Creating a diverse cultural hub with a hotel, art museum, intangible cultural heritage workshops, and more, the complex has attracted over 100,000 visitors within six months of its opening.
QINGDAO (Qingdao Daily/Guanhai News) – The Qingdao Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex in Laoshan District has won the first prize in the 2025 Shandong Provincial Innovative Public Cultural Space Competition, organized by the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. The complex, recognized as a pioneering cross-sector cultural space, now serves as a replicable and scalable model for developing new public cultural venues throughout the province.
Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex: Innovating Culture and Tourism Through Cross-Sector Integration
"Thank you for your continued attention and enthusiastic participation in the 4th Artisan Skills Competition of Zhonghan Sub-district, themed 'Swallows Return to Zhangcun River - A New Chapter for Our Homeland.' We welcome everyone to the Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex to admire these masterful creations that showcase the new face of our community." On November 28, the Zhonghan Sub-district in Laoshan District released a notice about the "Artisan Skills Competition." Over 300 works of calligraphy, painting, fabric art, paper art, and pottery collected by the sub-district are currently on display at the complex. This marks a vivid example of the Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex actively integrating into local cultural practices and connecting the public with art.
As a diverse and integrated cultural space that combines a hotel, art museum, museum, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) workshops, and artist studios, the Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex has operated since its opening in May this year under the core concept of "local culture, traditional culture, and modern aesthetics." It is committed to building an open cultural and lifestyle venue that possesses both artistic character and urban warmth. Stepping into the complex, one is immediately greeted by Qingdao's elements and artistic atmosphere. The art installation in the first-floor lobby is inspired by the "Moonlight over Taiqing Palace," a famed Laoshan scenic spot, creating an ambiance of mountain and sea reflections with shimmering light. The elevator lobby's design draws from Laoshan's Mitian Cave (literally "Cave for Seeking Heaven"). A wall on one side of the lobby features "Jiushui Green," a color inspired by the local Jiushui scenery, and when sunlight shines upon it, it seems to create ripples as if wind were blowing across water. The overall design deeply integrates elements of Laoshan and local Qingdao, forming a unique, regional, and fashionable artistic expression that merges scenery with the city and shapes tourism through culture. In terms of spatial layout, the project can flexibly host various public cultural activities such as exhibitions, lectures, and training sessions, conveying a sense of warmth where art and life merge in the details. All this contributes to a modern cultural field that not only stimulates aesthetic experiences but also boasts high functional adaptability, providing a continuous and accessible platform for public participation and urban aesthetic education.
"'Ruoqi' is both an experiential field for local culture and a window for cultural export. We hope that while foreign tourists experience the spirit of Qingdao here, local residents can also continuously strengthen their cultural identity," said Xu Shanshan, a manager at the Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex. In her view, this is a new type of cultural complex that breaks down the boundaries between hotels, art spaces, and public cultural services. From its inception, the project has built a complete cultural ecosystem from artistic display to lifestyle experience, including an art museum, a jewelry museum, a creative-products store, hotel catering, ICH workshops, and a training school. The art museum promotes deep interaction between art and the public by hosting art exhibitions and community cultural events centered on local culture, life aesthetics, and music salons, such as the "Artisan Skills Competition." Meanwhile, the ICH workshops and training school have already offered over a thousand ICH courses, attracting thousands of residents and young people.
According to Xu Shanshan, the complex has hosted a series of exhibitions and activities, including the "Vision of Civilization" theme exhibition, the "'Art Together at Ruoqi'" resident handicraft exhibition, and the "'Charming Mountains and Seas, Affection for Laoshan'" ICH experience for Malaysian Chinese youth. Through skill exchange and creative cultural export, it not only conveys an expression of Eastern aesthetics and regional cultural characteristics to a global audience but also accumulates strong momentum for its own development. Statistics show that in the six months since its opening, the Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex has received over 100,000 citizens and tourists.
Maximizing limited space through scene transformation, the Ruoqi Culture and Art Complex enhances urban cultural cohesion with high-frequency, high-participation activities, becoming a living testament to the global outreach of fine traditional Chinese culture. (By Yi Tao, Qingdao Daily/Guanhai News)
Editor: Yuan Ruichen
