【共生传媒】Across the Maritime Silk Road, Chasing Dreams Along the Xiangjiang River — Overseas Online Influencers Explore Wangcheng, Changsha

From September 20 to 22, the "Across the Maritime Silk Road, Chasing Dreams Along the Xiangjiang River" Wangcheng Cultural Exploration Tour was held in Wangcheng. Online influencers from the U.K., Russia, Egypt, Nigeria and other countries, together with representatives of overseas Chinese media, gathered in Wangcheng District of Changsha. They visited millennium-old Maritime Silk Road sites, ancient town, ecological tea garden and sci-tech innovation park. Through a dialogue between past and present, they experienced Wangcheng’s profound cultural heritage and dynamic modern vitality.

During the event, overseas influencers shared stories of Wangcheng with a global audience through vlogs, short videos, and bilingual posts on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, helping Huxiang culture of Hunan transcend geographical boundaries and reach the world.

The itinerary featured highlights including Tongguan Ancient Town, Jinggang Ancient Town, Chating Town, Wushan Tribute Tea Base, Dazehu International Talent Community and the Chuangshazhou・OPC District. These sites brought guests up close to Maritime Silk Road relics, traditional intangible cultural heritage, the everyday charm of ancient towns and modern sci-tech industries — helping them learn about Wangcheng’s transformation from an ancient porcelain hub to a modern city.

The Changsha Tongguan Kilns in Wangcheng serve as an important Maritime Silk Road site. Porcelain made here traveled down the Xiangjiang River and Dongting Lake into the Changjiang River (Yangtze River), before being shipped overseas from Guangzhou or Yangzhou. The porcelain was sold as far as 29 countries and regions in Asia and Africa — making Wangcheng one of the important starting points of the Maritime Silk Road. In 1998, the Belitung shipwreck was salvaged off the coast of Belitung Island, Indonesia. More than 67,000 Chinese cultural relics were recovered, some 56,500 (roughly 85%) from the Changsha Tongguan Kilns.

At the Changsha Tongguan Kilns National Archaeological Site Park, the guests toured the Tongguan Kilns Museum and Tanjiapo Relics Hall one after another, stopping in front of a 1:1 replica of the Tang Dynasty Belitung ship. Salvaged porcelain shards lie in display cases. Their patterns, mixing Chinese and foreign artistic styles, tell the story of the prosperous Tang Dynasty when Changsha ware was exported across the oceans.

When they saw the line of ancient poetry inscribed on a porcelain pot in the museum — "You were born but I haven’t born yet; when I was born, you were already old" — the overseas influencers stopped to listen carefully, and were deeply moved by this thousand-year love poem carved on porcelain. Ian Inglis, an influencer from the U.K., said emotionally: "Culture knows no borders — I can read the romance and the tinge of regret hidden in those lines."

In the old streets of Tongguan, the influencers tried their hands at pottery in ceramic workshops, kneading clay and throwing vessels to feel a ceramic craft that has endured for a thousand years. Holding up a freshly shaped piece, Ian Inglis said: "It's hard to imagine that porcelain fired by hand like this reached every corner of the world a thousand years ago. The tradition hasn't stayed locked away in museums — local people still pass it down from generation to generation. That is the power of a living culture."
 

At the Tongguanyao Guofeng Park, Egyptian influencer Nouran experienced the charm of ancient Chinese culture.

At night, the guests wandered through Tongguanyao Guofeng Park. Its dazzling flowing lights and diverse intangible heritage performances presented a new night-time economy landscape shaped by Wangcheng’s integrated cultural and tourism development.

Nouran, an influencer from Egypt, said with emotion: "In the past I only read about the Maritime Silk Road in documents. Today, standing before the replica of the Belitung ship, seeing porcelain produced here a thousand years ago shipped to my homeland,  I was deeply moved. Trade a thousand years ago built a bridge between civilizations; today I want to use my camera to share this moving story with netizens back home."

Leaving Tongguan, the group headed to Chating Town to see the amazing "pagoda and tree as one" spectacle at Xizi Pagoda. An ancient tree grows out of the pagoda’s top; the two have stood side by side for a century. The striking sight prompted the guests to stop for photos. The guide introduced the ancient tradition of revering books and paper, helping overseas visitors understand the Chinese respect for knowledge and culture.
 

The overseas online influencers posed for a group photo in front of the "tower and tree growing as one" landscape in Chating Town.

The hills were filled with tea aroma, and old alleys retained the warmth of daily life. At the Wushan Tribute Tea Base, the guests toured the Tribute Tea Museum, wandered organic tea gardens and tea processing workshops, and tried hand-picking and tea-making — immersing themselves in the living heritage of Chinese tea culture.
 

The guests visited the Wushan Tribute Tea Base, where they toured the production workshops and explored the organic tea gardens.

As dusk fell, the group visited Jinggang Ancient Town. Bluestone lanes wound past old shops and traditional crafts, while the soft sound of oars embodied the laid-back charm of this riverside town. As they walked and filmed, they documented local residents’ daily life and saw how integrated cultural and tourism development breathed new life into this millennium-old town.
 

The guests soaked up the vibrant atmosphere of Jinggang Ancient Town, where cultural tourism has revitalized local daily life.

History bears witness to the past, while the present writes new chapters. In the second half of the tour, the guests explored Wangcheng’s tech innovation hub. At the Sky Hall of Daze Lake International Talent Community, they climbed the viewing platform to enjoy the grand riverside scenery, visited the one-stop international talent service platform, and got a close look at cutting-edge technologies including embodied AI robots. They gained first-hand experience of Wangcheng’s sound business environment, which enables domestic and overseas talents to "launch a business with only a suitcase." At the Chuangshazhou OPC "One-Person Company" startup block, the guests talked face-to-face with returned entrepreneurs. They heard stories of overseas Chinese pursuing their dreams and settling in Wangcheng for innovation and startups. The block’s energetic, youthful entrepreneurial vibe made a strong impression on the overseas media delegation.
 

The guests visited the Daze Lake International Talent One-Stop Service Platform, getting a firsthand feel for the convenient ecosystem that enables talents to "start a business with just a bag in hand”.

Liakhova Albina, an influencer from Russia, commented: "Here, I truly felt the warmth of history. The porcelain of Tongguan Kiln and the everyday life of the ancient towns preserve a profound Eastern memory; yet Daze Lake and the Chuangshazhou block brim with modern vitality. Wangcheng protects its ancient culture with care while reaching for the future​ — a city where the old and the new walk hand in hand."

After visiting the sci-tech and entrepreneurship venues, Adegboyega Temitayo, an influencer from Nigeria, said with deep feeling: "I met many returnee entrepreneurs here who are turning their ideas into reality and building their own careers. Wangcheng offers such a friendly entrepreneurial environment and opens its arms to talents from all over the world. That openness shows how Chinese cities value innovation and talent."

Wang Jingye, Editor-in-Chief of Taiya Media Network, said the tour allowed overseas Chinese media and online influencers to experience Wangcheng’s historical heritage and innovative vitality firsthand. "The legacy of the thousand-year-old Maritime Silk Road and the spirit of this new city shine side by side here, offering vivid materials for telling China’s stories to global audiences. We will keep track of developments in Wangcheng, come back often and promote it whenever possible."

Wangcheng is Changsha’s youngest and largest district, and the only one that stretches across both banks of the Xiang River. In recent years, Wangcheng’s economy has maintained steady growth, with its permanent population exceeding one million. It has secured spots on national rankings of top 100 districts for comprehensive strength and investment potential, and top 50 districts for high-quality development.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day draw near, Wangcheng has prepared a rich cultural and tourism feast for visitors. Leveraging local cultural and tourism resources, the district is launching 20 activities in five categories: exhibitions, study tours, trendy recreation, performances and cultural-tourism consumption. The lineup includes cultural shows, parent-child study tours, traditional Chinese-style night tours, rural getaways, free and discounted performances and shopping promotions. Residents and tourists are warmly welcome to Wangcheng to admire the moon, visit exhibitions, watch operas, take night tours and enjoy themselves, celebrating this wonderful moment of "full moon and grand festivities."

At Tongguan Kilns Guofeng Park, the Lucky Thousand Lanterns Festival will include a moon worship ceremony, fish lantern parade, thousand-lantern moon tribute and tower lighting ritual, alongside intangible heritage iron flower performances and fireworks. At Jinggang Ancient Town, the immersive traditional Chinese-style event “Happy Tour of Lujiang Charm · Lively Nights of Jinggang” will stage water shows, ancient-style parades, iron flower displays and a dreamy thousand-lantern night market. Visitors can enjoy operas by day and splendid performances after dark. From Maritime Silk Road relics to traditional Chinese night tours, from ancient towns to a thriving tech innovation hub, Wangcheng greets visitors worldwide with its unique charm where history and modernity converge. (Reporters: Zhou Zhixing, Hua Dingxing, He Wen)