CRI Online, Shaanxi (reported by Liu Honghua): The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to "develop a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics for a new era, which possesses strong ideological guidance, spiritual cohesion, value appeal, and international influence", and emphasized "enhancing the dissemination and influence of Chinese civilization". In the era of building a strong cultural nation and enhancing international communication capabilities, local culture, as a vivid carrier of Chinese culture, is becoming an important fulcrum for "telling China's story well".

Weinan, an ancient city in the Guanzhong region, boasts significant resources such as Mount Hua, the hometown of Sima Qian, Huazhou shadow puppetry, and Cangjie Temple. It has emerged in the exploration of cultural "going global" through the path of "resource activation + channel expansion + brand building". Its practice not only demonstrates the inherent charm of traditional culture but also reflects the common theme of local culture going global.

"Re-examine" the cultural "Wei" Dao

From traditional carving techniques to modern shadow puppetry creation and rehearsal, from cross-industry collaborations to overseas trademark registration, Huazhou shadow puppetry, a Chinese art form with a history of over 2,000 years, has been exported to more than 10 countries and regions such as Germany, France, and Italy. "Going beyond the stage and into the world," Huazhou shadow puppetry has allowed the world to "taste" the "flavor" of Eastern aesthetics in the name of industry.

Behind the "going global" and "making a splash" is the cultural industrialization model for going global that Weinan has established.

This "Wei" spirit is embedded in the craftsmanship inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, immersed in the cross-border dissemination of local delicacies, and further integrated into the emotional resonance of people's hearts. This "Wei" spirit is never a single-dimensional cultural display, but a diverse expression of the coexistence of tradition and modernity, and the dialogue between local and international cultures. It outlines the "Weinan path" for Chinese culture to go global through specific cases.

The inheritors of Huazhou shadow puppetry have broken the shackles of "art not to be passed on outside the family," cultivating new talents through order-based training, and activating tradition with modern creativity: developing 48 types of cultural and creative products in five categories, achieving cross-border collaborations with animation, gaming, and fashion brands, allowing intangible cultural heritage to move from the stage to overseas exhibition halls and fashion shows. In addition, folk delicacies such as Weinan flower steamed buns and Tongguan roujiamo have also reached the world through a multilingual dissemination matrix, becoming a "taste card" for cultural exchange.

The fragrance of the "Wei" cuisine cannot spread far and wide without the unique and ingenious "cooking techniques".

Telling local stories from an international perspective, short videos have become an efficient carrier for Weinan culture to go global. In the 7th "the Belt and Road" Hundred Countries Imprint Short Video Competition, Weinan's submissions "Exploring the Secrets of Weinan's 'Agricultural Heroes' in Central Asia" and "A Foreign Relative Came to the Village - International Observer 'Tan' in Dali" won the grand prize. This narrative mode of "international observer + immersive experience" allows Weinan culture to resonate with overseas audiences through real and tangible scenes. In addition, Weinan accurately grasps the laws of international communication, builds a multi-dimensional communication network, and creates a global multilingual external communication platform called "Hello World, This is Weinan" and an overseas social media account "ThisisWeinan". Through platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and X, it continuously outputs high-quality content about Weinan culture. At the offline level, Weinan integrates core cultural and tourism resources such as Mount Hua and Sima Qian's Mausoleum into the global tourism map by participating in international cultural exhibitions and promoting the internationalization of cultural tourism projects.

"Re-appreciate" culture, "follow" Taoism

In recent years, based on its rich cultural heritage, Weinan has not only maintained its cultural roots in the practice of cultural globalization but also achieved effective breakthroughs in cross-cultural communication.

Build a solid foundation for going global with "dynamic inheritance + industry empowerment". Weinan has broken free from the limitations of "static protection" of intangible cultural heritage, and established an activation system for intangible cultural heritage that features "tiered inheritance, transformation pathways, and industrial scale", enabling intangible cultural heritage skills to move from "niche inheritance" to "large-scale globalization", achieving mutual empowerment of cultural and economic values.

Weinan broadens its overseas path with "precise narrative + matrix communication". It fully understands the core logic of international communication, which is to "make others understand and willing to watch", and builds a "multilingual, multi-platform, multi-perspective" communication system. On the one hand, Weinan continues to optimize the "Hello World, I am Weinan" multilingual platform, leveraging the successful experience of the short video contest to promote rural revitalization and food culture to the audience, and deeply interprets intangible cultural heritage skills and natural landscapes. On the other hand, it adopts the creative approach of "overseas perspective + Weinan elements" to enhance the credibility of communication through original content.

Sublimate the value of going global with "cross-sector integration + people-to-people connectivity". Weinan breaks the single dimension of cultural dissemination and promotes the integration of multiple fields such as "culture + agriculture + sports + vocational education" to go global. In terms of the integration of agriculture and culture, it uses characteristic agricultural products as a carrier to showcase the planting techniques of Baishui apples and Fuping persimmon through multilingual communication, allowing the "taste business card" to carry cultural connotations. In terms of the integration of culture and sports, it leverages events such as the Women's World Snooker Championship and youth basketball exchanges, using sports star stories and cross-cultural sports interactions as entry points to bridge the gap between Weinan and the world. In terms of the integration of culture and education, it disseminates agricultural culture and the spirit of craftsmanship while exporting technology through projects such as farmer training in Central Asia and railway technology training in Nigeria, integrating cultural dissemination into pragmatic cooperation. By allowing culture to not only "go global" but also "excel", Weinan has become an important window for perceiving the warmth and charm of China.

"Re-discussing" the cultural "Wei" Dao

As Chinese culture expands from its native land to the global stage, it will encounter a broader audience. This demands more distinctiveness and highlights in terms of content themes, expression methods, and product creativity. Specifically, we should deeply explore ethnic elements through "humanities+", enrich expression layers through "experience+", and expand the boundaries of expression through "digital intelligence+".

Represented by Pudong in Shanghai and Binjiang in Hangzhou, domestic advanced cities have achieved a leap from "product export" to "ecosystem export" in cultural "going global". Pudong, with games and online literature as its core, has built a "global co-creation" ecosystem, represented by China Literature, forming a snowball effect from reading to creation. Binjiang focuses on the "new three aspects of culture", supporting IP creation and adaptation with a special fund of 500 million yuan, forming a complete industrial chain of "creation-production-distribution-derivatives".

When examining Weinan within the cultural "going global" framework, its strength lies in the richness of its indigenous cultural resources. However, further enhancement is needed in areas such as industrial ecology, IP development, and localized operations, to achieve a leap from "single breakthrough" to "ecological synergy". For instance, using core IPs like Huazhou shadow puppetry and Huayin Laoqiang as pivots, we can increase support for digital cultural and creative industries, develop products such as shadow puppetry-themed mobile games, leverage overseas gaming platforms to reach young audiences, and establish a full chain from "creation-transformation-going global". Additionally, a special fund for cultural globalization can be established to provide precise subsidies for IP adaptation, overseas exhibitions, copyright registration, and more, fostering an integrated ecosystem of "intangible cultural heritage + digital + industry".

In addition, Weinan should break away from the "resource" mindset and deeply explore the cultural connotations of landmarks such as Mount Hua, Sima Qian Temple, and Cangjie Temple. For example, Mount Hua, as a core cultural and tourism IP, can undergo a cross-industry integration of "natural cultural tourism + animation scenes", promoting the formation of regular international cultural festivals; intangible cultural heritage workshops can build a scene-based closed loop of "experience + consumption + dissemination", allowing overseas audiences to form deep emotional connections, and achieving a deep expansion from "resource display" to "integration into daily life".

The construction of a strong cultural nation requires countless vivid practices like "Weinan's". The exploration of Weinan proves that local culture "going global" should be based on the local, rooted in tradition, and combine traditional culture with modern industries, connect with the needs of overseas audiences, and synchronize with digital communication trends. Only in this way can culture "go out" and "in", injecting continuous vitality into the international dissemination of Chinese culture.