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Three-Dimensional Integration, Volunteers Leading the Way Yangxin County Brings Arts and Culture to Rural Revitalization

Published June 18, 2026

In recent years, Yangxin County in Shandong Province has taken the cultural brand “Culture Enriches Yangxin, Arts Connect Every Household” as its guiding vision, exploring a three-dimensional development path of “delivering culture, cultivating culture, and utilizing culture.” Through the regularization, precision, and branding of arts volunteer services, the county has enabled high-quality cultural resources to reach grassroots communities and serve local residents, creating a vibrant model of using arts and culture to beautify and revitalize rural areas. Delivering Culture: From “Giving What We Have” to “Providing What People Need” Yangxin County has adopted a demand-oriented model in which residents place orders, associations coordinate services, and volunteers fulfill requests, ensuring cultural offerings align with community needs. The county has hosted more than ten high-profile provincial and national cultural events, including Shandong Province’s “Yangko Dance Celebration for the Chinese New Year” and the Beijing-Tianjin-Shandong Northern China Drum and Ballad Art Exchange Performance. During the annual Pear Blossom Festival, Yangxin collaborated with provincial and municipal federations of literary and art circles as well as cultural and tourism authorities to organize four provincial-level and eight municipal-level cultural events, bringing high-quality artistic performances directly to local communities.   Arts associations have also tailored programs to different groups. Traditional opera performances featuring Lü Opera and Peking Opera have been organized for elderly residents left behind in rural areas, while public-interest classes under the program “Spending Winter Vacation at the New Era Civilization Practice Center” have been launched for young people. Around traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, volunteers regularly visit nursing homes, special education schools, and rural communities, carrying out initiatives including “Arts Enter Every Household,” “Calligraphy for the People in Hundreds of Counties and Thousands of Villages,” and “Happiness Portraits for Every Village.” To date, more than 480 volunteer activities have been held, making arts services more accessible, relevant, and community-centered.    Cultivating Culture: Turning Residents from Spectators into Protagonists Leveraging its pool of artistic talent, Yangxin County has established a variety of free public workshops, making artistic participation a new rural trend. The county writers’ association launched the volunteer program “Cultivating Literary Heritage in the Pear Homeland,” while the calligraphers’ association offers both introductory and advanced calligraphy courses for teachers. The musicians’ association has formed public-benefit choirs for adults and children, and renowned artist Ma Weiwei, a member of the China Artists Association, has delivered specialized lectures on freehand flower-and-bird painting. Collectively, these programs have benefited more than 1,600 participants.    The county’s approach of “government builds the stage, citizens perform” has enabled ordinary residents to take center stage. Xincheng Subdistrict has organized more than 30 community gala events, attracting over 5,800 participants. In April this year, the county federation of literary and art circles launched the “Pear Blossoms in Bloom, Arts Shine Together” community theater series, featuring 105 grassroots performances and more than 850 participants. The initiative has truly realized the vision of “performed by the people, enjoyed by the people.” At the same time, Yangxin has integrated cultural venues including cultural centers, libraries, and Xinhua Bookstores while collaborating with women’s federations, youth leagues, labor unions, and senior universities. Through shared venues, shared programs, and shared volunteer resources, arts organizations have expanded their social impact. Activities such as integrity-themed reading sessions for female officials and opera-based cultural heritage events have further enhanced the influence of arts volunteer services through collaborative participation.   Utilizing Culture: Empowering Rural Governance Through the Arts Yangxin County has incorporated artistic elements into social customs reform, grassroots governance, and cultural tourism development, creating a new engine for culture-driven governance. Original artistic works such as the sketch comedy Returning the Red Envelope, the crosstalk performance Two Sons, and the Xihe Drum Ballad Two Daughters Persuade Their Father have promoted positive social values. Liupowu Town established a volunteer team dedicated to promoting new wedding customs through artistic performances and cultural ceremonies. The Yangxin Eastern Road Bangzi Opera Troupe received the Outstanding Group Award at the 2025 Shandong Provincial Rural Civilization Mini-Drama Exhibition. Yangxin’s practices in rural cultural revitalization have also received recognition from provincial arts leaders and have been featured on the national platform for municipal and county federations of literary and art circles. In grassroots governance, Yangxin has piloted the role of “Arts Secretaries,” creating community partnership mechanisms that connect arts coordinators, Party-member volunteers, residents, and property management teams. Its innovative experience, titled “Arts + Ideological Education Empowering Grassroots Governance,” was published and promoted in Ideological and Political Work Studies, a publication under China’s central publicity authorities. Laodian Town assigned an “Arts Secretary” to the Hupan Jiayuan resettlement community and developed a volunteer service model known as the “Three New Initiatives.” As a result, the number of community disputes has declined significantly, while resolution rates and resident satisfaction have continued to rise. The practice was highlighted as a model case at a national training conference on the high-quality development of literary and arts volunteer services. Building on local cultural resources, Yangxin has integrated arts into tourism events such as the Pear Blossom Festival and the Peony Flower Viewing Season. Volunteers participate in field research, artistic performances, and cultural and creative product development. Shuiluopo Town has implemented a strategy integrating the art chain, industrial chain, and livelihood chain, hosting the “Impressions of Shuiluopo” photography competition and developing a folk culture village that now receives more than 15,000 educational visitors annually. Yanghu Township has leveraged its nationally recognized intangible cultural heritage program, Guzi Yangko Dance, attracting more than 50,000 visitors each year. Reports such as “How One Flower Revitalized an Entire City in Yangxin, Shandong” and “Party-Building Leadership, Blooming Peonies, Energetic Yangko Dances, and Prosperous Livelihoods” have been published by major media outlets including the Guangming Daily and People’s Daily Online, generating over 800,000 online views.   A representative of the Yangxin County Federation of Literary and Art Circles noted that arts volunteerism is an ongoing “cultural relay.” From delivering culture to cultivating culture and ultimately utilizing culture, Yangxin continues to pass the baton of cultural development, ensuring that arts and culture become a lasting source of warmth and momentum for rural revitalization. (By Zhou Xiaohang and Lao Jianning)