BEIJING, Aug. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In Longkou, a seaside city of Shandong Province in east China, a crowd of local researchers, teachers and pupils recently thronged a lecture hall of Wansongpu College to recall the time-honored cultural exchanges alongside the routes of the ancient Maritime Silk Road.

Gathering at the third session of "Wansongpu Lecture Hall", they immersed themselves in the vivid storytelling of its keynote speaker, Zhu Yafei, a distinguished professor from Shandong Normal University.

Starting from the eastward sailing stories of Xu Fu, a famous explorer from the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-207 B.C.), Zhu leveraged this session of the "Wansongpu Lecture Hall" lecturing series to probe into the history of cultural exchanges between Longkou and its sister-cities abroad.

Although many of the lecture listeners were originally unfamiliar with Xu Fu's stories, they were impressed by the intercultural communication brought by the voyages of Xu Fu during the lecture.

As Zhu said, cultural communication along with Xu Fu's eastward sailings adds historical significance to the routes of the ancient Maritime Silk Road and is a topic of common concern for the world.

As a locality where Xu Fu culture thrives, Longkou has proactively promoted related international communication for over three decades and received 6,000-plus visits by scholars and experts from home and abroad.

With the support of China Association for International Exchange of Xu Fu, the Chinese city held four large international academic symposiums and ten Xu Fu hometown cultural festivals to deepen the cultural bond between Longkou and related foreign cities.

Longkou also adopted other innovative communication tools to promote Xu Fu culture, including the release of a cultural IP named "Legend of Xu Fu" and a comic series at the start of this year.

By telling the stories of Xu Fu, the comic series spreads wisdom, courage and the idea of peace. It also showcases Longkou's diverse intangible cultural heritages such as paper-cutting, rope-woven crafts and gourd pyrography, through the lens of Xu Fu's voyages.

Original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/351805.html