Weifang, a city in central Shandong province, is renowned for its abundant culture and folklore resources. Local authorities have been striving to protect and inherit the city's intangible cultural heritages, aiming to boost the development of the cultural industry.

Weifang used to be a city renowned for handicrafts and was honored as "Small Suzhou" (Suzhou is a famous cultural city in Jiangsu province). The traditional industrial arts, such as embroidery, kite making, antique bronze casting, fruit pit carving and New Year wood-cut prints, came into vogue in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and were passed down to today, becoming the "name card" of Weifang.

Importance attached to local culture

Authorities of Shouguang, a county-level city of Weifang, designated 2018 as the "year to boost rural culture" and arranged the Fisrt Rural Culture Art Festival, which included activities of competitions, exchanges, exhibitions and performances, in an effort to promote the city's folk culture and art.

The Fisrt Rural Culture Art Festival of Shouguang. [Photo/Cultural Shandong] 

To highlight the characteristics of local culture, Weifang called for social forces to support the construction of venues where one can exhibit, perform, study, exchange and teach intangible cultural heritages. As of now, the city has established 17 high-standard specialized museums for intangible cultural heritages and more than 300 training sites. It opened 14 inheritance demonstration bases and eight campus inheritance and education bases. The city also plans to set up 30 comprehensive training centers and a batch of demonstration halls in towns and villages.

Making good use of intangible cultural heritages

The cultural departments of Weifang strives to develop and utilize the folk culture resources.

In recent years, Qingzhou, a county-level city of Weifang, prioritized the development of film and television media, art performance and derivative products of intangible cultural heritages.

To inherit and carry the cultural treasures forward, the city developed the musical drama Heyday Blooming Flowers and made TV series, such as Qingzhou Family, to tell about the history and cultural customs in Qingzhou.

More than 30 items of intangible cultural heritages, such as octagonal drum, Qingzhou stone carving and Shandong clapper ballad, were also demonstrated and performed at the scenic spots.

Entries of the Second Traditional Craftsmanship Creativity and Design Competition of Weifang. [Photo/Cultural Shandong]