Millennia-Old County, Enduring Cultural Legacy: Dingzhou’s Dongpo Culture Reaches the World

Publicity Department of the CPC Dingzhou Municipal Committee, Dingzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, and Dingzhou Converged Media Center

In recent years, Dingzhou City in Hebei Province, drawing on its profound historical heritage, has devoted itself to the protection, inheritance, and innovation of Dongpo culture. Through revitalization measures that apply the past to the present, it has brought a millennia-old cultural treasure to shine with contemporary brilliance, helping to promote the international dissemination of China’s outstanding cultural legacy.

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Recently, the 2026 “Dongpo Journey: Discovering Dingzhou” China Cultural Heritage Thematic Route Activity, organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Dingzhou Municipal Committee, the Dingzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, and the Dingzhou Integrated Media Center, was launched. It brings together cultural tourism forces from 18 cities in 10 provinces across the country, builds a cross-regional cultural collaboration platform, links Dongpo cultural relics in various places, and constructs a distinctive cultural tourism inheritance system.

During the event, the newly adapted Yangge opera Ode to Longquan was staged at the Dingzhou Cultural and Sports Center Theater. The “Snow Wave Spirit, Red Cliff Spirit” Exhibition of Rubbings from Dongpo’s Snow Wave Stone Inscriptions opened at the Dingzhou Cultural and Sports Center Art Museum. Precious rubbings one after another recreate Su Dongpo’s refined pleasure in discovering the Snow Wave Stone and convey his resilient, broad-minded patriotism.

Dingzhou has a long and profound historical heritage and has been a gathering place of talents since ancient times. It is home to numerous national-level cultural relics protection units, including the Confucian Temple, the Imperial Examination Hall, and the Kaiyuan Temple Pagoda. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the literary giant Su Dongpo served as the prefect of Dingzhou, which was also the northernmost city on his official career path. Here, he governed for the people and promoted culture and education, leaving behind precious legacies such as the millennium-old “Dragon and Phoenix Twin Locust Trees” he planted himself, the Snow Wave Stone carvings, and poems and prose passed down through generations. These have engraved a distinctive Dongpo cultural imprint on this ancient northern city and made it Dingzhou’s most recognizable cultural IP.

In terms of cultural revitalization and innovation, Dingzhou balances ancient charm with modern trends. The Dingzhou Museum has launched a special exhibition that comprehensively recreates Su Dongpo’s governance stories and life in Dingzhou. Drawing on ancient architectural settings such as the Kaiyuan Temple Pagoda and the Confucian Temple, it uses digital interactive technology to create immersive experience projects, making ancient culture tangible and accessible.