Quanzhou, Fujian, promotes the integration of culture and tourism, and explores to maintain the cultural flavor and pyrotechnic atmosphere of the ancient city——

Tasting Tea and Appreciating Nanyin in Ancient House with Hairpin

Core reading

"There are three continents in the shadow of Cangguan, and merchants from all over the world in the sound of rising sea". The former prosperity remains in the memory of the ancient city of Quanzhou; Nanyin, hairpin flower and puppet show make Quanzhou still maintain a strong pyrotechnic atmosphere and become a "clocking place" for tourists. While continuing to protect the world heritage, Quanzhou, Fujian, actively promotes the deep integration of culture and tourism, continues the historical context, explores the activation of intangible cultural heritage, helps the culture and tourism industry from "online popularity" to "permanent popularity", and promotes the high-quality development of the culture and tourism industry.

The land stopped suddenly at the foot, and a narrow stone plank bridge extended into the vast ocean. On the nearshore reef, the steps carved thousands of years ago are still clearly visible; Looking up into the distance, the Liusheng Stone Tower, as a beacon tower, stands tall. This is Shihu Wharf located in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, and it is also a rare physical evidence of Quanzhou Outer Port Wharf in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Close to the stone plank bridge, it is now the protection and management station of Liusheng Pagoda World Heritage Site at Shihu Wharf.

Known as "Erythrina City" in ancient times, Quanzhou is an important node of the "Maritime Silk Road". On July 25, 2021, "Quanzhou: China's World Marine Trade Center in the Song and Yuan Dynasties" was successfully included in the World Heritage List, becoming China's 56th World Heritage. There are 22 world heritage sites, including Jiuri Mountain Wind Praying Stone Carving, Shibosi Site, Quanzhou Confucian Temple, Kaiyuan Temple, Luoyang Bridge, which witness the prosperity of marine commerce and tell the story of Quanzhou's inclusive and open city.

After the successful application for the World Heritage, Quanzhou has actively promoted the deep integration of culture and tourism while continuing to protect the world heritage, showing great development potential. In 2023, Quanzhou will achieve a total tourism revenue of 100.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 68.9%; 86529700 domestic and foreign tourists were received, up 53.9% year on year. Recently, the reporter went to Quanzhou to investigate the traffic code of popular cultural tourism in Quanzhou.

Quanzhou East West Tower. Photographed by Chen Yingjie

Urban "micro renewal", preserving historical context and human fireworks

At about 6 a.m., Goldfish Lane was still shrouded in mist. Zheng Weizhi, 77, took his basket to the vegetable market early. The Goldfish Lane is 270 meters long, spacious, flat and clean. Zheng Weizhi has lived in this alley for more than 30 years.

At 10 a.m., smoke and fire began to rise in the alley. Tourists in small groups take photos at the goldfish decorative pattern at the entrance of the alley. Walking out of the alley and several tens of meters to the south is Zhongshan Road. The arcade buildings on both sides of Zhongshan Road are quite distinctive. Tourists can stroll in the arcade and enjoy themselves. Chaotian Gate, Quanshan Gate, Deji Gate and other city gate sites tell the history of the ancient city quietly; Huang Tongyi Silk Yarn Shop, Shanghai Dahua Bookstore, Rock Photo Gallery, the original plaque remains, telling the prosperous business history here.

Looking down from the sky, eight world heritage sites, including Kaiyuan Temple, Quanzhou Confucian Temple, Nanwai Zongzhengsi Site, are scattered like bright pearls in the 6.41 square kilometer old city. The rich historical relics, clear ancient city texture, and bustling crowds can all give a glimpse of the prosperous scene of "Cangguan's shadow on Sanzhou Road, and the sound of the rising sea on the business of all countries" in the past.

However, the old city of Quanzhou was not what it is today. The pipelines are erected in disorder, and the houses are severely aged. In rainy days, dirty water flows across the street. Many original residents chose to leave, and the smell of the market became weaker and weaker.

In 2017, in accordance with the principle of "micro interference, low impact", the transformation of the ancient city began. Elevation upgrading, pipeline laying, ground pavement, night scene optimization, cultural elements into the landscape design.

"The protection of the ancient city is a systematic project, which needs to preserve the original fireworks while continuing the historical context." Zhu Qiping, the commander of the Quanzhou Ancient City Protection and Development Headquarters, said that, on the one hand, many cultural heritage in the ancient city must focus on protection; On the other hand, the incomplete infrastructure, dilapidated architecture, inconvenient transportation and declining business types of the ancient city also restrict its further development.

"What we protect is not only the architecture of the ancient city itself, but also the living atmosphere coexisting with the ancient city, as well as the cultural heritage bred over thousands of years," said He Zhenliang, director of the Cultural Relics Protection and Management Office of Quanzhou Confucian Temple.

In 2021, Licheng District of Quanzhou City will set up a special team for the protection and development of the ancient city, which will divide the area into key protected areas, style and feature protected areas, peripheral control areas of the ancient city, and other areas for classified protection and control. From the establishment of the World Heritage Section of Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, to the establishment of a cultural relics protection project library, the reserve and implementation of more than 120 cultural relics protection projects, to the construction of the "Fujian Provincial Safety Supervision Platform for Cultural Relics Protection Units (Licheng District)", multiple departments jointly protect the safety of cultural relics... The ancient city still has its own style and features, which cannot be separated from scientific planning and management.

At the same time, Quanzhou has also completed the conservation, storage and revitalization of many historical buildings by repairing instead of renting, and introduced new business forms such as coffee shops and cultural and creative commodity stores, which has brought passenger flow to the ancient city and increased residents' income. In recent years, Quanzhou has completed the comprehensive improvement of the municipal administration of Zhongshan Middle Road and 29 surrounding streets and alleys, and is currently promoting the renovation of Zhongshan South Road and 46 surrounding streets and alleys.

"In the past, people wanted to move out of the old city. Looking at the old city today, who wants to leave?" Zheng Weizhi said.

Nanyin performance scene. Photographed by Chen Yingjie

Live use, let intangible cultural heritage enter thousands of households

In the lively music, the puppets on the stage pause, beat, stop, swing, play and turn in one go. Serve tea and pour water. The cup is full but no drop is spilled. The performance of the classic puppet show "Daming Mansion" has caused the audience's surprise and applause from time to time.

"'Say all the things of the past, and dance with both hands to produce millions of soldiers' is the puppet show." At the end of the performance, Li Yunfeng, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of the puppet show in his hand, came out from behind the scenes to introduce to the audience that the puppet show, also known as "pocket show", was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

In recent years, a group of young people have joined the ranks of protecting and inheriting the puppet show in their hands, injecting fresh blood into this ancient art. "The staff of Jinjiang Handheld Puppet Art Protection and Inheritance Center where I work are mainly young people in their 30s, with no less than 400 performances every year," said Li Yunfeng.

The art handed down from generation to generation is not just a puppet show.

As night fell, people continued to walk into No. 11, Goldfish Lane, take their seats in front of Nanyin Pavilion, taste green tea and appreciate Nanyin. Every week, Nanyin Pavilion will hold four public benefit performances.

Nanyin, known as "a living fossil in the history of Chinese music", is a long chant that Quanzhou people often heard when they were young, and also an endless homesickness in the minds of those who left their hometown. Zheng Zefeng, who is in charge of Nanyin Pavilion, was born into a Nanyin family, and started to sing Nanyin since his grandfather.

"At present, Quanzhou has 6 world-class intangible cultural heritage items, 36 national intangible cultural heritage items, and 128 provincial intangible cultural heritage items. It is the core area of Minnan Cultural and Ecological Protection Zone, one of the first national cultural and ecological protection zones in China." He Yibin, deputy director of Quanzhou Culture and Tourism Bureau, introduced that Quanzhou has not only established 12 intangible cultural heritage museums, 166 non genetic institutions, and 1000 intangible cultural heritage exhibition sites, There will also be two training courses for inheritors of intangible cultural heritage in the city every year to help them expand the market, and special short video training courses will be organized to let intangible cultural heritage enter a broader population.

Quanzhou continues to amaze tourists, which is inseparable from the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and compatible innovation. The "Zhengyin Academy" cultural reception hall carries out public welfare intangible cultural heritage performances to attract tourists to experience intangible cultural heritage; The new textbook plays of Jinjiang Puppet "Yugong Moves the Mountain", "Nine Coloured Deer and Snake Catcher", etc. entered the campus; Licheng District organized the "world-class intangible cultural heritage Quanzhou puppet+Nanyin homestay" to explore a new way to activate intangible cultural heritage. Quanzhou has set up a special fund of 10 million yuan to support the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage such as opera and Nanyin.

"We are rebuilding and building Quanzhou Arts and Crafts Cultural Park, and plan to activate 37 traditional arts and crafts in Quanzhou, so that more intangible cultural heritage skills can 'live'," said Zhu Qiping.

Business type updating, helping the culture and tourism industry from "online popularity" to "long-term popularity"

"When I was a child, it stood on the roof and watched us grow up." When walking through the red brick ancient houses in Quanzhou, I inadvertently looked up. The cute or powerful water dripping beasts on the balcony are common memories of many people in Quanzhou.

Nowadays, water dripping animals "leap" onto the shelves of cultural and creative stores. "We pay attention to various details in the urban texture of Quanzhou, integrate local characteristic elements into product design, and create the urban IP of Quanzhou." Huang Yuekun, the founder of Liwu Cultural Creativity brand, said, "I want to share the daily life and cultural treasures of this city to more people through cultural innovation."

East West Tower Calendar, Quanzhou Lantern, Minnan Brick Carving, Quanzhou Golden Cang Embroidery... "In the past two years, the sales volume of cultural and creative enterprises such as Quanzhou Mansion, Yuli Scenery, Le City Tour, West Street Tourist Center has been constantly increasing." The staff of the Resource Development Section of Quanzhou Culture and Tourism Bureau introduced that from 2023, Quanzhou has successively held cultural and creative competitions such as urban gift design, Promote cultural and creative upgrading through the competition, condense cultural accumulation into exquisite cultural and creative products, and achieve creative transformation and innovative development of world heritage.

The support for cultural and creative industries is one aspect of Quanzhou's promotion of high-quality development of cultural and tourism industries.

Tourists visit Charybdis Village. Photographed by Wang Zhichao

In the traditional village of Wulin, more than 200 hundred year old buildings bearing nostalgia are scattered, and tourists are bustling. Looking around, the traditional hairpin flower has become a new fashion of Quanzhou cultural tourism. Tourists wearing hairpin flowers can be seen everywhere, whether under the banyan tree with a history of 100 years or in the streets and alleys of Gucuo.

"A lot of tourists came because of the 'hairpin flower craze'. After coming, they found that there are more than just hairpin flowers in Wulin." Xu Pingqiu, head of Wulin Traditional Village Tourist Center, introduced that Wulin Village vigorously introduced new forms of cultural tourism such as cultural innovation, intangible cultural heritage, performing arts, and research, and gradually developed into a popular destination for rural cultural tourism, with the number of tourists increasing year by year.

In the past, "seeing temples in the daytime and sleeping at night" was once the feeling of many tourists. Now, "beautiful in the day, fun at night" has become a new label of Quanzhou tourism. On Zhongshan Road at night, South Shaolin martial arts, breast clapping dance, green lion performance and other performances are staged in turn. Immersive performances make tourists linger; The "Five Legs" art market and the music stage under the old banyan tree make the citizens and tourists slow down; Puppets, Liyuan Opera, Nanyin Opera, Gaojia Opera and other troupes have all increased the number of night performances... "Quanzhou's cultural tourism is moving forward to full-time tourism, and the number of cultural tourism consumption clusters at night is increasing, which has increased the popularity of Quanzhou's tourism," said the relevant person in charge of Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

"How to realize the development of 'permanent popularity' is a question that every 'online celebrity city' is thinking about. Adhering to the concept of tourists first, attentive service, and quality first is the key to transforming 'traffic' into 'reserve'." Liu Linshuang, member of the Standing Committee of Quanzhou Municipal Party Committee and head of the Publicity Department, said that Quanzhou will focus on the brand positioning of "Song and Yuan China · Haisi Quanzhou", With the goal of building a model city for the protection and utilization of world heritage, we will strengthen the protection, inheritance and utilization of historical and cultural heritage.