With the Spring Festival now on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list and longer visa-free transit stays available, China has seen a tourism surge.

The Dongzhi, or Winter Solstice, the 22nd of the 24 Solar Terms on the Chinese lunar calendar, was marked on December 21 this year. On that day, an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) experience activity themed "big world, fashionable ICH, encountering beauty, and greeting spring in Dongzhi" was launcheat the Changsha ICH Exhibition Hall. Twenty-four international students from the School of International Education, Central South University (CSU), experienced making dumplings and dough figurines during the event.

The CSU international students, together with residents and tourists, celebrated Dongzhi and had an up-close experience of the strong festive atmosphere. Colorful activities were arranged, including an ICH bazaar, ICH experiencing programs, and ICH performances.

Traditionally, Chinese people drink or make wine during Dongzhi, to dispel the cold and increase body warmth, as well as celebrate family reunions. At the ICH bazaar, traditional small-bowl sweet fermented rice wine tempted visitors' taste buds, and the glutinous rice yellow wine was preferred by tourists as a souvenir.

The eight-treasure rice pudding, an iconic traditional snack of Huo Gong Dian, or the Fire God Palace Restaurant, attracted a lot of visitors for its tender and sweet taste. Besides, Changsha palm leaf weaving, nut-carving, and other ICH skills were showcased, enabling the visitors to experience the charm of traditional culture.

Changsha riddles, traditional incense-making, and some free ICH experiencing programs were organized. Zhou Bin, an inheritor of the Changsha paper-cutting skills, taught visitors to make window paper-cut works of Chinese character "福" which means good fortune in Chinese. Visitors also tried their hands at making sugar paintings, drawing the Chinese characters of Dongzhi with melted sugar.

The international students showed great interests in making traditional Chinese food—dumplings. "I know that dumplings indicate family reunion in Chinese culture. I enjoy this atmosphere when we sit around to make dumplings. It makes me feel warm," said an international student. They also experienced the Changsha dough sculpture making. Following the ICH inheritor's instructions and combining with their own designs, they created various vivid panda sculptures.

The Wangcheng shadow puppetry troupe and Changsha's provincial-level shadow puppetry inheritor Zhu Guoqiang staged stunning performances, winning rounds of applauses and ovations from the audience.

责编：唐煜斯

一审：唐煜斯

二审：秦慧英

三审：禹振华

来源：长沙市政府门户网站