Festival proves a lighter lifestyle goes a long way

The 2025 Ziyouji Art Lifestyle Festival will kick off on the shores of Zishan Lake in Xianning, Hubei province, on Sept 26. Under the theme "Diverse Coexistence", the festival will leverage the unique, natural lakeside environment to create a comprehensive "light travel" gathering that integrates industry dialogue, aesthetics, and collaborative consumption.

The festival aims to establish a new paradigm for China's cultural tourism sector characterized by light operations, light aesthetics, light vacations, and other light experiences.

A curated destination for light vacations, Ziyouji brings together the vision of seven international architects to create an ecosystem where nature, art, and culture blend seamlessly, showcasing the "light travel" concept.

The festival will also feature over 20 cross-industry dialogues and co-creation sessions, joining hundreds of leaders from government branches, tourism enterprises, and international intellectual properties, to academic institutions and brand founders.

Six themed "Co-creation Theaters" will focus on diverse scenarios, such as family-friendly travel, wellness and healing, urban escapes, local culture, hot spring rejuvenation, arts, and culture.

More than 30 well-known brands will engage in in-depth discussions covering hot topics, such as nature education, nonstandard accommodations, digital tourism, hot spring wellness, and cultural arts, driving innovation in light vacation formats and content operations.

Running throughout the festival will be a series of consumer experience activities across five themed areas — markets, sports, music, pets, and handicrafts.