing widely across the country, paper-cutting is a…

Baoshanqian Wildlife Park is a 4,600-mu-sized super “animal kingdom” in Linyi with lakes and mountains around. The entertainment park is a huge attraction in winter, too. As the winter vacation is approaching, many parents are planning the holiday with their children. Baoshanqian Wildlife Park is ready to receive the crowd who will – for sure – be enchanted by the big selection of wild animals and other related programmes, such as “Baoshan Lake Rafting” or “Animal Hunting on the Great Wall”. One can start the wild journey by sitting on a bubble boat, feeling the wind blowing and observing the…

Spring in Linyin is poesy. Walking on the bluestone pavement of Yishui Rainbow District, caressed by the spring breeze blows, one feels relaxed and happy. The attic houses with wooden pillars and blue tiles are along the river backed by the snow-capped mountains. There is a peculiar tranquility lengthening from ancient era all the way through to today’s time.  Since the beginning of this year, Yishui County has vigorously implemented the project of “Cultural Tourism and Revitalizing the County”, giving full play to its own advantages. With business integrating into the tourism projects, the county is constantly innovating concepts, creating…