Kaifeng's Rich Legacy Takes A Bow

Ancient handcrafts of Song Dynasty capital are carefully and faithfully passed on

The city of Kaifeng in Henan province, which served as a capital during several dynasties, is rich in cultural heritage.

Especially during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), as depicted in the renowned ancient Chinese painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, the then capital of the country, known as Bian, was famed for its flourishing trade, commerce and craftsmanship.

One of the well-preserved traditional crafts is Bianxiu Embroidery, named after the city's ancient name, which is national intangible cultural heritage.

Han Yuqin, a Bianxiu Embroidery practitioner and inheritor, said the handcraft makes use of the calm and elegant colors that can be found in many Song Dynasty paintings.

Decorative flourishes like figures, flowers and birds from artworks such as Along the River During the Qingming Festival are also replicated in the embroidery, she said.

The embroidery requires high-level skills and patience, and it generally takes at least three years for three to four practitioners to complete a complicated work, she added.

Today, visitors to Kaifeng can still find Bianxiu for sale, but there are fewer people who are skilled in the craft than there were in the 1990s, according to Han.

"This embroidery is a symbol of our national culture and I hope to teach more students how to do it and pass on the skills to future generations," she said.

This year, Han has worked with an official cultural institution in Kaifeng to set up Bianxiu courses and enroll students.

"We will teach students the skill and improve their cultural and social responsibility awareness," Han said.

Zhou Huijuan, a student of Han, set up her Bianxiu factory in Weishi county in Kaifeng in 2010.

"In the past, Bianxiu could be found in the market as common commodities, but now it tends to be customized, quality products since it was listed as national intangible cultural heritage," Zhou said.

Zhou said she sells her embroideries at bricks-and-mortar stores, also supplying the products to online sellers, and in addition taking bespoke orders.

To meet the market demand for custom-made products, Bianxiu practitioners need to improve their skills, she said.

Yet there are fewer people engaged in the craft than ever before, Zhou said, adding that the number of the factory's workers had decreased from over 50 in 2010 to about 20 this year.

"We are offering free courses in our factory to people who have an interest in the craftsmanship, to help the cultural inheritance," Zhou said.

In May, Bianxiu and another national intangible cultural heritage item - the Kaifeng woodblock printing - were included in the first batch of national catalogs for the promotion of traditional craftsmanship, issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Kaifeng woodblock prints were and continue to be inspired by The Classic of Mountains and Seas, an ancient collection of legends featuring mythical beasts.

These screen prints are particularly popular during Chinese New Year, when they are believed to bring good fortune and happiness for the year ahead.

Ren Helin, a woodblock printer and an inheritor, said that it requires imagination and high-level skills to create these prints.

Because of this, far fewer people today are engaged in the craft than when he started out in the 1970s.

"Making the artwork is very difficult," said Ren. "But we should be in awe of our traditional culture and not change it, or forget it."

Inheritors should pass on the skills with a sense of social responsibility and the government should carry out more measures to support the inheritance, he said.

To date, Kaifeng has nine intangible cultural heritage items at the national level, 44 at the provincial level and 186 at the municipal level, according to Fang Zifang, director of the intangible cultural heritage department of the Kaifeng culture bureau.

"The essence of protecting intangible cultural heritage is to protect the genes of traditional culture," Fang said.

"The authority should both develop and inherit it," he said.

The government should guide and support the development of intangible cultural heritage through policies and related measurements, he added.

This year, the Kaifeng city government has provided a total of 1 million yuan ($143,420) to subsidize the city's inheritors, according to Fang.

The cultural bureau has set up an intangible cultural heritage center for the protection of the traditional crafts through launching festival activities, training classes and promotion activities.

Fang said intangible cultural heritage is not just part of overall cultural protection, but provides impetus to promote local social and economic development and the entire cultural industry.

"The inheritance of intangible cultural heritage should be innovative, to ensure it continues to be accepted by the public," he added.