China News Service, Yuncheng, September 23. Title: Overseas Chinese leaders enter Yuncheng, Shanxi: Understand "Why China" on the banks of the Yellow River
China News Service reporter Yang Jieying
In Yuncheng in September, the autumn wind swept over the salt lake, creating ripples that lasted for thousands of years.
From September 20th to 23rd, nearly 50 overseas Chinese leaders from the 2026 Overseas Chinese Culture and National Conditions (Shanxi) Training Class traveled south from Taiyuan to Yuncheng. They were exposed to the context of integrity in the Shanxi merchant class, stopped and gazed in front of the murals of Yongle Palace, overlooked the Yellow River from the Stork Tower, and felt the roots of civilization in the Chiyan culture. Overseas Chinese leaders from 31 countries and regions launched a cultural dialogue that spanned time and space in this land known as the "No. 1 National Treasure City".
This training class was co-sponsored by Shanxi Socialist College (Shanxi Chinese Culture College) and Shanxi Overseas Chinese Federation, aiming to build a communication platform for overseas Chinese leaders to perceive the Chinese context, understand the development of Shanxi, and cultivate feelings for their homeland. This is the first time that Shanxi Province has held a special training class on Chinese culture and national conditions for overseas Chinese leaders.
A pool of salt water, a civilization
Yuncheng Salt Lake, known as "Hedong Salt Lake" in ancient times, is one of the earliest important resources developed by Chinese civilization. At the practical teaching site on the history and culture of Chiyan and the protection and utilization of the Yellow River Basin, the overseas Chinese leaders learned that the history of salt mining here can be traced back to ancient times, and the Chiyan culture profoundly affected the settlement patterns and economic life of the Chinese ancestors.
Suo Jiang, chairman of the Australia-China Cultural Friendship Association and president of Australia's AusTV Media, pays special attention to Yuncheng's cultural resources. In his opinion, the stories of Yuncheng Salt Lake and Pujiu Temple's "The Romance of the West Chamber" have strong storytelling and recognition. "From a media perspective, Yuncheng's cultural resources fully have the potential to 'break the circle' of communication. The key is to find a good narrative angle and expression method."
Bai Yang, head of the Swiss Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall and examiner of the Swiss Federal Traditional Chinese Medicine Licensing Examination, sees another value of Chiyan culture from the perspective of the overseas spread of traditional Chinese medicine. She said that the history of the development of Yuncheng Chiyan is essentially a narrative about "necessities for survival" and "the growth of civilization." “Salt is the ‘king of all flavours’ and this does not require cultural explanation for the Swiss people to understand.”
In Bo Yang's view, the space for dialogue between the Chiyan culture and the Swiss and German hot spring healing traditions is larger than it seems on the surface - both are healing traditions that use water as the carrier and minerals as the core. The only difference is that Chinese medicine incorporates it into the overall framework of meridians and organs, while the Swiss tradition focuses more on physical symptom relief. “That difference can be exactly the starting point for a conversation.”
In Xia County, overseas Chinese leaders experienced Hedong bronze intangible cultural heritage skills. Some overseas Chinese leaders said that touching the texture of bronze vessels with one's own hands gives a completely different feeling than simply listening to a lecture. This experiential way of perceiving culture is very inspiring for overseas communication.
Dialogue in the murals, looking back on the famous building
September 22, Yongle Palace, Ruicheng. In the Sanqing Hall, the Yuan Dynasty mural "Chaoyuan Tu" depicts the images of gods and goddesses, with their clothes flying and the wind blowing all over the walls. The overseas Chinese leaders stopped in front of the murals for a long time, and then participated in the hand-made experience of copying the murals of Yongle Palace.
Suo Jiang was deeply impressed by the murals of Yongle Palace. He said that the visual impact is cross-linguistic and cross-cultural, and does not require much explanation to make overseas audiences feel the shock of Chinese art.
In the afternoon of the same day, the overseas Chinese leaders came to Yongji Stork Tower and the Yellow River Iron Ox. Standing on the Stork Tower and overlooking the Yellow River, Suo Jiang had a deeper resonance with Wang Zhihuan's "If you want to see a thousand miles away, go to a higher level." "Overseas Chinese are thousands of miles away from home and working hard in a foreign country, relying on the drive to keep improving and making breakthroughs. 'Going to the next level' is not only a state of mind, but also a true portrayal of us every day."
Guo Zhuoming, chairman of German Future Technology Co., Ltd. and executive chairman of the Europe-China Joint Health Promotion Association, thought of the spirit of Shanxi merchants. "I listened to Shanxi merchants' spirit of integrity and pioneering in the class in Taiyuan. Today, standing on the edge of the Yellow River, I can better understand why Shanxi merchants can go so far - integrity is the root and pioneering is the road. This spirit also applies to business in Germany."
From “The First City of National Treasures” to New Industrial Opportunities
Yuncheng is the hometown of Guan Gong, the martial sage, and has given birth to excellent traditional cultures such as Yellow River culture, Genzu culture, Guan Gong culture, and morality and filial piety culture. In recent years, Yuncheng has accelerated the construction of a cultural and business-integrated tourism hotspot, and the cultural and tourism industry has flourished. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the average annual growth rate in the number of guests, ticket revenue, and comprehensive income exceeded 20%.
During this trip, Lin Junfeng, president of the Philippine “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Association, saw Yuncheng’s high-quality resources that can be industrialized and internationalized. In the past, his impression of Shanxi was mostly about energy and heavy industry. During this training, he discovered that Yuncheng's salt lake industry and bronze arts and crafts have both historical heritage and market potential. Taking into account the Philippine market, he is optimistic about the docking directions of the salt industry and salt derivative products, intangible cultural heritage, building materials supply chain, cultural tourism and research.
Guo Zhuoming is concerned about the cooperation space in the health care industry. "Yuncheng has landscape, culture, and traditional Chinese medicine resources, and Germany has advanced health care technology and operating concepts. The two can complement each other very well." He envisioned that the German health care service system could be introduced, combined with Yuncheng's local culture and medicinal and food resources, to create a unique health care destination, and at the same time promote Yuncheng's Yellow River culture and Chiyan health care products to Europe.
In terms of emerging industries, he said that Shanxi is developing new materials, new energy, digital economy and other fields. The Europe-China Joint Health Promotion Association has European biomedicine and scientific innovation resources and is willing to build bridges to help Shanxi connect with European technologies and markets.
When it comes to taking culture overseas, Guo Zhuoming said frankly that the biggest bottleneck is not the culture itself, but cross-cultural transformation, localized operations and overseas channels. "Many of the profound Sanjin cultures need to be expressed in a narrative way that overseas audiences can understand and be willing to accept."
Bo Yang feels the same way. She said that the advantage of Shanxi's traditional Chinese medicine resources is that "there are things to see, history to trace, and techniques to inherit." For the Swiss people, the abstract "five thousand years of civilization" is not as convincing as a visible pool of salt lake water, a historic Yongle Palace, or a clinical Chinese physician who can talk to them.
She said that she has been communicating with Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine for more than ten years. In the future, she plans to build a bridge between Shanxi and Switzerland and Germany in traditional Chinese medicine education, allowing Chinese medicine therapists from both sides to visit each other for training; combine Yuncheng Salt Lake salt culture with traditional Chinese medicine health care to create a closed chain of health care; and bring the same source of medicine and food to European dining tables.
