Jining city in Shandong province, hometown of Confucius and Mencius, strove to carry out the strategy to develop all-for-one tourism and study tour business based on its abundant Confucian culture. 

Chang Hongxu, from Jining Polytechnic College, suggested that the study tour was a type of was experiential and inquiry learning. The tour products should be developed while considering the curriculum of primary and secondary school so that it can stimulate students to make in-depth thoughts.

 "Study is not as mysterious as we thought. It is just a different form of study. It should be developed in different forms and help students and tourists learn more knowledge,” said Yang Chaoming, dean of Chinese Confucius Research Institute.

The city kept exploring new methods, integrating its tourism resources and creating new study tour products in recent years, aiming to set up a tourist industry cluster of a study tour and improve the popularity and influence of “cultural Jining”. 

 Jining initiated the “1311” projects to replace old growth drivers with new ones by developing 10 characteristic tourist towns, 30 tourist villages, 10 health preservation bases, and 100 demonstration sites for study tour. It also took efforts to promote the Wishan Lake Ecology and Leisure Tour and Economic Belt and the Grand Canal Golden Tourism Waterway.

For now, the city is aiming to integrate tourism with culture and education and set up a diversified tourism product chain based on its profound Confucian culture to let tourist enjoy the power and charm of culture in tours.

The Confucian Temple in Qufu, a county-level city of Jining, Shandong province. [Photo/VCG]