Located in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, Chongqing's Fengdu has been established as a county for over 2,000 years and is famous worldwide for its majestic natural landscape and mysterious legends. Rich cultural and natural landscape resources are the foundation and advantage for developing Fengdu’s tourism industry.

How can cultural heritage be developed and refined so visitors can experience the charm of the culture during tourism? On March 26, four young Chinese and foreign guests discussed the integration of culture and tourism in Fengdu. They talked about their expectations for the new development of the thousand-year-old city.

Ba-Shu charm in Fengdu’s traditional culture

During this year’s New Year holiday in the Year of the Dragon, the second Fengdu Blessing Cultural Festival once again welcomed tens of thousands of people to pray for blessings. Fireworks, light and shadow shows, and astonishing drone array performances delighted tourists from all over China. Zhou Xiongbing, deputy director of the Fengdu County Culture and Tourism Research Institute, discussed the historical and cultural origins behind the blessing cultural festival. “In traditional Chinese culture, Fengdu has a unique status as one of the seventy-two blessed places in the Taoist’ Blessed Spot’.”

Zhou Xiongbing explained that in recent years, Fengdu has mobilized various efforts to rediscover the essence of its traditional culture, forming the “Ruby” and “Black pearl” of Fengdu culture in the new era. “Black Pearl” is the “Fengdu Ghost Town Culture” with the ghost town as the carrier, emphasizing “promoting goodness, punishing evil, justice, and harmony,” while “Ruby” is the “Fengdu Phoenix Culture” with the Bayu sacred bird as the carrier, emphasizing “auspiciousness, peace, prosperity, and endeavor”. These “one black, one red” and “one yin and one yang” together constitute the dual cultural core of Fengdu today and are the soul of Fengdu culture.

Lojain, a Syrian international student who has been living in China for five years, has always been interested in Chinese traditional culture. “The first time I came to Fengdu, I went to the ‘ghost town’ and found it very mysterious and charming. This time, visiting Fengdu, I gained a new understanding. I will definitely come to Fengdu next Spring Festival to experience the Blessing Cultural Festival.”

International cultural and tourism integration

The 2024 Fengdu Temple Fair will kick off in April. The Fengdu Temple Fair started in the Eastern Han Dynasty, developed in the Western Jin Dynasty, and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 2014, it was successfully listed as a national intangible cultural heritage, becoming an important showcase of Fengdu’s folk culture.

“Building on our heritage, we strive for innovative development, aiming for the temple fair to embody both the ‘Fengdu style’ and international standards,” said Ran Zebing, Member of the Party Leadership Group of Fengdu County Culture and Tourism Committee. In the 2023 temple fair parade, a phalanx of local intangible cultural heritage skills such as wooden mallet play and divine drumming were added, as well as cultural elements from Singapore, Mexico, and other countries. At the same time, Fengdu’s cultural and creative products went abroad and appeared on Mexico’s Day of the Dead, attracting the exclamation and praise of many local tourists.

Ran Zebing said that Fengdu would further improve the effectiveness of the integrated development of cultural tourism resources, shape the international cultural IP of “World Ghost Town,” and build Fengdu into a world-famous cultural tourism city.