A view of Lanxi (Photo/Gong Rui, Xue Wencun)

From October 23 to 24, a group of a total of 14 expats who are working and living in Zhejiang took a cultural tour to Lanxi in Jinhua City, where they experienced the local folklore via a series of cultural activities. 

The event is organized and implemented by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, which is held for the purpose to help expats in Zhejiang to better adapt to the local community and life here in Zhejiang Province. 

A close exploration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

The first stop of this tour is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) store, which is usually known as Tianyitang Medicine Store. For those of you who might be familiar with TCM, you might have heard this saying, that "The history of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) of Lanxi has been crucial to the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine as a whole". 

For centuries, Lanxi has long been considered the Capital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Lanxi has long been a place gathering Chinese medicine merchants, Chinese medicine stores, and famous Chinese medicine doctors. It has also been a famous distribution center for Chinese herbal medicines and is considered the Capital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in "Jiangnan" (southern regions of the Yangtze River). It can be said that Traditional Chinese Medicine has been an integral part of the life of Lanxi.

Medical consultation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Photo/Gong Rui, Xue Wenchun)

The Tianyitang Medicine Store at Zhuge Bagua Village was built during the Tongzhi Emperor period of the Qing Dynasty, with a history of more than 140 years, and its founder and successors have followed the ancestral motto of "To be a good prime minister or to be a good doctor" for generations. During the tour, the group of international cultural newcomers had a try at the Chinese medicine consultation and were really impressed with these ancient oriental medicine techniques. Joo Hanna, a girl from Korea, was very excited and said "The Traditional Chinese Medicine is so amazing!". Hanna has been living in Zhejiang for almost two years and is getting to be a big fan of Chinese culture. After trying the consultation by being held her pulse, she was very surprised and said "He just took a glance at my tongue and was able to tell my condition accurately.

The second stop of this tour is also a place closely associated with the history of TCM. The Medicine Emperor Temple in the Tianxia Jiangnan Scenic Area has witnessed the development as well as the glory of the Traditional Chinese Medicine industry in Lanxi. The group of ex-pats stopped at the Medicine Emperor Temple to appreciate various TCM instruments with strong curiosity and were deeply impressed with the unique charm of TCM culture. 

A display screen in the corner caught the attention of these international guests during the visit. Just by moving their fingers on the display screen, the development history of Traditional Chinese Medicine and knowledge about Chinese Medicine stores in Lanxi were available immediately. It is understood that the Medicine Emperor Temple was first used to worship "Shen Nong", and then served as the office for the medicine merchants in Huxi. It was also the seat of Lanxi Specialized School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it is now a provincial cultural relics protection unit and a base for education and practice of TCM culture in Lanxi.

Discover the wisdom and oriental knowledge inside the Kong Ming Lock and Eight Trigrams Military Formation

A Zhuge Trigram at the Prime Minister's residence in Zhuge Bagua Village aroused their curiosity. They stopped to listen to the interpretation of the various aspects of Zhuge Trigram by the staff and indicated that the Zhuge Trigram is very interesting after the introduction from the local staff. Expats had also tried some of the installations by themselves to deeply approach the culture and wisdom of the local Lanxi community. 

Kong Ming Lock and Eight Trigrams Military Formation (Photo/Gong Rui, Xue Wenchun)

Afterward, the group of guests came to experience the Kong Ming Lock. As a national intangible cultural heritage with a history of 1,800 years, the Kong Ming Lock has been developed into all kinds of toys with varied shapes and internal structures, and generally easy to dismantle and difficult to install. Zhuge Wencang, the provincial inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of the Kong Ming Lock, introduced the principle of the Lock and its various solutions. After that, the group of guests had a try of the Kong Ming Lock and tried to crack them following the instructions. And finally, all of them cracked their own Kong Ming Lock after unremitting trials.

A bite of Lanxi via local cuisines 

When it comes to Lanxi food, you must have tasted the morning tea of Youbu Ancient Town. At a time when the experience group arrived in the morning at the Youbu Ancient Town, the street offering various morning tea was already alive with people. A bowl of tea, four plates of dim sum, and deep-fried dough sticks, sesame seed cake, and egg pancakes served in proper sequence. This experience offered them a deep cultural experience of the unique morning tea culture in Lanxi. 

Group dinner at a local restaurant in Lanxi (Photo/Gong Rui, Xue Wenchun)

Jiang Jianying, director of the marketing department of Lanxi Culture and Tourism Bureau mentioned that they have strongly invested a lot into the built-up of the IP of Lanxi, so as to promote the local cultural tourism to more visitors, both from home and abroad. 

Author: Gong Rui, Xue Wenchun

Editor: Ye Ke