Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – The 2026 "Golden Horse Welcoming Spring, Calligraphy and Couplets Connecting Taiwan" Spring Festival event kicked off on February 10th at Yunfan Park in Yunfu City, Guangdong Province. Unlike traditional cultural performances, this event focused on "couplets and calligraphy," allowing compatriots from Yunfu and Taiwan to celebrate the New Year together through calligraphy.
As a cultural IP created by Yunfu's Taiwan Affairs Office, "couplets and calligraphy" emphasizes "shared cultural origins and shared aspirations across the Taiwan Strait," bringing couplet culture out of the study and connecting both sides. The event was hosted by the Yunfu Overseas Friendship Association, organized by the Yunfu Municipal Cultural Center and the Municipal Literary and Art Volunteers Association, and supported by the Guangdong Provincial Taiwan Compatriots Association. More than a thousand people, including Yunfu natives from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Hong Kong, Macau, and Malaysia, as well as couplet calligraphers and young students, participated online and offline.
"The first line reads 'Spring arrives in the Zen capital,' the second 'A new year dawns in the Golden Horse,'" reads the couplet. At the event, red paper was laid out, brushes and ink were prepared, and calligraphers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait gathered to wield their brushes, expressing their New Year's hopes and patriotic sentiments through their writing. Mr. Zhou, a couplet artist from Taiwan, remarked after completing a couplet: "No need for many words, every stroke is a tacit understanding. A couplet, half from the mainland, half from Taiwan, together form a complete picture of home and country." Before he finished speaking, a local calligrapher from Yunfu added the horizontal inscription "Both sides of the Strait are of one heart," drawing applause from the audience. This scene perfectly embodies the most moving aspect of couplets and calligraphy: speaking only of genuine feelings.
The event was full of highlights, showcasing both the warmth of cultural exchange and the strength of integrated development. At the event, Taiwanese compatriots and leaders from Yunfu City jointly unveiled the "Yunfu-Taiwan Youth E-commerce Live Streaming Sales Base (Jointly Built with Guangzhou)," marking a significant step in the integration and development of "couplets and poetry" from cultural exchange, and building a platform for cultural resonance and entrepreneurial development for young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Based on the "couplets and poetry" platform, the event also featured a Yunfu specialty product display area, showcasing the achievements of the "Hundred, Thousand, Ten Thousand Project." Yunfu sweet potatoes, traditional Chinese medicine products, and other local specialties were neatly displayed, and guides explained the rural revitalization stories behind each product, incorporating couplet blessings. "Couplets celebrate the New Year, specialties convey heartfelt wishes," said Mr. Xu, a young man from Taiwan, while tasting Yunfu's specialty vinegar drink. He wrote the couplet, "The taste of home spreads across the Strait, warmth fills Yunfu and Taiwan," expressing his intention to bring this festive spirit and sentiment back to Taiwan.
"Couplets and poetry," in a form popular with the public, makes couplet culture a "universal language" for cross-strait exchanges, creating a cultural brand with distinctive Yunfu characteristics and a cross-strait imprint. The organizers stated that they will continue to cultivate the "couplets, poetry, and calligraphy" IP, ensuring that each couplet serves as a testament to the unity between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, strengthening cultural ties and deepening the bonds of kinship. (End)
