LINYI, China, Sept. 22, 2025 -- Linyi city, located in East China's Shandong province, is regarded as being the cradle of Yimeng culture, with its rich history.

The city is the hometown of Wang Xizhi, the calligrapher sage and scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317–420). Since 2003, it has hosted the Calligrapher Sage Culture Festival 20 times, with the participation of more than 1,300 business enterprises and 5 million people by 2024, making the event an influential cultural activity, according to statistics from the Linyi Municipal Government.

On Sept 20, Linyi launched the 21st edition of the festival. The month-long cultural feast is bringing together calligraphers and enthusiasts from home and abroad, infusing the city with a strong cultural festive ambiance and offering deeper insights into traditional Chinese culture and art.

To commemorate the calligrapher sage's 1,722nd birthday, this year's festival is featuring eight themed events with 30 sub-events, including calligraphy exhibitions, calligraphy-themed tours in Linyi, cultural and tourism exchanges and handicraft exhibitions.

Events such as the Wang Xizhi awards calligraphy exhibition and the China-South Korea calligraphic cultural exchange exhibition are being held to broaden the cultural horizons of visitors.

In addition, there are around 1,000 handicraft items on display at the city's art museum from Sept 20 to 27, presenting viewers with a feast for their eyes.

"I think it is really amazing to focus so much on Chinese traditional art while we're in very modern times," said Zhang Jennifer Kerstin, chairwoman of the German-Chinese Association for Scientific and Cultural Exchange.

It was Jennifer's first time in Linyi and what impressed her most was its landscape and calligraphy culture. During her stay, she also tried some local cakes made in the shapes of Linyi city's landmarks, the texture of which was very different to what she's had in Germany.

A similar experience happened to the head of the Busan Calligraphy Association who also embarked on her first trip to Linyi during the festival.

She said that she felt very happy to come to the hometown of Wang. She added that she had copied Wang's famous work, Lanting Xu (or, Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion) many times while learning calligraphy in South Korea.

In particular, she was impressed by how well China has preserved the works of its great calligraphers.