Bringing the timeless elegance of Song Culture into everyday lives: Yinz...

A scene from the "Painting of the Song Culture" event.

Embark on a journey into Song culture at Dongqian Lake's Hanling Old Street, experiencing the four elegant pursuits of the Song Dynasty: tea brewing, incense burning, flower arranging, and painting hanging. Dressed in traditional Hanfu, engage in activities such as pot throwing, archery, tea tasting, and strolling through the magpie bridge garden. During the autumn and winter seasons, various traditional folk cultural events in Yinzhou are lively and extraordinary. The traditional Song Culture event, in particular, has become a preferred choice for many schools' study tours and family parent-child activities.

Song Culture is a "golden" feature of the "Poetic and Picturesque Jiangnan, Dynamic Zhejiang" initiative. In recent years, Yinzhou District has committed to creating the "Yinfeng Elegant Song" Song Culture "golden business card." Leveraging two core advantages, the "Starting Point of the Maritime Silk Road Song Culture" and the "Source of Mingzhou Song Feng," the district has not only established a research base for Song history and several platforms for Song culture exchange but has also implemented innovative projects for the activation and dissemination of Song culture, bringing the millennium-old Song culture "into the homes of ordinary people."

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Scene from the "Painting of the Song Culture" event.

Building distinctive Song Culture bases

At the end of October, the 2023 Yinzhou District Song Culture International Cultural Season kicked off. Internet celebrities such as Chen XiYue and Zhang Enyu released the "Twelve Elegant Scenes of Qianhu."

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Opening ceremony of the 2023 Yinzhou District Song Culture International Cultural Festival.

The "Twelve Elegant Scenes of Qianhu" correspond to 12 identifiable cultural and tourist integration landmarks in the Dongqian Lake area. Each location has a profound cultural foundation and picturesque landscapes. Among them, the Moon Wave Study Pavilion is a place of profound Confucian exchange dating back to the Southern Song Dynasty. The Southern Song Stone Carving Park, known as the "Terracotta Army in the North and Stone Carving Group in the South," recreates the prosperity of the Song Dynasty in politics, economy, art, and culture, as well as the glorious history of the Dongqian Lake Shi family with "three prime ministers in one family, two kings in four generations." The bridge around the International Conference Center showcases a unique and traditional design, while the thousand-acre countryside reproduces a historical scroll of a thousand years. The "Twelve Elegant Scenes of Qianhu" is gradually becoming a shining "golden business card" in the Dongqian Lake Town Song Culture circle, representing a miniature of many Song Culture bases in Yinzhou District.

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Song Yun·Jin Study Room in Ningbo Academician Park.

In addition to Dongqian Lake Town, Hengxi Town is renovating distinctive homestays with Song culture as the theme, introducing immersive performances and special Song banquets. This effort aims to infuse the beautiful landscape with the vitality, aura, and original power of a millennium. Dongwu Town is actively building a Zen tea lounge and a traditional Chinese clothing aesthetics experience hall, adding Song Culture landscape sketches and Song cultural exhibitions to the ancient TianTong Old Street. Among them, the distinctive Song Yun·Jin Study Room hidden in Ningbo Academician Park is particularly noteworthy. This study room integrates Song Yun aesthetics display, historical storytelling, and national style Song Yun experience, becoming a popular spot for showcasing urban and rural quality life.

"Here, there are trees, books, and seasonal scenery. The bustling scene of Song Yun permeates, and after work, I often come here to experience the maritime silk Song Yun and Mingzhou Song Feng that surround me," says Chen Chong, a white-collar worker working nearby, who has become a frequent visitor to the Song Yun·Jin Study Room.

Exciting and diverse Song Culture activities

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Song Culture academic symposium.

In June, the Yinzhou Yue Opera Troupe premiered the new play "Wang Anshi Governing Ning" and "Chen Po Crossing a Thousand Years," bringing the stories of "Wang Anshi Governing Ning" and "Chen Po Crossing a Thousand Years" to the stage. Through clever integration of modern multimedia scene applications and traditional Yue opera art, the audience is led on a journey through time and space. In July, the "Mountains and Seas Converge, Ports Connect the World" - the Millennium Ningbo Historical and Cultural Symposium was successfully held. Experts and scholars from all over the country gathered in Yinzhou to discuss the millennium-old Song Culture. In August, the Ningbo Museum launched a colorful theme summer activity centered around Song Culture, featuring traditional Chinese clothing shows, tea art, Tai Chi performances, as well as Song poetry recitation and Song Dynasty four elegant experiences. In September, activities commemorating the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Southern Song Confucian Wang Yinglin, the first Yinglin Cultural Festival in Kuqa, the theme exhibition "The Crown of Mongolian Schools, Passed Down Through the Ages," and the Xilin Music Season were successively held. In October, the Song Yun song "Maritime Silk Road Legend," created by the Wang Leting team of Yinzhou musicians, was launched online, featuring elegant melodies and broad artistic conceptions. In November, the Song Culture into University activity was launched, and the Yinzhou "Song Yun" Cultural Lecturer Team visited universities such as the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Zhejiang Wanli University, and Ningbo City Vocational and Technical College, delivering knowledge lectures on "crossing a thousand years" to college students. In December, the joint exhibition of Song Yun culture at the Yinzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum opened, showcasing the essence of Song Yun from the perspectives of clothing, food, skills, and art, attracting citizens to stop and appreciate.

In recent years, Yinzhou's themed Song Culture activities have been flourishing, with "small events every month and big events every season." This year, coinciding with the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games, various Song Yun activities in Yinzhou have become even more diverse and colorful, including Song Yun Yue opera plays, Song Yun flower arranging competitions, recitations of the "Three Character Classic," and other activities. Up to now, more than 50 events have been held, with the participation of 300,000 people.

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Hanling Song Culture Market.

The influence of Song culture is intricate and enduring. In the fusion of contemporary aesthetics, urban temperament, and Song culture, Yinzhou District has established a series of cultural events that showcase the charm of Song culture. For two consecutive years, the district has organized the Song Yun Qianhu Life Season event, featuring a Song Yun-themed market, Southern Song-style street, Song Yun poetry route, and Song Yun cultural study routes. The district has also launched the "Qianhu Song Banquet" culinary brand, immersing guests in Song culture through details such as the decoration of dining environments, the development and selection of dishes, the attire of waiters, and the use of Song Dynasty-style celadon dishes. This initiative has stimulated the consumption of catering and cultural tourism in surrounding villages.

Simultaneously, Yinzhou District emphasizes the creative transformation and external dissemination of traditional culture, making Song culture more vivid and grounded. It has collaborated with universities such as Renmin University of China and Zhejiang University to establish the Song Yun Cultural Research Center, form a pool of experts and scholars, and establish the Yinzhou Song History Research Base and the Song Yun Cultural Research and Teaching Practice Base. The district has implemented a three-year research plan for Song culture, conducting research on the "Nine Songs of Song Yun," including people, culture, wind, materials, system, economy, Zen, art, and spirit. Projects such as the promotion of "Song Painting Reproduction" and "Song Ci Ning Sing" artistic transformation, as well as the implementation of the music composition project "Song Music Praise Nine Songs," have been initiated.

Noteworthy is the documentary "Ning Feng Song Yun," jointly produced by the Yinzhou District Committee Propaganda Department, Zhejiang TV Educational Science and Video Channel, and Yinzhou District New Media Center, which was released in July this year. The documentary received rave reviews, with renowned musician and Ningbo cultural tourism expert Chen Minxian stating, "This documentary makes people feel that history is not rigid; it is connected to us contemporary people. When familiar scenes such as Ningbo Academician Park, Sanjiangkou, the Southern Business District, and Tiantong Old Street pass by, we can better appreciate the profound cultural heritage of Yinzhou and the broad-mindedness of 'facing east is the sea.'"

Deepening and solidifying the spread of Song Culture

Yinzhou has deep roots with Song culture. In history, it produced notable figures such as Wang Anshi, Wang Yinglin, and Shi Hao, with stories like Wang Anshi's diligent governance and love for the people and Wang Yinglin's connection to the "Three Character Classic" being passed down through generations.

"In the third year of knowing Ning for Wang Anshi of the Northern Song Dynasty, Yinzhou served as an experimental field, laying the foundation for the Xining Reform. For more than 150 years in the Southern Song Dynasty, three generations of historians in Yinzhou successively served as ministers, forming the profound 'Yinzhou era,'" says Zhu Yongliang, a commissioning editor at the Yinzhou District New Media Center and a cultural and historical expert. According to him, Yinzhou is the starting point of the East China Sea route of the Maritime Silk Road, and alongside Guangzhou and Quanzhou, it is one of the three major trade ports in Southeast China, establishing its pivotal position in cultural and economic exchanges in East Asia since the Song Dynasty. In other words, the significance of Song in Yinzhou is profound.

"To further explore the resources of Song culture, we need to implement the 'Inheritance of Song Culture' project from multiple aspects, such as protecting historical and cultural heritage, enhancing regional brand image, promoting the economic development of resort areas, enriching the cultural lives of tourists, and realizing educational and enlightening values," says Chen Li, Deputy Director of the Economic Tourism and Lake Area Development Bureau of Dongqian Lake Tourism Resort. He believes that building the "Inheritance of Song Culture" project is not only a series of stunning experiential activities but also a daily panorama of a sustained flow. Currently, Dongqian Lake is advancing the construction of the Wang Anshi Expo Park project, the transformation and upgrade of Wang Anshi Square, and the project to connect points such as Wang Anshi Square, Erling Temple, Fuying Temple, and Zhongying Temple. Simultaneously, various Song Yun activities are being vigorously promoted to comprehensively advance the Song Yun cultural dissemination project at a detailed level.

Yinzhou's Song Yun culture is a refined banquet flowing through daily life, a blend of human warmth and Song-style aesthetics, and the integration of excellent traditional culture into the details of contemporary living. Based on the regional reality, how can Song Yun culture take tangible and spiritual form, resonate in the land of Yinzhou, and better enrich the lives of the people?

According to Hu Chunbo, the director of the Yinzhou District Library, the deepening and solidification of the spread of Song Yun culture not only requires the organization of various mass-appealing activities but also the mobilization of individuals with theoretical depth, such as experts, scholars, and history enthusiasts, to dig deeper into the cultural heritage of Song Yun. "Over the past decade, using the Wang Yinglin Reading Festival as a carrier, we have organized over a thousand activities. This year, coinciding with the 800th anniversary of Wang Yinglin's birth, we have continued to propagate Song Yun culture through various reading activities such as the Mingzhou Grand Lecture, online book clubs, the Spring Yu plan, and Saturday Reading Salons," says Hu Chunbo.

"To combine the thousand-year Song Yun with contemporary life, we organize non-legacy cultural and creative design competitions, promote the market-oriented development of themed cultural and creative products, and create Song Yun cultural and creative intellectual property rights. This allows Song Yun culture to penetrate the hearts of the people. Meanwhile, government departments can build platforms, connect with universities, scholars, and related cultural enterprises engaged in Song Yun culture research, and develop various themed Song Yun cultural and creative products," says Zhu Peiqin, Party Committee Member of the Yinzhou District Cultural, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports Bureau.

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