"'To the celestial court a proposal was made, and I am banished 8,000 miles away to Chaozhou'. This verse, written by Han, is meant to suggest the great distance, literal and metaphorical, between Chaozhou and the Central Plains, which was the cultural hub at the time. Consequently, it was difficult to bring Central Plains culture to Chaozhou. … But the arrival of Han, a representative of the culture of the Central Plains, and especially of orthodox Confucian culture, helped integrate Central Plains and Chaozhou culture. … Since then, Chaozhou has been influenced by Confucian culture as well," says Chen.

In October 2020, President Xi Jinping visited Chaozhou and learned about the restoration and protection of the city's historical areas as he walked along Paifang Street, urging greater effort to protect cultural heritage.