Discovering Lucheng’s Charm: Cultural Stations and Free Tour Buses Offer Unique Experiences

Visitors can now enjoy thoughtful services such as luggage storage and hot water at Lucheng's cultural and tourism stations, while free tourist buses take them on tours of Wenzhou’s historical districts, experiencing the allure of this thousand-year-old commercial port. Yesterday marked the inauguration of nine iLucheng Cultural Tourism Stations and four tour routes, inviting more visitors to discover the beauty and charm of Lucheng.

"Historical Traces of Dou Cheng" journey. Photograph provided by Wenzhou News

Among the first batch of nine cultural tourism stations launched yesterday, there are representatives of Wenzhou cuisine like Quetequ and Park Jinli, intangible cultural heritage merchants such as Ouhua, local specialties including Laoxiangshan Huakai and celebrity residences like Xu Zhai Dawu, alongside international brands like Starbucks.

"These nine iLucheng Cultural Tourism Stations are all located in bustling commercial streets. Instead of focusing on building traditional large-scale visitor centers, we have carefully selected distinctive merchants within the streets," explained a representative from the Lucheng District Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports Bureau."Through a model of'government guidance + merchant co-construction,' we have ingeniously integrated station functions into existing spaces." This innovative approach of"fragmentation and integration" transforms these scattered corner locations into capillaries of the ancient city, enriching its cultural and tourism ecosystem while weaving together a network that is"small yet beautiful, warm and precise."

Additionally, Lucheng also unveiled four bus tour routes yesterday. This year, Wu Ma Street and Jiangxin Islet were included in the first batch of pilot zones for inbound tourism in Zhejiang Province. The urban roaming buses, jointly created by the Lucheng District Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports Bureau and the Wenzhou Transportation Group, offer free rides starting from Jiangxin Xiyuan, connecting 16 significant sites along the route. Four themed tour routes—"Fun Shoot Lucheng,""Historical Traces of Dou Cheng,""Jiushan Passages," and"Falling in Love with Nanxi Opera"—feature bilingual signage and intangible cultural heritage culinary experiences aimed at attracting both foreign tourists and local residents.

Yesterday, Ambassador, a young man from Nigeria, along with friends from the US, New Zealand, Morocco, and local children, embarked on a"Historical Traces of Dou Cheng" journey aboard one of these buses.

"This is my first time deeply exploring the history of Wenzhou since coming here to study. I will definitely come back often," said Ambassador, who loves Chinese history and has given himself the regal Chinese name Qin Tian.

As the bus passed landmarks like Dongshan Academy and Qiaolou, which represent Wenzeng’s historical veins, a journey titled"Start, Roam, City Fun" officially began. With each site connected, the historical imprints of this thousand-year-old city gradually came together, painting a complete picture.（Huang wei）