Chongqing - To better preserve and promote the city's intangible cultural heritages (ICHs) among the younger generation, the Southwest University in Beibei District organized on March 8 a special open-air exhibition. Themed "Nurturing without Sound, ICHs on Campus," participants displayed such traditional arts and crafts as sugar painting, noodle making, gourd pyrography, and Sichuan embroidery.
Photos provided to iChongqing.
The Han Dynasty originated Rongchang Pottery, which has long been widely recognized as China's four famous pottery-making arts for its aesthetic design and functional use made an astounding appearance at the event.
Thanks to all the hard work and preparations of the Southwest University Research Center on Rongchang Intangible Cultural Heritages, a collaboration project jointly launched by the two sides, students were able to appreciate with their own eyes the artistic processing of Rongchang Pottery, as well as its reputations for being "red as jujube, thin as paper, sound as a chime, and bright as a mirror."
photo provided by Southwest University
Another famous traditional handicraft from the district is Rongchang Ramie, a grass linen product with unique weaving techniques that have been inscribed on the national-level intangible cultural heritage list.
The team of teachers and students from Southwest University's Chongqing Rongchang Ramie Weaving Skill Inheritance Base, which is among the first batch of institutions to be designated by the Ministry of Education as a Chinese Outstanding Traditional Cultural Heritage Base, went through great trouble to demonstrate the refined ramie-making techniques and artworks.
photo provided by Southwest University
A person responsible for organizing this campus exhibition told reporters that scientific and technological advances change our daily lives by great leaps in a modern society like this. It's a challenging task entrusted to us by time and history to inject new vitality into traditional craftsmanship with innovative thinking.
By hosting such an event in a manner that is acceptable and appealing to young people, the intangible cultural heritage can be better preserved and promoted among them, which even has the potential to boost greater understanding and acknowledgment of the significance of carrying forward traditional Chinese virtues and humanistic spirits among teachers and students alike, he added.