Program continues the beautiful vitality of verse

With short-form content all the rage, television competition highlights the deep impression poetry leaves behind, and how it can even boost cultural tourism, Li Yingxue reports.

This year, 18-year-old Song Hongri, a Beijing freshman at the University of Hong Kong, returns to the show, Chinese Poetry Conference, for the third time. He first appeared on the program seven years ago as a pupil from Peking University Elementary School, and he returned two years later as his bond with classical poetry deepened.

"Coming back for the third time feels familiar and warm," Song says."What was once simply an interest has become a love for poetry that I hope to turn into a career path."

Sharing the stage with him was another familiar face: Sun Xiaojing, a postdoctoral researcher in space environment studies at Beihang University. Like Song, Sun first appeared in the program seven years ago as a poetry enthusiast.