Grassroots exchange flourishes at Fujian Hanfu Cultural Festival

Young people from Taiwan learned about traditional Chinese culture by participating in the 7th Strait Hanfu Cultural Festival and the 2024 Hanfu Fashion Week in Fuzhou, Fujian province.

With the growing popularity of hanfu, young people from both sides of the Strait don beautiful hanfu and engage in traditional cultural events such as martial arts, calligraphy and painting to build a friendship bridge for grassroots exchanges, said Zheng Wei, president of the Fujian Hanfu Culture Promotion Association.

Zhou Chih-ju, chairwoman of the Tainan City Cultural Association in Taiwan, said she first participated in the festival in 2015, which began her affinity with traditional cultural attire like hanfu. Witnessing an increasing number of young people from both sides of the Strait joining the ranks of traditional cultural inheritance and innovation over the past decade demonstrates that there are successors to Chinese culture, she said.

This event, which combined tradition with fashion, showed bright prospects of folk exchanges and cultural industry cooperation between the two sides, she said.

Held from June 1 to 3, the event featured a cross-Strait hanfu fashion show, exhibitions showcasing traditional Chinese ethnic costumes from both sides of the Strait, and a cross-Strait youth salon, among other activities.

More than 200 hanfu lovers, including those from the Philippines, Canada, Italy and Greece, participated in the event.