During the May Day holiday, Haimen's Yudong Ancient Town — renowned nationwide for its history and culture — hosted an immersive Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Experience Carnival and Specialty Agricultural Products Fair, drawing 65,000 visitors over five days.

The carnival featured rotating performances including folk songs, dances, and traditional operas such as Sichuan Opera face-changing. Interactive workshops captivated visitors with activities like ‌hanfu costume styling‌, ‌lacquered fan painting‌, and tie-dye crafting‌, offering a vibrant cultural feast.

In addition to the ICH experiences, the ‌agricultural products fair‌ showcased local specialties such as ‌fermented bean curd‌, pickled cucumbers‌, and ‌Yisheng rice wine‌, drawing crowds to taste and purchase authentic flavors.

The holiday's event significantly boosted local commerce, driving ‌comprehensive consumption‌ in dining, retail, and cultural sectors to ‌over 600,000 yuan ($82,783.18) ‌— a ‌52 percent increase‌ compared to the same period last year.

Yudong Ancient Town‌, which dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907)‌, is the ‌only fully preserved ancient town in Nantong‌. In recent years, the town has prioritized heritage conservation and tourism development through restoration and modernization projects.

The Chinese traditional Opera performance at Yudong Ancient Town in Haimen. [Photo/Nantong Daily]