Xiamen is turning its traditional Mid-Autumn celebrations into a global showcase of Chinese cultural heritage as the city prepares to host a major UNESCO intangible cultural heritage meeting.
The 2026 Xiamen Mid-Autumn Tourism Carnival at Xiamen Sea World, has brought together traditional festivities, folk performances and modern tourism experiences.
Running until October 6, the carnival is part of a wider city campaign to promote intangible cultural heritage and expose international visitors to Chinese traditions.
The celebrations come ahead of the 21st session of the General Assembly of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.
The fete, which Kenya’s Lamu can borrow heavily from by virtue of their similarities, will be held in Xiamen this year.
The carnival is one of the activities under Xiamen's ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage Throughout the City, All Year Round’ promotional and showcase campaign.
The initiative is designed to allow residents and foreign visitors to experience traditional practices directly.
Standing out is Bo Bing, a traditional dice game strongly associated with Xiamen and the wider southern Fujian region.
Played during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the game involves participants throwing six dice to compete for different ranks. They are Zhuangyuan, Bangyan and Tanhua, with prizes such as mooncakes.
Xiamen is using the game to demonstrate how a traditional practice can be presented to contemporary and international audiences without losing its festive character.
This year's carnival is themed ‘Joyful Mid-Autumn Festival, Lucky Xiamen’, with the slogan ‘Come to Xiamen and Try Your Luck’.
The celebrations will be experienced at metro stations, cruises, tourist attractions and commercial districts through a specialized Bo Bing map.
The aim is to turn the city into an open cultural venue, allowing visitors to encounter traditional practices as they explore Xiamen.
The opening ceremony featured the 2026 Xiamen Autumn Cultural and Tourism Promotion Show, ‘Come to Xiamen, Find Good Luck’.
The performance combined intangible cultural heritage and folk traditions with different art forms and scenes from everyday life.
The organisers used the performance to invite visitors from around the world to experience Xiamen during the autumn tourism season.
The UNESCO meeting gives added significance to the city's efforts to put its traditions in the spotlight.
For China, safeguarding intangible cultural heritage involves not only protecting traditional practices but also finding ways to keep them relevant to contemporary society.
Xiamen's approach illustrates this through a festival that combines cultural preservation, tourism and public participation.
Instead of presenting heritage solely through museums or formal cultural performances, the city is incorporating it into tourism routes, entertainment, commercial spaces and online activities.
An online public co-creation campaign accompanying the carnival includes a RMB10,000 cash prize pool and invites people around the world to share their wishes for good fortune during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The programme provides another channel through which Xiamen is connecting local traditions with international audiences.
For Kenyan audiences, the Xiamen experience offers a useful example of how cultural heritage can be linked to tourism and international engagement.
Kenya, like China, has a wide range of traditional practices, crafts, music, dances and festivals that form part of its cultural identity and tourism appeal.
The uniqueness of the Xiamen approach is that such traditions are made more visible by taking them into public spaces and encouraging visitors to participate rather than simply observe.
The UNESCO gathering will bring international attention to intangible cultural heritage and the efforts being made to safeguard traditions in different parts of the world.
Xiamen is seeking to use the occasion to present itself not only as a coastal tourism destination but also as a city where traditional culture remains part of contemporary urban life.
As the celebrations continue through October 6, visitors will be able to experience Bo Bing, folk performances and other cultural activities while exploring the city.
For Xiamen, the message is that safeguarding heritage does not necessarily mean keeping traditions in the past.
By putting them into tourism, public spaces and international cultural exchanges, the city is seeking to give its traditional culture a new audience at home and abroad.
