Chongqing - As the Lunar New Year approaches, Hameed Gul and Shareef Gul from Pakistan visited Liangping District in Southwest China's Chongqing on January 29 to explore its rich cultural heritage and promote it to the world.

Opening ceremony of the Spring Festival Consumption Season in Liangping District. (Photo/Zheng Junxing)

Their visit coincided with the Spring Festival Consumption Season opening ceremony in Liangping. Hameed Gul and Shareef Gul were captivated by Liangping's New Year Woodblock Prints. Guided by inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, they experienced the woodblock printing process and learned intricate techniques.

Hameed Gul and Shareef Gul experience Liangping New Year Woodblock Prints. (Photo/Du Wenxian)

Liangping New Year Woodblock Prints are a kind of folk painting seen across Liangping. The locals often make these woodblock prints for their Lunar New Year celebration. In technique, Liangping New Year woodblock prints draw on the manufacturing process of traditional Chinese watermark woodcut prints, the woodcarving skills of the Sichuan school of woodblock printing, as well as the sequential coloring technique of the Anhui school and Jinling school. Adopting the focal perspective typical of Western paintings and leveraging chiaroscuro with ingenuity, these prints achieve a clear layout, resulting in a visually compelling effect.

Hameed Gul and Shareef Gul showed keen interest in Liangping's Zhang Duck during the event. They tasted it and posted pictures on their social media platforms.

Hameed Gul and Shareef Gul taste Zhang Duck. (Photo/Du Wenxian)

Explaining the unique preparation method, the fourth-generation inheritor of Zhang Duck highlighted the use of dozens of spices for marination. Ducks are suspended within a pottery kiln and roasted with charcoal, resulting in a distinctive combination of savory marination and the aromatic essence of roasted duck. Shareef Gul mentioned that such marinated products are rare in his hometown, and he planned to send some back to his family in Pakistan.

Liangping Zhang Duck's new product. (Photo/Du Wenxian)