Tai'an holds its eighth annual Farmers' Harvest Festival in September and October, with a series of citywide activities celebrating bumper crops, rural traditions, and the achievements of agricultural modernization. [Photo by Chen Yang/for chinadaily.com.cn]

Tai'an in Shandong province began its main Farmers' Harvest Festival celebrations in Xintai city on Sept 22, embracing this year's theme, "celebrating agricultural harvest, sharing a better life". 

The festival displays the fruits of Tai'an's agricultural progress through a range of lively, public-friendly activities rooted in local farming customs and rural life.

The opening ceremony featured over 50 local enterprises displaying specialty agricultural products and hosting business matchmaking sessions with buyers. On-site events included grape quality competitions, pancake contests, and demonstrations of intangible cultural heritage and creative rural products. Additional activities, such as fun farming sports games, live-streamed sessions, grape picking, and photo contests, will continue through mid-October.

Across Tai'an's counties and districts, many activities reflect regional characteristics: Taishan district hosted a kiwifruit picking festival in Qijiatan village; Daiyue district organized a golden pear garden tour in Xiazhang town; Feicheng launched its first "agri-grown cup" village basketball tournament; Ningyang county offered fruit and vegetable picking at Fenghuang Mountain Scenic Area; and Dongping county began the 2025 Dongping Lake fishing festival, with an agricultural products expo to follow.

Through these celebrations, Tai'an aims to share stories of harvest, farmers, and rural vitality, highlighting new achievements in agricultural and rural development. The festival strengthens public support for farming communities and contributes to building Tai'an into a leading agricultural city.