Modern adaptation

Chinese New Year celebrations have been conducted in Shanxi, as well as the rest of the country, for thousands of years. While preserving culture and values throughout history, the celebrations have changed with the times and adapted to the modern tastes of people.

One example is jifu, the practice of collecting the Chinese character of fu, or fortune, in various forms and styles, and presenting them on social media to convey good wishes.

Companies or other social entities also used the jifu practice as a method of promotion. For example, renowned Chinese online payment company Alipay launched a jifu event on Jan 20. It distributed 28 sets of fu cards featuring various fu characters and various themes as the background behind the characters. One set of such cards featured Shanxi's cultural and natural attractions, aiming to promote Shanxi's tourism.

The Shanxi-themed cards highlighted five renowned attractions in the province, namely Yungang Grottoes and Huayan Buddhist Temple in Datong, Yuhuang Temple in Jincheng, Xuankong Temple in Hunyuan, and Xiaoxitian in Xixian.

While offering brief introductions of the attractions to help people with their tour planning, the cards have other practical benefits. On showing the cards, tourists can enjoy reductions in bus and subway fares or the entrance fees to scenic areas. They are also able to get souvenirs for free.

Sheng Yijiao, a Taiyuan resident, said she had collected all the Shanxi-themed fu cards. "I'm happy that Shanxi's excellent cultural and tourism resources can be better recognized among people throughout the country via the process of collecting fu cards," Sheng said.

Touring is now a popular way for people to spend Spring Festival. As a popular cultural tourism destination, Shanxi is a major beneficiary of the Spring Festival tourism boom. Statistics show that the number of Shanxi-related online bookings during the period has increased 27 percent from a year ago, while bookings from overseas tourists rose 33 percent year-on-year thanks to China's 240-hour visa-free policies for transit tourists from many countries.

In Shanxi, there are also many helpful measures for overseas tourists, including the growing number of outlets for currency exchange and the upgrading of ATMs to allow foreign bank card holders to withdraw cash.

A major destination for cultural tourism in Shanxi, Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan has used modern technologies to attract visitors.

At the CCTV Spring Festival opera evening gala on Jan 30, the museum introduced itself to the audience in an innovative manner. With the help of digital technologies, the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) terracotta opera-playing figurines, for instance, were revived, sitting among the audience to enjoy operas of modern times.

Wang Jianqiang, a Taiyuan resident, has been a volunteer in the museum for more than 10 years.

"Over the past decade, I have witnessed how the museum has become increasingly popular among tourists," Wang Jianqiang said. "The success can be partially attributed to the innovations driven by modern technologies, including more online promotions to attract visitors and the use of digital technologies inside the museum to enhance visitors' understanding of the exhibits and their related history."