The 22nd Calligrapher Sage Culture Festival of Linyi opens

The 22nd Calligrapher Sage Culture Festival of Linyi grandly opened at the Former Residence of Wang Xizhi on the morning of September 22. Centering on the theme “Hometown of the Calligrapher Sage · China Calligraphy City”, the cultural gala caters to diverse public cultural needs, presenting an inclusive and elegant cultural feast that integrates traditional charm and modern vitality in Yimeng area.

Reputed as the Hometown of Calligrapher Sage Wang Xizhi and China Calligraphy City, Linyi boasts a time-honored and profound calligraphy culture. Since 2003, the city has successfully hosted 22 editions of the iconic cultural festival. Adhering to the principle of open and inclusive celebration for public benefit, the event fully showcases Linyi's profound cultural heritage and vivid urban humanistic glamour. Notably, the opening ceremony returns to the Former Residence of Wang Xizhi after a 15-year hiatus, endowing the grand cultural event with deeper historical origins and humanistic connotations.

At the opening ceremony, guests appreciated the elegant ritual music and dance performance Minor Ode · Lu Ming and watched the feature documentary Ink Quest in Langya. Representatives from eight renowned Chinese calligraphy cities including Linyi, Xuzhou, Kaifeng, Anyang, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Xiangtan and Xiangyang jointly released the initiative on cultural exchange and mutual promotion themed “Calligraphy Heritage and Urban Development”. Taking calligraphy as a cultural bond, the initiative aims to build a bridge for cross-city cultural integration and mutual progress.

The event also launched the activity of “Ten-thousand Yangtze River Delta Tourists Visiting the Hometown of the Calligrapher Sage”. It empowers cultural tourism integration via cultural inheritance and vitalizes cultural development through tourism prosperity, further releasing the comprehensive driving effect of the cultural festival. Leading officials and guests jointly unveiled the opening of the 22nd Calligrapher Sage Culture Festival.

The 6th National Calligraphy Conference, themed “Revisiting the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection”, was held concurrently. More than 100 veteran, middle-aged and young calligraphers and enthusiasts from inside and outside Linyi gathered to create and copy classic calligraphy works including the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection. Featuring diverse styles and perfect integration of ancient and modern artistic aesthetics, the works reproduce the elegance of the ancient Lanting calligraphy gathering and fully demonstrate the strong public enthusiasm for traditional calligraphy culture in the hometown of the calligraphy sage. The original calligraphy works were presented to on-site citizens and tourists as cultural gifts.

The innovative cultural and creative product exhibition area at the Imperial Stele Pavilion showcased a wealth of exquisite cultural creations that integrate traditional calligraphy heritage with modern aesthetic concepts, fully demonstrating Linyi’s fruitful achievements in the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional calligraphy culture.

To meet people's demands for high-quality and diversified spiritual and cultural life, the festival has arranged 23 distinctive activities under three major sections throughout the event period ending on October 21, namely the “Langya Ink Gathering” calligraphy and painting exhibition, the “Hanmo Carnival” cultural and tourism experience, and the “Calligrapher Sage Elegant Gathering” cultural consumption activities. All exhibition venues are open to citizens and tourists free of charge, striving to build a people-shared cultural grand ceremony.

Linyi will take this cultural festival as a key opportunity to activate the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture, further consolidate the city's cultural heritage, polish the core cultural IP of “Hometown of the Calligrapher Sage · China Calligraphy City”. The city will carry forward the millennia-old Langya calligraphy heritage in the new era and boost the high-quality development of local cultural undertakings.

Editor：韩蒙蒙