On the afternoon of July 19, overseas Chinese youth from countries including the United States, Spain, Italy, Austria, Canada, and the United Kingdom visited the Jing'an Intangible Cultural Heritage Salon to embark on a cultural root-seeking journey.

Highlights include the Lu'an seal paste making technique, known as "one tael of seal paste is worth one tael of gold", the handmade Longfeng Qipao craftsmanship, a "reunion dinner" featuring abundant intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements...

The on-site display of 48 representative ICH projects from Jing'an District left visitors dazzled. Even more impressive was that the guides were not professionals, but the "little hosts" of the salon—a group of primary school student volunteers. With their youth voices, they passionately shared the historical origins and stories of craftsmanship behind each skill. Their clear, fluent delivery and confident, composed manner won rounds of applause.

"I never expected such young pupils to explain intangible cultural heritage so vividly. It has granted me a stronger sense of identity with traditional Chinese culture," remarked an overseas Chinese youth from the United States.

Later, the youth learned to make traditional Shanghai vegetable buns from Fang Zhen, a district-level inheritor of the Lüyangcun Sichuan-Yangzhou Cuisine and Pastry Making Technique.

"When kneading the dough, add not only yeast and baking powder but also a little sugar, and add water little by little," Fang explained. "When rolling out wrappers, keep the center thicker and edges thin to enclose the vegetable filling securely without tearing the wrapper."

From rolling wrappers, adding fillings to pleating the buns, the young people picked up the skills adeptly. Before long, steaming vegetable buns were fresh out of the steamer. Everyone eagerly picked up the buns they had made to have a taste. One overseas Chinese youth shared that it was his/her first time both making and eating a vegetable bun. With one bite of the fresh, sweet filling, he/she felt a much closer connection to his/her ancestral home. "This is not just the taste of food; it is the taste of our cultural roots."

The visit sowed seeds of seeking cultural roots in the hearts of these young overseas Chinese, while the hands-on experience kneaded a sense of cultural identity that spans mountains and seas into a simple vegetable bun. Embracing a more open and vibrant stance, the Jing'an Intangible Cultural Heritage Salon strives to make intangible cultural heritage not only seen but also taken home and shared, allowing the seeds of fine traditional Chinese culture to take root and flourish worldwide.