Fashionable Life, Fashionable Qingdao – 'International Friends @ Qingdao' Event Reaches New Heights

On November 11, the 'International Friends @ Qingdao' Cultural Tourism International Exchange Achievements Exhibition, hosted by the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, was successfully held in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Demonstration Area, pushing the 'International Friends @ Qingdao' international exchange event to a climax.

It is reported that the 'International Friends @ Qingdao' international exchange event, organized by the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, invited over 100 international friends from 40 countries across five continents to participate. Five themed routes were planned, and international friends were organized to deeply explore Qingdao on five separate occasions. They created more than 30 travelogues, took nearly 3,000 photos, produced 15 travel guide videos, and shared them on social media platforms such as WeChat, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and VK, spreading Qingdao's stories and Chinese culture to the world.

Since the event was launched on August 28 of this year, it has attracted widespread attention among international friends and from all sectors of society. In just seventy days, over 300 international friends from more than 40 countries signed up to join the event. The series of 'International Friends @ Qingdao' activities provided a platform for international friends in Qingdao to exchange ideas and also reflected Qingdao's innovation and inclusiveness.

Eric, an international friend from Russia, said, 'Qingdao is very beautiful, with its coastline and Laoshan Mountain. I love Qingdao's food, and I love the people here. The experience during this event made me feel at home. Everyone welcomed us like family, giving a very warm feeling.'

Dong Lixia, an inheritor of Jiaozhou paper-cutting, said, 'Many international friends came into contact with our Chinese paper-cutting, felt the charm of traditional Chinese culture, and understood how traditional Chinese culture is preserved and passed down.'

In response to the epidemic situation, this event adopted a combination of 'online + offline', 'exchange + experience', and 'international + domestic' cooperation formats, incorporating what international friends like most, pay most attention to, and look forward to into the event plan, showcasing 'Qingdao through the eyes of international friends' from multiple angles. In particular, starting from Qingdao's culture, inheritors of Qingdao's cultural heritage were invited to the scene to demonstrate the charm of Eastern culture and Qingdao culture.

This event enhanced mutual understanding and deepened friendships through exchanges that closely resonated with international friends, opening a new model for Qingdao's cultural tourism external exchanges. By telling Qingdao's stories from different perspectives and angles, it summed up and accumulated experience for future international cultural tourism exchanges, continuously improving the level of Qingdao's cultural tourism international exchanges, and also providing assistance to foreign enterprises and friends participating in the event.

Xu Hongwei, Deputy Inspector of the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, stated that the epidemic this year disrupted the pace of Qingdao's foreign exchanges. However, in the face of the epidemic, cultural and tourism professionals in the island city have innovated and blazed new trails, using online and offline platforms and resources to continuously strengthen foreign exchanges and cooperation under the premise of ensuring safety. This promoted the successful holding of activities such as 'International Friends @ Qingdao' and the 'Cultural Exchange Among Youth from East Asian Cultural Cities', opening a new model for cultural and tourism external exchanges. Next year, the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism will further innovate forms and increase efforts, such as by organizing intergovernmental salons, to promote cultural and tourism external exchanges to a new level.