The "2022 Event Year of Jinan, China's Culture City of East Asia" Kicks off

On the evening of April 26, Jinan, China witnessed the Opening Ceremony of the "2022 Event Year of Jinan, China's Culture City of East Asia" (hereinafter referred to as "the Event Year"). This marked the launch of a series of events themed on the Event Year.

The Opening Ceremony [Photo via Jinan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism]

Jinan and Wenzhou of China, Oita of Japan and Gyeongju of the ROK have been selected as the 2022 "Culture Cities of East Asia". As the world-renowned "City of Springs", Jinan is one of the important cradles of Confucian culture and provides a crucial gateway for promoting exchanges and mutual learning among Chinese, Japanese and Korean civilizations. The city founded more than 4,000 years ago has been contributing to the time-honored history and distinctive cultural charms of China's Qilu culture. 

In 2022, Jinan will, under the theme of "The Culture City of East Asia, the World's City of Springs", vigorously build a cultural exchange platform featuring wider coverage and more diverse forms, adopt online and offline approaches, launch a series of high-standard and high-quality activities centered on the "2022 Event Year of Jinan, China's Culture City of East Asia", fully showcase the cultural characteristics of the "City of Springs", promote fine traditional Chinese culture, tell the stories of the city and China well in the new era, to start new chapters in cultural exchanges, mutual learning, and innovative development in East Asia.

Jinan presented the "Large-scale Acrobatic Mirage Show" during the special performance titled "Memories of the City of Springs: Cultural Traces of East Asia". [Photo via Jinan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism]

The Opening Ceremony was fully and simultaneously broadcast live on the official website of Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the official websites of the cities selected as the "Culture Cities of East Asia", the official mobile platform for the promotion of the Opening Ceremony, CRI Online, Xinhuanet, and the relevant media platforms of the culture departments of Japan and the ROK.

At the Opening Ceremony, Jinan presented a unique and creative audio-visual feast featuring the cultural essence of "Memories of the City of Springs: Cultural Traces of East Asia" to the world. Local art societies in Jinan and Wenzhou of China, Oita Prefecture of Japan, and Gyeongju of the ROK displayed videos of local art performances, allowing people in China, Japan, and the ROK to experience the unique charms of the diversified yet harmonious East Asian art forms.