On September 21, the 2026 Jia-Kun-Tai Summer "Village Gala," themed "Encountering Waigang's Bountiful Harvest, Harmonious Homes Revitalizing Countryside," kicked off at Mamen Village in Waigang Town, Jiading District. As part of the "Waigang Rural Art Season" series, this gala pooled cultural and artistic resources from the three regions of Jiading, Kunshan, and Taicang, weaving together stage performances and a cultural tourism market to light up rural nights, draw crowds together, and boost consumer activity.
As night deepened and lights came on, a lineup of dazzling performances took the stage in succession: the situational drama Planting "Small Dreams" into the Fertile Soil of Common Prosperity, the dance Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains, the Yue Opera excerpt Storming the Palace from Striking the Golden Branch, and the rope dance Chasing the Light. Blending rural charm with contemporary flair, each act earned thunderous applause and cheers from the audience.
The Xinmei Yayun Pingtan troupe from Waigang Town delivered the opening piece Family Virtues Passed Down Through Generations, centered on the historical origins and cultural heritage of the Qian family. The melodious strings conveyed a thousand years of family traditions, while also allowing the audience to feel the vibrant energy of young people carrying forward this traditional culture. In 2015, Wangxin Primary School joined forces with the Waigang Town Cultural and Sports Service Center to launch a youth Pingtan specialty program, establishing the "Xinmei Yayun" troupe. Over more than a decade, it has cultivated wave after wave of young Pingtan talent. Last year, the troupe brought its original work to the final stage of the National Stars Award, showcasing the distinctive achievements of Waigang's rural cultural development and heritage preservation.
"I've been learning Pingtan for three years now, and I love it!" said young performer Chen Qixin. "I hope to one day perform on even bigger stages and share traditional culture with more people."
What unfolded on stage also mirrored real life unfolding below it. The situational drama Planting "Small Dreams" into the Fertile Soil of Common Prosperity drew on the experiences of new and longtime villagers from Gelong Village, Dalu Village, and Mamen Village, bringing to the stage stories of rural housing renovation projects, transforming old village residences into shared kitchens, and the shift of hollow villages into art villages. Through the changing lives of individuals and communities, the play reflected the vivid practices of rural revitalization and common prosperity, weaving together the transformative achievements across Waigang's countryside.
"This program really resonated with me," said Gao Yifeng, one of the first resident artists in Mamen Village. "In recent years, the village's cultural tourism atmosphere has kept improving, with more and more artistic talent settling in. It's provided an endless stream of fresh material and inspiration for our creative work."
Artistic forces from Kunshan and Taicang also added splendor to the gala. The Kunshan Cultural Center's instrumental ensemble Ode to the Divine Land resounded with powerful national music, while the Taicang Cultural Center's instrumental performance Blue and White Porcelain exuded the refined charm of Jiangnan culture. With the "Village Gala" serving as a cultural bond, the three regions of Jiading, Kunshan, and Taicang achieved shared cultural and artistic resources, co-branded cultural programs, and complementary cultural tourism strengths, making the vision of integrated cultural development in the Yangtze River Delta tangible and observable at the grassroots level.
Beyond the stage, the "Rural Encounter Market · Gangwan Harvest Fair" drew equally large crowds. Stalls featuring local intangible cultural heritage crafts such as Waigang button knots and Waigang rosewood, pottery works by resident artists of Mamen Village, along with specialty foods and potted plants, attracted residents to browse and purchase, keeping the rural night economy buzzing with vibrant烟火气 (liveliness).
In addition to the gala, from September 20 to 24, the "Waigang Rural Art Season" delivered nightly entertainment, rolling out five consecutive days of activities including open-air film screenings, a Shanghai-style comedy special, and a concert by the Shanghai Light Music Orchestra, catering to residents' diverse cultural and spiritual needs. Notably, this March, the Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group signed an agreement with the Waigang Town People's Government for the "Classics Enter the Countryside" 2026 normalized co-construction project under the "Three Delivering Services" initiative. The comedy special and the light music orchestra concert in this art season were exactly the benefit performances delivered through this project, ensuring that quality cultural resources truly reach the countryside and serve the people.
It is reported that this "Waigang Rural Art Season" coincides with the 2026 Shanghai Tourism Festival and the "Love Jiading · Enjoy Golden Autumn" classic activity season. For residents, the art season brings abundant cultural life right at their doorstep and increasingly vibrant rural energy; for Waigang, it represents a distinctive pathway of empowering rural revitalization through culture and continuously stimulating the countryside's internal momentum. Moving forward, Waigang Town will anchor itself to Jiading's "Five Cultural Cities" development goals, leverage its local resource endowments and the collaborative geographic advantages of the Jiading-Kunshan-Taicang region, and regularly create diversified, high-quality cultural, sports, and tourism activities for public benefit. It will continue to attract visitors, build stronger rural cultural tourism brands, and vigorously push forward the deep integration of "culture, commerce, tourism, sports, exhibitions, and agriculture," enriching Jiading's urban cultural connotation through grassroots cultural practice and polishing the distinctive brand of rural revitalization, injecting lasting momentum into the high-quality development of regional cultural tourism and the co-construction of Yangtze River Delta cultural synergy.
Comments