From November 17 to 20, the 12th Dongpo Cultural Festival will be held in 
Meishan, Sichuan Province, southwest China. This cultural festival is jointly 
sponsored by Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Meishan 
Municipal People's Government, and the Chinese Academy of Aesthetics, aiming to 
prosper Dongpo's cultural industry, promote exchange and mutual learning of 
Dongpo culture, and make it go global.

Su Dongpo, a famous litterateur in Chinese history, was born in Meizhou in 
1037, where now Meishan City. He was a great person who made contributions to 
world culture and made outstanding achievements in literature, calligraphy, 
painting, medicine and food. In the year of 2000, Le Monde of France selected 
12 "Millennium Heroes" (1001-2000) in the world, and he was the only Chinese 
selected.

Many Chinese delicacies are named after his name, such as Dongpo Elbow, Dongpo 
Fish, Dongpo Meat, Dongpo Pickles, etc. In 1058, at the age of 21, Su Dongpo 
set out from his hometown Meizhou and traveled all over China. Meishan, the 
beautiful and rich hometown, gave Su Dongpo a good taste gene, so that he 
looked for local specialties during his travels and made delicious food 
himself. 

But what really made Su Dongpo famous in the world was his poetry. Su Dongpo's 
poems are permeated with the essence of Chinese Confucianism, Buddhism and 
Taoism culture in the bold and unconstrained way. Over the past thousand years, 
he has accumulated countless fans around the world, deeply affected the spirit 
of Chinese people for generations, and more profoundly shaped his hometown 
Meishan.

Today, Dongpo culture has been integrated into every corner of the city. 
Meishan people are fond of reading and cooking and have accumulated thousands 
of years of humanistic flavor and "Dongpo flavor" from generation to 
generation. The interesting Dongpo stories can especially stimulate the 
interest of teenagers. The Legend of Young Su Dongpo, which is broadcast this 
year, has restored the style and features of Meizhou in the Northern Song 
Dynasty by means of animation, showing the lovely image of young Su Dongpo 
growing up in Meizhou.

In August 2022, Meishan City proposed to build Dongpo Culture Inheritance and 
Development Center, and to build a global highland of Su studies, an excellent 
traditional culture and education base, and a humanistic tourism resort, and 
identified November as the "Dongpo Culture Month" of Meishan City. Since 
November 1, colorful cultural and tourism activities have been carried out. In 
addition to the special exhibition of "Three Su" themed cultural relics and 
large-scale poetry, music and dance performances, Meishan, together with 17 
other Dongpo ruins cities, Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, 
Chengdu-Deyang-Meishan-Ziyang Development Economic Circle and other sister 
cities in China, launched a series of activities, such as 10,000 People 
Chanting Dongpo, cultural experience and refined tour. Dongpo Cultural Festival 
is the highlight of Dongpo Culture Month.

"Dongpo" is a calling card Meishan handing to the world, and also embellishes 
the historical chapter of world culture. The millennium inheritance of Dongpo 
culture also gives Meishan people confidence to make Meishan become a national 
historical and cultural city, which will be another national city card of 
Meishan besides a national forest city, a national civilized city and a 
national health city.

Source: Meishan Municipal People's Government