By the Great River, Jinan Tells the Story of the Yellow River to the World

Along the sweeping bend of the Yellow River lies a thousand-year-old city where a compelling narrative of cultural “going global” is unfolding in full force. Here, beyond the bubbling surge of Baotu Spring, echoes the resonant voice of Chinese culture reaching out to the world. Since being designated a National Cultural Export Base in 2021, the Jinan Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone has evolved from a mere geographic location into a cultural vessel poised to set sail—departing from the City of Springs toward the vast global ocean.

Over the years, it has taken institutional innovation as its oar and cultural heritage as its sail, building a bridge for small and medium-sized cultural enterprises along the Yellow River Basin to access international markets. In doing so, it has painted a vivid “Jinan panorama” of high-quality cultural trade development. Today, guided by its Three-Year Action Plan, the base continues to explore new frontiers across twelve key areas—including intangible cultural heritage (ICH) promotion, financial innovation, public service platforms, talent cultivation, and international exchange—injecting fresh momentum into cultural exports and establishing Jinan as a vital window through which the world can better understand Yellow River culture and China’s stories.

Reviving: Letting Millennia-Old Heritage Dance at Your Fingertips

Stepping into the 800-square-metre cultural exhibition centre in the FTZ Tower feels like entering a flowing corridor of time, traversing the rich history of Qilu over millennia. Here, the delicacy of Lu embroidery, the weighty elegance of Longshan black pottery, and the intricate craftsmanship of Laiwu tin carving are no longer static exhibits behind glass. Enhanced by multimedia light and shadow technologies, they come alive in vivid and engaging forms.

With themes such as “Qilu Elegance: Springs Flowing Through Time,” “The Mighty River: Preserving Tradition, Inspiring Innovation,” and “Silk Road Threads: Cultural Calling Cards,” the exhibition unfolds layer by layer. It not only connects the brilliance of Qilu culture but also brings together traditional crafts—such as Qilu artisan embroidery and Shanghe homespun cloth—with contemporary aesthetics, sparking new vitality. This is a stage where tradition meets modernity, allowing intangible heritage not only to survive, but to thrive with renewed grace.

Accelerating: Powering Cultural Exports with a Digital Engine

At the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services, the base unveiled its flagship AI-powered digital export service platform, quickly becoming the “smart brain” behind cultural enterprises going global. By deeply integrating AI and big data, the platform provides a four-in-one solution encompassing policy services, enterprise showcasing, product trading, and client data aggregation.

It offers a full-chain digital fast track for small and medium-sized cultural enterprises. To date, over 100 companies—from ICH and cultural creativity to time-honoured brands, technology, and trade—have joined the platform, strengthening their international competitiveness and enabling them to navigate global markets with confidence.

Breaking Out: Turning Cultural Creativity into a City Brand

“Quan Xiaoli,” a cultural IP with a smile as clear as Jinan’s spring water, is a vivid example of the base’s success in incubating creative brands. Rather than standing alone, it represents the combined strength of more than 90 cultural enterprises and over 100 distinctive products.

From initial design inspiration to production and integrated online-offline marketing, Quan Xiaoli has not only won multiple design awards but also emerged as a new cultural calling card for Jinan on the global stage. Its success demonstrates a key insight: when traditional culture aligns with market demand, cultural products can become sought-after trends—opening doors for countless small and medium-sized creative enterprises to reach broader markets.

Innovating: Letting Institutional Reform Nourish Industry Growth

Institutional innovation lies at the heart of the Free Trade Zone’s mission. To address the widespread challenge of financing for cultural enterprises, the base partnered with Shandong Luxin Commercial Factoring Co., Ltd. to introduce an innovative “copyright factoring” model.

With tens of millions of yuan in tailored financial support flowing like a lifeline, intangible intellectual property has been transformed into tangible assets, easing urgent funding pressures for businesses. At the same time, initiatives such as the “ICH Glocal” programme and collaborative mechanisms between government, universities, and enterprises have enabled more than ten ICH projects to undergo creative transformation and innovative development—injecting institutional vitality into cultural inheritance.

Collaborating: Expanding a Global Network of Partnerships

From the Osaka Expo to the China Shandong Export Commodities (Hong Kong) Exhibition, from the Trade in Services Fair to Shandong’s Foreign Trade Premium Products Shopping Season, the base has organised enterprises to participate in major exhibitions at home and abroad over the past year. These events have showcased a wide array of culturally rich products with distinct Qilu characteristics, bringing them onto the global stage.

Beyond this, the base has actively forged connections with partner bases in Kaifeng, Boshan, Yili, and beyond, fostering practical cooperation in ICH promotion, cultural creativity, and trade. A cross-regional cultural collaboration network is steadily taking shape—strengthening partnerships, consolidating cooperation, and exploring new pathways for cultural exports, allowing Shandong’s stories to take root across the world.

Nurturing Talent: Empowering Youth as Cultural Ambassadors

Talent is the cornerstone of cultural preservation and development. By building strong talent pipelines and refining training systems, the base has invigorated the cultural sector. Through partnerships with universities and institutions in Jinan, it has established collaborative education platforms integrating industry, academia, and research, alongside social practice and international talent incubation bases.

A growing number of international students are becoming “people-to-people ambassadors” of Shandong culture. Through cross-border e-commerce and live streaming on global social media, they introduce Shandong’s distinctive products and intangible heritage to the world in their own voices. Their youthful perspectives and cross-cultural expression bring a more vivid and relatable dimension to cultural communication.

The great river flows on, ceaselessly and powerfully.

Standing at the starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the National Cultural Export Base in the Jinan Area of the Shandong Pilot Free Trade Zone is embracing a more open stance and a more innovative spirit to optimise services and strengthen industries. By building a comprehensive service system for cultural exports, expanding cross-border channels, innovating talent development mechanisms, and enhancing the cultural trade ecosystem, it strives to become a driving engine and innovation hub for Chinese culture “going global”—contributing to a flourishing new chapter in cultural trade development.