As more and more inheritors of intangible cultural heritage showcase and explain their skills on short video and social media platforms, excellent works related to intangible cultural heritage are constantly going viral. Part of the younger generation is no longer just silently watching but actively learning relevant skills. These "amateur inheritors" rely on their love for the craft, self-study online, and explore the creation of creative and innovative intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, giving traditional intangible cultural heritage a new meaning in the new era and becoming a new force in the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.
One Summer, I Learned Bamboo Weaving
Bamboo weaving is a traditional intangible cultural heritage handicraft in Qingshen County, Meishan City, Sichuan Province. More than 2,000 years ago, the ancestors of Qingshen used locally grown bamboo to weave various utensils.
Chen Yichi, a graduate student at the China Academy of Art School of Crafts, was born in Qingshen County. One day, while shopping, Chen Yichi was attracted by a bamboo weaving decoration in a shop window. When she saw the bamboo weaving handicrafts from her hometown again, childhood memories flooded back. So, during the summer vacation, she returned to her hometown of Qingshen County and became an apprentice to Zhang Deming, a representative inheritor of Qingshen bamboo weaving handicrafts and a Chinese bamboo weaving artist.
"Making bamboo weaving is really joyful," says Chen Yichi. She only needs to focus on her hands and feel the texture of the natural material itself to get rid of the impetuousness of daily life and embrace nature.
In August 2022, Chen Yichi began to post her bamboo weaving works on social media, and many netizens showed great interest and wanted to learn from her. As more people became aware of Chen Yichi's bamboo weaving works, some international brands actively sought her out and invited her to be a teacher for handicraft experience activities.
Translator: TANG Yingqi
Reviewer: LIU Yu
