China-based foreign media correspondents and foreign internet influencers experience kiln brick making at the Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick in East China's Jiangsu province on Oct 25, 2021. (Photo/chinadaily.com.cn)
Foreign journalists and internet influencers from countries such as the United States, Egypt, Japan and Italy visited the Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick in East China's Jiangsu province on Monday and experienced brick making at the museum.
"It feels great to have some hands-on experience of doing something really old-fashioned," said Andrew Chin, a China Daily reporter.
"The experience is really stimulating, and it's like a way to connect with ancient Chinese culture with my own bare hands," said Jason Castleton, an internet influencer from the US, adding that "the experience is eye-opening as it offers a little preview into the hard work of this ancient profession".
As the first museum to display "imperial kiln bricks" in China, it aims to protect a precious cultural heritage and present the little-known firing process of "imperial kiln bricks" and its profound historical and cultural connotations from various perspectives.
In 2019, the museum was rated as a national 4A-level tourist attraction.
The activity is a part of the third leg of the "A Date with China", which kicked off in Tianjin on Friday.
Titled "On Road to Prosperity", the third leg, covering Tianjin and Suzhou, takes China-based foreign media correspondents, foreign internet influencers and domestic journalists to experience China's achievements in reform and opening-up.
Beginning in April this year, the first two legs of the "A Date with China" tour covered more than 100 interview sites in Shaanxi, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Xinjiang and Fujian, which generated thousands of reports on different platforms receiving more than 900 million views.
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