Foreign professionals take photos of cultural relics at the Jining Museum. [Photo by Cao Kefan/cri.cn]

A "Foreign Friends' Experience in Jining" activity was held in Jining in East China's Shandong province from July 27 to 29.

A group of foreign journalists, experts and online celebrities from countries such as Japan, South Korea, Italy, Azerbaijan and Syria visited the city's iconic cultural sites including the Jining Museum, Wu's tomb and the Confucius Temple to experience the profound culture of Jining and the city's tourism development and urban construction.

At the Jining Museum, the visitors admired precious cultural relics such as ding vessels from the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), jade figurines from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220) and blue-and-white (qinghua) porcelain works from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

"I'm excited to visit Jining again," said an online celebrity from South Korea. He said Jining is a must-visit place for foreigners who want to learn about China and Chinese culture.

Foreign professionals watch a Zoucheng folk wedding ceremony performance during their visit at Mencius Park. [Photo by Cao Kefan/cri.cn]

During their visit at Mencius Park in Zoucheng - the birthplace of China's great philosopher Mencius, the expats were treated to a variety of intangible cultural heritage performances, such as paper-cutting, embroidery, gourd pyrography and root carving.

Foreign professionals wear traditional Chinese clothing while they learn how to write Chinese characters with brush pens. [Photo by Cao Kefan/cri.cn]

At Nishan Sacred Land, the expats dressed up in hanfu – traditional Chinese clothing, learned ancient Chinese courtesies, and tried their hands at writing classic quotes from Lunyu, or The Analects, which is a collection of ideas and sayings from the Chinese philosopher Confucius.