Ancient City Rejuvenated with New Cultural Charm: Yantai’s Young Masters?of Chinese?Culture Embark on Immersive Study Tour

Jiaodong.Net, July 10, 2025 (Reporter: Wang Jingnan) – On the morning of July 10, 2025, the gray-brick ancient lanes of Suochengli, an ancient architectural complex in Zhifu District, Yantai, welcomed a group of special cultural explorers. Hosted by the Yantai Municipal Office of Spiritual Civilization Development and co-organized by multiple cultural and educational institutions, the Yantai leg of the 2025 “Young Masters of Chinese Culture: City Tour of Studying Classics” commenced at this 600-year-old former site of the Ming Dynasty garrison.  

Breaking away from traditional classrooms, the event innovatively adopted an approach of “taking the ancient city as a scroll and experience as a medium.” It transformed the young masters into cultural ambassadors, who participated in various knowledge challenges such as Chinese culture quizzes, poetry contests, idiom chains, quick-response quizzes, and Feihualing, a give-and-take poem recitation game. They traversed through Yantai’s historical landmarks like the Mantis Fist Inheritance Base, Xuanhua Gate Tower, and City God Temple, perceiving cultural inheritance amid real historical scenes. 

In the soft morning light, children from Yantai Weilan Taiyi Xincheng Kindergarten kicked off the event with an opera dance performance of ??Snow--To the Tune of Chin Yuan Chun. Their tender yet vigorous movements transformed the magnificent imagery of “A hundred leagues locked in ice” into a vivid tableau, infusing the ancient lanes with vibrant cultural energy.

Guided by Qu Deshun, Vice Chairman of the Yantai Zhifu Historical and Cultural Research Association, and professional coaches, the young masters strolled through the ancient city. Pointing to the city wall, Qu explained, “This Xuanhua Gate once served as an ‘iron barrier’ for Ming Dynasty soldiers and civilians against Japanese pirates.” He then turned historical records into vivid narratives, leading the students through ancient streets and deep lanes to touch the pulse of Yantai’s cultural legacy.

At the Jiaodong Courtyard Mantis Fist Suochengli Inheritance Base, Yu Yongbo, representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage (ICH) project Mantis Fist, demonstrated the powerful and agile fist techniques with his disciples. By observing the martial arts moves, the young masters grasped the philosophical wisdom of “the interdependence of movement and stillness.” They also experienced the integration of idioms and martial arts through participating in a playful “guess idioms by watching fists” activity. 

“Strolling along these ancient paths, I feel like I’ve been transported back to the Ming Dynasty,” exclaimed Li Kunpeng, a fifth-grader from Nanshan Road Primary School, standing in front of the City God Temple. This historic building, constructed during the Ming Dynasty, has withstood over six hundred years of wind and rain. Here, the young masters played idiom chains, their clear voices echoing under the eaves, creating a dialogue across time with the temple’s ancient solemnity. “The City God culture embodies ancient people's prayers for peace. Today, what we inherit is a shared aspiration for a better life,” explained Qu Deshun.

Inside the Qishansuo Historical and Cultural Exhibition Hall, cultural and historical knowledge displayed on digital screens sparked lively discussions among the young masters. In the “Timeless Yantai” courtyard, the “human character formation” activity required teams to collaboratively form Chinese characters using their bodies, with their silent collaboration illustrating the elegance and intricacy of pictographic characters. “Studying with so many friends makes knowledge feel warmer,” shared Wang Enqi, a fifth-grader from Nantong Road Primary School.

The bricks and stones of this Ming Dynasty anti-pirate relic witness the youth reciting the Aphorisms from the Ancient Chinese in unison. The leading recitation by children from the Central Kindergarten of Binhai Road Subdistrict, Laishan District, Yantai, rose like new sprouts breaking through the soil, rekindling Yantai’s cultural lineage in the hearts of contemporary youth.

At the conclusion of the event, Qu Deshun presented young masters with specially crafted cultural souvenirs. The gifts embodied the aspiration of “taking the ancient city as an inkstone and youth as ink.” “I’ve always loved exploring traditional culture, but today, experiencing it firsthand in these ancient lanes has brought the poems and architecture from textbooks vividly to life,” said Li Kunpeng, gently touching the souvenir.

The Yantai leg of the 2025 Young Masters of Chinese Culture: City Tour of Studying Classics, through its three-dimensional experience of “ICH revitalization + historic sites exploration + classic recitation,” has made profound Chinese culture classics tangible and accessible. It also breathed new cultural vitality into ancient urban spaces and allowed young people to understand the contemporary value of ??cultural heritage in historic sites, thus injecting new life into traditional culture.