Over 60 students from Tianjin Foreign Studies University and Tianjin Agricultural University gathered in the Yangliuqing, in Tianjin´s Xiqing district, on April 26 to experience the rejuvenation of the ancient town.
The students first visited the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum, where the magnificent VR dynamic scenes captivated everyone's attention. The virtual reality technology created a realistic effect of boating on the canal, reproducing the bustling scene of the Xidu Port at that time, which left the students in awe and admiration.
Inside the New Year Painting workshop, the sound of palm brushes rubbing against rice paper echoed continuously. As the New Year painting master demonstrated the exquisite skill of outlining and engraving, the students repeatedly praised the work.
Li Jiayin, a student majoring in Belarusian at Tianjin Foreign Studies University, worked to create a gradient effect on the tail of the koi fish when printing Abundant Harvest Year After Year. "I want to add more modern aesthetic appeal to traditional New Year paintings. These paintings were once exported overseas with the merchant ships on the canal. Now, what we are printing is not just patterns but also the genes of culture going global," said Li.
During the event, the faculty and students of the School of European Studies at Tianjin Foreign Studies University discussed how to use multilingual narratives, digital presentation, and cross-cultural resonance to transform the historical heritage of the ancient town into cultural symbols that the world can understand and appreciate.
Meanwhile, students from the School of Humanities at Tianjin Agricultural University provided suggestions on ecological resource integration, local intellectual property, and designing experiential tourism, supporting the millennium-old canal culture to achieve a contemporary transformation that is "tangible and perceptible" in pastoral settings.
As the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit approaches, this cultural dialogue that weaves through the centuries-old ancient town not only revitalizes traditional heritage with modern expressions but also builds a bridge of youth connecting history and the future, local and international realms.