Heritages plus sports: a key to attract more tourists
“At present, our Yongzi Go Academy receives about 1 million visitors per year. The constant arrivals of tourists have brought new opportunities to the shops, restaurants, hotels and hostels as well as travel agencies around the academy,” says Tao Xiaochang, the chairman of Yongzi Cultural Industry Company in Baoshan, southwest Yunnan. Baoshan, also known as Yongchang in the past, is particularly famous for its production of Go game stones which has lasted for about 1,200 years. In 2013, the skills of making these Go pieces appeared in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yunnan Province.
In recent years, a series competitions have been held by the Yongzi Go Academy to promote not only the academy itself, but the Go game as a whole. During the 2019 Master Series in Baoshan, several Go players with international fames were invited to the city, encompassing Ma Xiaochun and Chang Hao from China, Shinji Takao from Japan and Lee Chang-ho from South Korea. “Through the series, more people from the world have come to know this game and its status as an intangible cultural heritage,” Tao Xiaochang highlights.
Today, intangible cultural heritages are no long confined to arts, relics and craftsmanship. A number of sports and activities that we may never consider “heritages” have joined this big family. Via Ferrata is an instance. “Via ferrata is a relatively new outdoor sport that many people are still not familiar with, but nearly person who has tried it falls in love with it now, says Liu Guowu, the person who is in charge of the Dongba Valley Recreational Vehicle Site in Lijiang, northwest Yunnan.
“Via ferrata” is an Italian word which refers to a mountain trail carried out with metal rungs and a cable wire. It allows participants to climb steep cliffs, explore undeveloped lands and enjoy landscapes that can never be enjoyed elsewhere. “This is undoubtedly a journey of beauty, challenge and self-fulfillment,” Liu says.
Writing by Han Chengyuan, Li Hengqiang, Liu Ziyu and Zi Danyao; trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong