Cultural Journey Integrating Education with Entertainment: The First Stop of the 2025 Yantai Children's Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Activity Opens

By Du Xiaodan from Qilu Evening News · Qilu Yidian?,Correspondent: Lyu Xuan

On March 22, the first session of the 2025 Yantai Children’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Series of Activities, sponsored by the Yantai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau and the Yantai Women’s Federation, and undertaken by the Yantai Cultural Center and the Yantai Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, joyfully kicked off in the Suochengli, an ancient architectural complex in Zhifu District. The event marked the beginning of a vibrant intangible cultural heritage (ICH) research and learning journey for numerous children.

On the day of the event, the participating children followed a guided route to explore various representative ICH items, such as traditional Chinese knot buttons, Jiaodong handmade incense, Yantai paper-cutting, Laizhou calligraphy brushes, and lacquerware. They deeply learned about their historical origins, cultural connotations, and production techniques.

At the workshop of traditional Chinese knot buttons, the representative inheritors of ICH introduced in detail to the children that traditional Chinese knot buttons, as an important decorative part of ancient Chinese clothing, have evolved from simple functional fasteners into exquisite art forms over time. The children were utterly captivated by the exquisite knot buttons, reluctant to put down these delicate artworks.

Entering the lacquerware workshop, under the guidance of the representative inheritors, the children had an in-depth understanding of the lacquerware culture and left a deep impression on its history, craftsmanship, and artistic features. Lacquerware is a treasure of traditional Chinese craftsmanship. With natural lacquer as the main raw material, it is painted on the bodies of materials like wood, bamboo, pottery, and so on. Through repeated layers of lacquer painting, polishing, and decoration, it is crafted into exquisite pieces. It has both a practical function and extremely high artistic value, which is widely used in fields such as daily utensils and handicrafts.

When they came to the Laizhou Calligraphy Brush Exhibition Hall, the children learned about the origin, development, cultural significance, production process, and characteristics of Laizhou calligraphy brushes. Through on-site observation, they appreciated the close connection between calligraphy culture and the production process of calligraphy brushes and felt the unique charm of the art of Chinese character writing.

Stepping into the workshop of Jiaodong Handmade Incense, the inheritor guided the children and explained that Jiaodong handmade incense integrates the folk culture of the Jiaodong region and traditional Chinese medicine knowledge on health preservation. The scented sachets made of specially formulated spices have different functions. The children listened attentively, occasionally picked up the displayed sachets, and gently smelled them to feel the unique aroma of different sachets.

At the Yantai paper-cutting workshop, the children admired the exquisite paper-cutting works and learned about the application of paper-cutting in different regions and for different occasions. Under the guidance of the representative inheritors, they picked up scissors and earnestly learned paper-cutting techniques. “I like paper-cutting the most. With spring here, I cut out a butterfly. This activity is so much fun!” said Wang Ziyu from Xinhaiyang Primary School.

The event specially designed and produced an ICH passport for the children and set up 16 check-in points for representative ICH items. The children participating in the first session of the study tour checked in and stamped at each experience project, recording the footprints of their participation in each activity and leaving behind precious memories and souvenirs.

The 2025 Yantai Children’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Series of Activities, relying on the 16 ICH skills in the historical block of Suochengli, carefully planned 50 study tour activities with different themes. Through multiple forms such as on-site observation, practical operation, and interactive communication, ICH has become a cultural symbol of Suochengli, helping children comprehensively and deeply understand traditional culture. The launch of this series of activities will not only continuously promote the inheritance of ICH but also effectively extend to the surrounding communities, stimulating the enthusiasm of community residents to participate in the inheritance of ICH and allowing ICH to take root and flourish within the community.