Weifang receives 2024 Culture City of East Asia honor

WEIFANG, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Weifang, East China’s Shandong province recently passed the final review by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and won the title of 2024 Culture City of East Asia.

The East Asia City of Culture program was first proposed by the cultural ministers of China, Japan, and South Korea at the third ministerial conference in Nara, Japan in January 2011.

Since the program's initial launch in 2013, more than 30 cities in the three countries have been designated as Culture Cities of East Asia. The selected cities will carry out diverse cultural and tourism activities to promote cultural exchanges among the three countries.

It is of great significance for Weifang to showcase its cultural charms to the world and to strengthen international cultural exchanges and cooperation, local officials said at a news conference on October 14.

Weifang has a history of more than 8,000 years and is widely regarded as the world's kite capital. The city was added to UNESCO's Creative Cities Network as a Crafts and Folk Arts City in 2021.

As being selected as a Culture City of East Asia, Weifang will be given priority to participate in the international cultural communication brand construction project and the international exchanges with Cultural Cities of Europe, and ASEAN Cultural Cities.

The city will take the opportunities to improve its reputation and popularity worldwide, said Quan Wensong, director of the Weifang municipal bureau of culture and tourism.

According to Quan, Weifang will host a wide range of international cultural exchange activities in the name of the Culture City of East Asia to promote in-depth exchanges and cooperation with Japan and South Korea. More efforts are also in the works to coordinate the city’s unique agricultural culture, fishing culture and handicraft cultural resources to establish its culture brand system.

Furthermore, the city will vigorously carry forward traditional culture, develop regional cultures such as historical culture, celebrity culture and folk culture, further promote the protection and utilization of cultural relics, and strive to become a National Famous Historical and Cultural City.