Tancheng integrates Yimeng Spirit inheritance with cultural tourism
Tancheng County integrates inheritance of the Yimeng Spirit into cadre capacity building, literary creation and grassroots cultural services, leveraging local red heritage and intangible cultural resources to boost integrated cultural and tourism development.
Deepen red heritage study to upgrade work style
The county's cultural and tourism bureau arranges regular special seminars on the Yimeng Spirit via theoretical study groups and fixed study days. Cadres conduct field visits to villages and interview intangible cultural inheritors to identify bottlenecks restricting heritage development.
Staff writers and artists conduct field research at key revolutionary sites including the Battle of Tancheng Ruins, Maling Mountain revolutionary memorials and former residence of Liu Zhiyan. They systematically organize local revolutionary stories to provide rich materials for original stage works.
Grassroots role models including craft inheritors and rural entrepreneurs are featured in cultural promotions, extending the connotation of the Yimeng Spirit from wartime history to modern grassroots governance, industrial development and public services.
Integrate red and green resources to build new tourism layout
Tancheng fully advanced the fourth national cultural relic survey, rechecking 163 registered sites and archiving 65 newly discovered relics with dedicated files for six red heritage locations, passing provincial inspection. The county compiled Records of Tancheng Intangible Heritage, sorting full scores of Southern Shandong Five Major Tunes and completing written and video archives for local folk arts.
A series of original small operas including Backbone — Chen Hongcai, Faith Casts Soul — Liu Zhiyan and Riverside Red interpret the Yimeng Spirit through vivid stage plots.
Authorities upgraded four red culture workshops around Matou Ancient Town, linking the First CPC Branch of Southern Shandong with Zuidong Scenic Area to form combined tourist routes featuring red research, intangible craft experience and folk customs.
Expand cultural outreach for universal red education
The county promotes Yimeng Spirit education in campuses, military camps, universities and scenic spots. Regular red opera tours are held in schools, while themed performances are staged for newly enlisted and demobilized service members at military stations. A special ceremony themed "March to Military with Yimeng Spirit" is held at Tancheng Ancient City to consolidate civilian-military bonds.
School-local cooperation links red stories with university ideological courses and long-term research programs. Over 20 intangible cultural events featuring Southern Shandong Five Major Tunes, Langya straw weaving and wood carving are hosted yearly. Southern Shandong Five Major Tunes was featured on Shandong cultural tourism trains, and Langya straw weaving was showcased at national intangible heritage exhibitions and CCTV programs. The first campus intangible heritage week introduced 12 craft projects to local schools.
Three consecutive years of county, town and village opera contests produced more than 40 original red plays including Sacrifice in the Jar and Blood-Stained Military Shoes, touring all community cultural squares to spread red culture via popular performances.
The bureau will continue to dig deep into red resources, improve intangible heritage protection systems and innovate cultural tourism integration models to sustain long-term inheritance of the Yimeng Spirit and drive high-quality development of local culture and tourism sectors.
Editor：韩蒙蒙