Come to Qingdao at the Gallop: A Creative Cultural Tourism Expression Blending Urban Charms and Chinese New Year Delights

Recently, a creative short video themed Come to Qingdao at the Gallop has gone viral. Weaving together the old and new sights of Qingdao with imaginative lens language, it ingeniously integrates the city’s cultural and tourism features with the festive atmosphere of the 2026 Bingwu Year of the Horse, and even embeds the highlights of the Chinese New Year Blessing-collecting Activity in Shangjieli. It opens a window for overseas audiences to appreciate Qingdao’s diverse allure and stands as a vivid attempt at the international communication of urban cultural tourism.

Centered on Shangjieli in Qingdao’s old town as both its starting and ending point, the video takes the highly entertaining “horse headgear teleportation” as its narrative thread. A simple gesture— the two protagonists putting on horse-themed cultural and creative horse headgears and snapping their fingers—serves as a magical switch to travel between the city’s landmarks. From Shangjieli, a spot brimming with the down-to-earth vibrancy of old Qingdao, they instantly teleport to Huilan Pavilion at Zhanqiao, surrounded by flocks of seagulls; then to the iconic Internet-famous wall on University Road to capture artistic moments with photos; to savor the city’s culinary symbols with Tsingtao beer and seafood; to overlook the modern urban landscape at the Haitian Center on Donghai Road; and to dance a playful horse-riding dance on the grass of Wheat Island against the backdrop of the coastline. The rapid shift between these six iconic scenes breaks the linear narrative of traditional cultural tourism videos, and condenses Qingdao’s urban character—“the old town exudes lasting charm, the new city brims with vitality”—through montage techniques.

Qingdao’s short video Come to Qingdao at the Gallop offers a fresh perspective for the international communication of urban cultural tourism: when urban scenery blends with festive creativity, and local culture combines with lighthearted expression, the communication of a city’s image becomes more warm and appealing. Meanwhile, old town cultural and tourism districts represented by Shangjieli have, through such creative expression, let their exuberant Chinese New Year vitality be seen by more people, injecting new momentum into the upsurge of Chinese New Year consumption in urban cultural tourism.