The opening show of the event extols the culture of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). [Photo/66wz.com]
The 2022 Culture City of East Asia series of celebrations began in the eastern Chinese coastal city of Wenzhou on April 19, local media outlets reported.
Jinan in East China's Shandong province, Oita prefecture in Japan, and Gyeongju city in South Korea, all of which received the 2022 Culture City of East Asia honor, extended video greetings during the opening.
The opening, which was themed around the culture of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), presented a variety of artistic genres ranging from Ouju Opera, Kunqu Opera and drum ballads to puppet shows and folk songs that are usually sung in the fields during or after work.
Foreign students at Wenzhou universities also performed with intangible cultural heritage practitioners on a singing and dancing show extolling indigo printing, or lanjiaxie in Chinese, a traditional cloth dyeing technique that originated in Wenzhou during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) before reaching its peak during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Wenzhou is scheduled to host over 100 international exchange activities in 2022 that not only take advantage of upcoming events like the Asian Games and the World Summit of Young Scientists but also involve cultural heritage items, literature and art, tourism, sports events, gourmet foot, creative design, and economic and trade cooperation.
The Culture City of East Asia program was officially launched by China, Japan and South Korea in 2013 and was the first international cultural city naming event in Asia. It has been recognized as a prestigious international cultural brand in China.
