Reporter Bai Guangdi, Yang Xun, Wang Dan

Chinese and foreign tourists experience the traditional costumes of the Miao people in Xiangxi. Photo by Wu Donglin

In the Suzhou Silk Museum in Jiangsu, a fan is wound out of silk; In the old workshop of Phoenix in Hunan, a piece of intangible cultural heritage blue calico is dyed; At the creative market in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, shop for a favorite handicraft...... Foreign tourists can experience China's intangible cultural heritage up close, feel the Chinese cultural heritage condensed in it, and taste the customs and emotions of the people.

Suzhou, Jiangsu——

"Organically and deeply integrating intangible cultural heritage items with inbound tourism"

"Slow down, try to wrap up and down as evenly as possible, and then wrap left and right." In the living room of the Suzhou Silk Museum, more than a dozen foreign tourists are making intangible cultural heritage silk fans under the guidance of Chinese teachers. Boiling silkworm cocoons, picking silk, winding fan bones...... After a set of processes, foreign tourists have a new understanding of this intangible cultural heritage item.

"I'm going to bring this fan back to the United States." Kriya is from Maryland, USA, and she learned about the Suzhou Silk Museum's intangible cultural heritage experience program on social media and immediately signed up to participate.

"Mom, look at the fan I made." Kriya's 9-year-old son, Noah, is very interested in the process of wrapping fan noodles. Noah said that this was his first time in China, and he was deeply impressed by China's intangible cultural heritage. In the museum, he saw beautiful looms, and the method of weaving was complicated, "It is amazing that a small silkworm spits out silk and can weave exquisite silk!"

Zou Yujia is an intangible cultural heritage educator hired by the Suzhou Silk Museum, and often organizes intangible cultural heritage experience activities for foreign tourists. "Foreign tourists prefer to participate in the production of intangible cultural heritage by themselves, which is also the focus of our efforts now - to create more interesting experience projects, so that tourists can fall in love with intangible cultural heritage and traditional Chinese culture." Zou Yujia said that she is planning the "Susi International Meeting Room" project to attract more foreign tourists to visit the Suzhou Silk Museum and experience exquisite silk handicrafts.

Suzhou is a famous cultural city with a history of more than 2500 years, and the new tourism consumption model combining inbound tourism and intangible cultural heritage experience is attracting more and more tourists. The hotel where Kriya stays is located one block south of Pingjiang Road, surrounded by a large number of intangible cultural heritage art shops, where tourists can not only buy intangible cultural heritage, but also experience intangible cultural heritage production. Take a stroll through the Suzhou Gardens, buy a Suzhou embroidered handkerchief, order a pot of hot tea, and listen to the song "Slow Voice" at the Suzhou Pingtan Hall on Pingjiang Road...... Walking through Suzhou, the Kria family enjoyed a relaxing time. "If I have the chance, I'll bring my family back to play." Kriya said.

"In the next step, we will organically and deeply integrate intangible cultural heritage items with inbound tourism, create more high-quality intangible cultural heritage experience tourism projects, enrich the intangible cultural heritage experience of inbound tourists, and further unblock the promotion channels of inbound tourism, so that intangible cultural heritage experience projects can be known to more tourists." Zhu Yan, director of the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, said.

Hunan Phoenix——

"There's a magic to the ever-changing textures of blue calico"

Surrounded by green mountains, the river flows quietly, adding a touch of charm to the ancient city of Phoenix. Take a walk on the quaint bluestone road, take a look at the stilted buildings built along the river, touch the historical context, and feel the weight of culture - this small city in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hunan Province has become a popular destination for foreign tourists to enjoy the beautiful scenery of China and feel the traditional Chinese culture with its profound cultural heritage and unique ethnic customs.

Martin, a Canadian, has lived in Hunan for many years, and this time he accompanied his relatives from Canada to experience the intangible cultural heritage blue calico printing and dyeing skills in the old workshop in the ancient city of Phoenix - a piece of burlap cloth, under the joint action of indigo dye and hollow flower plate, the background color gradually changed from white to indigo, and the exquisite ornamentation was also revealed. After the Miao artisan introduced the natural beauty and auspicious meaning of the ornamentation, Martin was even more pleasantly surprised: "The traditional Chinese skills have a unique ingenuity, and the infinite variety of textures on the blue calico has a magical charm. ”

Martin has a soft spot for China's intangible cultural heritage, and the sofa at home is blue calico brought back from the ancient city of Phoenix. Every time he returns from a tour of the ancient city of Phoenix, he will bring some gifts containing intangible cultural heritage elements to his relatives and friends. "The ancient city of Phoenix is like a treasure trove of intangible cultural heritage art, which needs to be tasted slowly and carefully excavated in order to better appreciate its unique charm." Martin said.

"Walking in the ancient city of Phoenix, I feel like I am swimming in a painting." After Martin's family came out of the blue calico workshop, they continued to tour the ancient city of Phoenix to experience the unique culture. "As long as you are there, you will find that there are surprises everywhere." Martin said.

Blue calico printing and dyeing skills, color tie, Xiangxi Miao embroidery...... The ancient city of Phoenix has a number of national intangible cultural heritages, and the intangible cultural heritage activities are rich and colorful, attracting many foreign tourists to participate. "We had a unique cultural experience in the historic old city." Swiss tourist Fritz lamented.

Jingdezhen, Jiangxi——

"In the alleys full of fireworks, we can meet craftsmen face to face"

In the Taoyangli Scenic Area, the history of ceramic culture is perceived from the ruins; In the alleys, touch the mottled traces of time on the kiln bricks; In the Imperial Kiln Museum, you can intuitively feel the superb skills of Jingdezhen ceramics from the "Millennium of Porcelain Capital" exhibition...... Walking in the streets and alleys of Jingdezhen, people can feel the ceramic culture everywhere.

"This time we came to China, and our first stop was Jingdezhen." Indonesian tourist Steven Anthony told reporters, "Jingdezhen is worthy of its reputation as the 'thousand-year-old porcelain capital'. ”

Walking into the Ming and Qing kiln groups, the representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage are demonstrating the traditional porcelain-making process. The master of the blank has his pen and the blue and white pattern jumps on the blank, and the exquisite craftsmanship amazes the foreign tourists who come to visit. Indonesian tourist Tuti told reporters that this was her first time in Jingdezhen and she was "amazed". "A large number of Chinese ceramic relics were found in ancient shipwrecks in Indonesian waters before, which made me full of curiosity and yearning for the 'thousand-year-old porcelain capital', and this time I finally unveiled its 'mystery'."

Here, some foreign tourists are willing to spend 4 hours to calm down and learn to make ceramics, and even live in Jingdezhen for a few days to follow the intangible cultural heritage inheritors and immerse themselves in learning intangible cultural heritage crafts. In the international exchange center of Mingfang Yuan North Factory Ceramics in Changnan New District, rows of blank machines are neatly placed. Under the guidance of professional teachers, foreign tourists roll up their sleeves and devote themselves to creation. The blank drawing machine is constantly rotating, and the mud blank is slowly taking shape from the "disobedient" at the beginning to the end, and everyone's face is filled with the joy of success. "It's so cool to see first-hand how the ceramics are made, and every process is impressive!" Sophie, a travel guru from Belgium, said.

When night falls, hundreds of stalls at the Taoxichuan Creative Market are like a long queue, and all kinds of porcelain cups, porcelain ornaments, porcelain ornaments and other handicrafts are more exquisite and elegant under the lights. Derek, a tourist from Brazil, saw his favorite ceramic handicrafts in front of a stall and haggled for them. "I like ceramic works with Chinese characteristics." Derek felt the cultural atmosphere of the porcelain capital up close. "It's very different from traditional art exhibitions, where we can meet craftsmen face-to-face in the alleys full of fireworks." Derek said.

Touch the temperature of the thousand-year-old porcelain clay and feel the Chinese story that has been passed down endlessly. More and more foreign tourists' trips to China are no longer a rush to check in and travel, but a deep experience of Chinese culture.

People's Daily (03/0/0 0 Edition)