Against the backdrop of the coordinated advancement of the Yangtze River Delta Integration and Chinese-style modernization, our city, leveraging its geographical advantages of being located on the coast of the Yellow Sea and in the hinterland of the Lixia River, boasts diverse resources such as international wetland ecology, sea salt culture, and Huaian Opera, demonstrating enormous potential to transform traditional culture into new quality productive forces. With the in-depth implementation of the national strategies of "Cultural Power", "Ecological Civilization Construction" and "Dual Circulation", our city is presented with unprecedented opportunities: wetland heritage provides support for building an international narrative of ecological civilization, local cultural resources lay a solid foundation for cross-media development, and the Yangtze River Delta Integration offers a broad hinterland for the coordination and upgrading of the cultural industry chain. Our city can systematically promote the high-quality development of culture by constructing a development system supported by three pillars—"cultural gene protection, industrial-ecological integration, and ecological value realization", establishing a closed-loop international communication mechanism covering communication, transaction, entry, and feedback, and taking party and government coordination, policy tools, and performance evaluation as institutional guarantees.
Ecological development is not merely a simple superposition of "culture + ecology", but requires systematic institutional restructuring and organizational innovation, focusing on the coordinated advancement of three core dimensions: cultural gene protection, industrial-ecological integration, and ecological value realization.
Strengthening the Systematic Protection and Innovative Interpretation of Cultural Genes
A special working group for the "Cultural Gene Decoding Project" can be established under the coordination of the Publicity Department of the Municipal Party Committee to systematically sort out the resource spectrum of core IPs such as wetland ecology, sea salt culture, and Huaian Opera art, and build a cultural gene database including texts, images, audios, and physical objects. Elements such as Huaian Opera's singing style, stage movements, and costumes should be segmented, annotated, and translated into multiple languages, and resource opening and activated utilization should be realized relying on the intangible cultural heritage digital platform. Meanwhile, a negative list system for cultural development should be established to set red lines for behaviors such as distorting classics, vulgar adaptation, and development in ecologically sensitive areas. A tripartite review mechanism involving experts, communities, and industries as well as a public supervision mechanism should be improved to achieve dual guarantees of cultural authenticity and ecological sustainability.
Promoting Cluster Development and Platform-based Operation of the Industrial Chain
Support state-owned cultural enterprises in setting up ecological development funds, and attract social capital to invest in medium and long-term projects and public platform construction under the model of "government guidance and market operation". Focus on building an integrated product system such as "wetland + cultural tourism", "sea salt + health preservation", and "Huaian Opera + technology", and construct cultural parks integrating creativity, production, communication, and consumption. For example, build a demonstration base for the integration of sea salt culture and ecological health preservation in Dafeng, introduce low-carbon buildings and immersive performances to form localized experience scenarios. At the same time, establish the "Yancheng Gift" certification system, promote manufacturing enterprises in home textiles, light industry, food and other fields to embed into the green supply chain, and realize the systematic coupling of cultural symbols with product functions and consumption scenarios.
Innovating the Mechanism for Realizing Ecological Value
Implement a dual evaluation and public announcement system for major projects covering "culture and ecology". The cultural dimension evaluates authenticity and narrative integrity, while the ecological dimension considers carbon footprint, habitat disturbance, and tourist carrying capacity. Simultaneously, establish ecological financial tools such as issuing "Wetland Culture REITs" and "Hexiang Ecological Bonds" to promote social capital participation in ecological infrastructure construction. Pilot an "ecological credit system" for enterprises, offering preferential policies on taxation, land use, and credit for behaviors such as emission reduction and environmental protection donations, truly transforming ecological constraints into endogenous development momentum.
Building a Three-level Collaborative Network of "Government-Society-Market" for International Communication
Relevant departments should integrate foreign affairs, cultural tourism, and business channels to carry out global brand promotion; social organizations and international environmental protection institutions should jointly implement migratory bird protection and citizen science projects to strengthen the credibility of communication; business entities should launch challenges and creator programs relying on social media to encourage user-generated content (UGC), enhancing the breadth and participation of communication.
At the content level, establish an external output system with "red-crowned cranes—wetland ecology" as the first-level symbol, Huaian Opera art as the second-level symbol, and sea salt cultural elements as the third-level symbol. Develop a matrix of content products targeting different customer groups such as Generation Z, the silver-haired group, and parent-child families, such as Huai Opera electronic music digital albums, health preservation books, and AR wetland micro-scenes, realizing the value transmission of "symbol—content—product—scenario". Track the full-link effects of overseas communication, entry, and consumption through a data middle platform, strengthen A/B testing and the application of return data, continuously optimize communication strategies and product design, and form a sustainable closed loop of international cultural consumption.
Institutional supply is the key to the implementation of cultural ecological development. A Leading Group for the Dual Circulation Development of Culture, led by the main responsible comrades of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, should be established to improve the inter-departmental joint meeting and supervision and evaluation mechanism, and incorporate key tasks into the annual performance appraisal system.
In terms of policy tools, it is necessary to integrate multiple measures including finance, taxation, finance, land, and supervision. Establish special funds for cultural going global and ecological development, implement policies such as corporate income tax reduction and exemption for green enterprises and additional deduction for R&D expenses; promote the implementation of cultural financial products such as wetland culture REITs, ecological bonds, and intellectual property pledge; give priority to guaranteeing land use for low-carbon transformation and cultural space projects; issue negative lists for ecological and content development, establish a red-yellow-green rating mechanism, and enhance the restrictiveness and adaptability of the system.
In terms of evaluation and supervision, construct a three-element evaluation index system including the foundation of internal circulation, ecological sustainability, and international communication effectiveness. Conduct annual evaluations and third-party audits, implement a closed-loop policy implementation and rectification feedback mechanism, and carry out lifetime liability traceability for major cultural projects to ensure the steady advancement of cultural development within ecological and ethical bottom lines.
(Gu Lisha and Zheng Jie are researchers at the Yancheng Local Culture International Communication Research Center; Liu Lijun is a teacher at Yancheng Riyue Road Primary School. This article was published in Yanfu People‘s Daily on September 29, 2025.)
