How China is leveraging Confucianism to boost cultural tourism
Nishan Holy Land is the latest and greatest of the Chinese government’s efforts to embrace Confucianism and traditional culture for the sake of the country’s development
Nestled among rolling hills and rippling ponds outside Qufu city in China’s Shandong province, the Confucian-themed Nishan Akademia hotel offers an unconventional visitor experience.
Guests at the upscale hotel, which opened in 2016, can dress in traditional Hanfu clothing from the Han dynasty (206BC-AD220). The clothes – flowing robes with long sleeves and sash belts, most often seen in Chinese television costume dramas – evoke a time when morals and ethics were central to leadership.
Once correctly attired, visitors can study The Analects, an anthology of thoughts and sayings attributed to the Chinese philosopher Kongfuzi, better known as Confucius, who lived from 551BC to 479BC. They can also practise calligraphy and play traditional games including touhou, or pitch-pot, in which players throw arrows from a distance into an ornate canister.
Wilson Xiao, the hotel’s general manager, says its mission is to promote and venerate Confucianism. And it has a strong founding on which to do it.
“Inside our hotel is the spring which folklore says Confucius’ mother drank from before giving birth to the sage,” Xiao says.
The hotel is part of a much bigger project under way in Nishan (“Mount Ni”), an area to the southeast of Qufu city and where Confucius is believed to have been born. The 25.76-square-kilometre (10-square-mile) project, named the Nishan Holy Land, is shaping up to be a large-scale cultural tourism district the likes of which has never been seen before in China.