On November 27th, the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released the Public Announcement on the Recommended List of National Productive Protection Demonstration Bases for Intangible Cultural Heritage from 2023 to 2025. After a series of procedures including recommendations from various regions, material reviews, and expert evaluations, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism finalized and announced the recommended list of national productive protection demonstration bases for intangible cultural heritage from 2023 to 2025, with a total of 100 enterprises selected.
Among them, Beijing Gongmei Group Co., Ltd., leveraging the cloisonné enamel making technique; Beijing Red Star Group Co., Ltd., specializing in the traditional distillation technique for liquor (specifically, the Beijing Erguotou Liquor Traditional Brewing Technique); Beijing Yidege Ink Co., Ltd., utilizing the ink-making technique of Yidege Ink; and Beijing Longshuncheng Chinese Furniture Co., Ltd., focused on the furniture-making technique (Beijing Hardwood Furniture Making Technique), has been selected.
Chinese culture is vast, profound , and dates back to ancient times. For hundreds of years, craftsmen have silently persevered, allowing these "fingertip" skills to be passed down. What stories, histories, and craftsmanship spirits lie behind these representative national intangible cultural heritage projects?
Beijing Gongmei Group Co., Ltd.
Beijing Gongmei is a century-old time-honored brand, with its history tracing back to the Beijing Handicraft Industry Cooperative established in 1953 and the Beijing Arts and Crafts Service Department established in 1954.
Throughout its 70-year development, Beijing Gongmei Group has been entrusted with the design and production of state-level gifts, making significant contributions to numerous major national and governmental events. Beijing Gongmei Culture, an important artistic creation institution within the group, has undertaken the design and production of many significant national and governmental events.
In terms of its status, Beijing Gongmei Group stands as the nation’s premier institution for imperial gifts, known as the "Imperial Gift Production Office," and is the cradle of national treasures. Collaborating with numerous national arts and crafts masters, and its products encompass over 30 traditional Chinese intangible cultural heritage crafts and royal techniques.
Cloisonné Enamel Making Technique
The Beijing cloisonné enamel technique, also known as "copper-based wire inlay enamel," is named "cloisonné enamel" because it matured during the Jingtai era of the Ming Dynasty. The technique involves using copper as the base, flattening thin copper wires, and manually creating various patterns by pinching, welding, and attaching them to the base. It then undergoes processes such as applying enamel glazes, firing, polishing, and gilding to produce the finished product.
The cloisonné enamel technique is a combination of the introduced enamel technique and the local metal enamel craft. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial workshops and production offices in Beijing had specialized enamel workshops serving the royal family, and the technique flourished, reaching its peak. In modern times, amid social turmoil, the Beijing cloisonné enamel technique underwent a period of declined. After 1949, with the state's active protection and support policies, this ancient craft was quickly revived and developed.
The Beijing cloisonné enamel technique is complex, involving numerous processes. It combines bronze craftsmanship and enamel craftsmanship, incorporating traditional painting and metal chasing techniques, and reflects the tradition of mutual learning and borrowing among various Chinese traditional crafts. Cloisonné enamel products have elegant shapes, intricate patterns, rich colors, and exhibit the distinct features of imperial art, evoking a sense of "smoothness solidity and dazzling golden brilliance." With high artistic value, they have participated in major domestic and international exhibitions, winning honors for the country and are often presented as diplomatic gifts to foreign guests.
Beijing Enamel Factory Cloisonné Enamel Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Base
Beijing Enamel Factory Co., Ltd. was established in January 1956, formed by merging 42 private enamel factories and the former imperial production office of the Qing Dynasty . The company is the only time-honored brand in the cloisonné enamel industry nationwide and serves as a national-level productive protection and demonstration base for the intangible cultural heritage of cloisonné enamel making technique. It has established China's first cloisonné enamel art museum and interactive experience venue.
At the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Inheritance Base - Beijing Enamel Factory Cloisonné Enamel Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Base, visitors can experience the "Eight Master Crafts of Old Beijing," with a special focus on the cloisonné enamel technique. They can participate in wire inlaying and enamel painting processes, appreciating the beauty of inherited craftsmanship.
Visitors can start their tour from the third floor of the enamel factory building. On the eastern side, they can learn about the factory's rich history spanning over 60 years, and on the western side, they can admire enamel wares from different periods and styles in the Treasure Hall. The eastern side of the second floor is the cloisonné enamel technique display area, where workshop instructors demonstrate their exquisite skills through live operations. The western side of the second floor and the first floor house the "Beijing Enamel Art Garden Cloisonné Enamel Factory Store," where visitors can admire and purchase exquisite cloisonné enamel products.
Address: No. 10 Yongwai Anlelin Lu (Rd), Dongcheng District, Beijing
Beijing Red Star Co. Ltd.
Beijing Red Star Group Co., Ltd. is a renowned time-honored Chinese brand and a national-level unit for the protection of intangible cultural heritage. As the creator and leader of the Beijing Erguotou liquor category, the company has always been driven by the mission of "brewing high-quality yet affordable liquors that people enjoy drinking." It has explored a unique path of high-quality development.
Beijing Red Star Group Co., Ltd. has made great strides in the field of baijiu (Chinese liquor) research, establishing multiple platforms for industry-academic-research collaboration, including the Beijing Erguotou Liquor Research Institute, a national-level Master Craftsman's Studio, a Beijing Chief Craftsman's Studio, and the Master Gao Jingyan's Inheritance Studio. Driven by technological innovation, the company has achieved an organic integration of traditional brewing techniques with intelligent manufacturing technologies.
As the first liquor research institute focusing primarily on the Erguotou category, the Beijing Erguotou Liquor Research Institute, leveraging the expertise of top experts and scholars, as well as cutting-edge research equipment, is dedicated to comprehensively enhancing the quality and brand value of Beijing Erguotou liquor.
Traditional Brewing Technique of Beijing Erguotou Liquor
The traditional brewing technique of Beijing Erguotou liquor has been passed down for over 300 years since the Zhao family during the Kangxi Emperor's reign of the Qing Dynasty. Techniques such as the "old five cauldron fermentation,""mixed steaming and firing," and "observing the aroma and collecting the liquor" are the mysterious skills mastered by generations of brewmasters. The method of "pinching the head, removing the tail, and taking the middle section" when collecting the liquor is an innovation by Beijing brewmasters.
In 2007, the "Beijing Erguotou Liquor Brewing Technique" submitted by Beijing Red Star Co., Ltd. was included in the Beijing Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage list. In 2008, the "Traditional Brewing Technique of Beijing Erguotou Liquor" was inscribed on the national-level Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Beijing Red Star Erguotou Liquor Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience Base
The experience base houses the Beijing Erguotou Liquor Museum, which is a demonstration base for productive protection of intangible cultural heritage in Beijing. The museum showcases a rich collection of exhibits that illustrate the birth, inheritance, innovation, and development of Erguotou liquor. It educates, researches, and promotes the national-level intangible cultural heritage – the Traditional Brewing Technique of Beijing Erguotou Liquor. At the teaching studio of Master Gao Jingyan, a national inheritor, visitors can participate in hands-on Erguotou brewing experiences. They can also enjoy liquor tasting in the cellar. Additionally, the scenic area within the experience base showcases the company's historical milestones, Beijing-style sculptures, an array of Qing Dynasty wine jars and vats, and traditional production equipment, highlighting the red culture and Beijing culture inherent in Red Star Erguotou liquor.
Experience Process:
01 Brewing Experience (40 minutes)
Under the guidance of a brewer technician, visitors can participate in "taking out the fermented grains" (removing the fermented grain mixture from underground pits), "mixing auxiliary materials" (mixing rice husks with the fermented grains), "loading the cauldrons" (evenly spreading the grain mixture into the cauldrons using a winnowing basket), and "observing the aroma and collecting the liquor" (based on the size and shape of the aroma, collecting the distilled liquor).
02 Wine Tasting Experience (20 minutes)
With the guidance of an interpreter, visitors will "observe the color" (assessing the clarity and transparency of the liquor in the glass, checking for impurities), "smell the aroma" (evaluating the purity and fragrance), "taste the flavor" (assessing the harmonious and refreshing mouthfeel), and "determine the style" (based on the previous three steps, determining if the liquor exhibits the typical style of a Light-flavor baijiu).
Opening Hours: Open year-round, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Reservations: 010-51202902, 51202903
Detailed Address: Within the Beijing Red Star Liquor Factory, No. 1 Hongxing Lu (Rd), Huairou District, Beijing
Beijing Yidege Co., Ltd.
Outside the Hepingmen Gate in Beijing, lies the renowned cultural mecca of Liulichang. This street boasts countless historic shops and renowned brands, where stories of cultural inheritance are enacted daily. In the middle of Liulichang Street, an ancient brick building exudes a rich cultural aura. This is the birthplace of the ink industry – the Chinese Time-Honored Brand "Yidege Ink."
As the creator and leader of ink, Yidege was designated a " Chinese Time-Honored Brand" by the Ministry of Commerce in 2006. In 2014, its ink-making technique was also included in the "National List of Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage Projects."
Yidege Ink-Making Technique
During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Anhui scholar Xie Songdai came to Beijing to take the imperial examination but failed. Feeling that grinding ink took too much time and delayed his writing, he developed a liquid ink with the same effect as solid ink cakes and opened the first shop producing and selling liquid ink at No. 44 Liulichang in 1865.
Xie Songdai named the ink shop "Yidege" after the first characters of the couplet "One skill is sufficient to serve the world" and "Obtaining the method from ancient books." He even wrote the shop's signboard himself.
Yidege ink is glossy and dries quickly after writing, with a rich fragrance that has lingered for over a hundred years, earning it the title of "the nourishing liquid of traditional Chinese culture." Yidege ink has always been made using the most traditional techniques, with some products still involving state-secret technologies. The rich fragrance of the ink is attributed to the inclusion of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs such as borneol and musk.
In 1865, Yidege produced the world's first liquid ink, revolutionizing the millennia-old habit of grinding ink for calligraphy and painting. This marked a significant milestone in Chinese cultural heritage, leading to Yidege's ink-making technique being included in the National List of Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage Projects.
The Yidege ink-making technique includes eight steps: collecting soot, first-stage ingredient mixing, gel dissolving, second-stage ingredient mixing, grinding, third-stage ingredient mixing, stirring, and inspection. These eight steps, comprising over a hundred procedures, are interconnected, complementary, and sequential, each step indispensable to the next.
Drawing on the traditional Chinese medicine theories of spring growth, summer exuberance, autumn harvest, and winter storage, as well as the theories of flavors and properties of medicinal herbs, Yidege ink incorporates Chinese herbal ingredients. Its superior quality and health benefits are the secrets behind Yidege ink's enduring popularity over a hundred years, earning it the nickname "herbal ink."
Address: No. 25 Nanxinhua Jie (St), South of Liulichang, Xicheng District, Beijing (Liulichang Cultural Street Branch)
Beijing Longshuncheng Chinese Furniture Co., Ltd.
Beijing Longshuncheng Chinese Furniture Co., Ltd. is a prominent representative of "Jingzuo" (Beijing-style) hardwood furniture, a prestigious century-old brand in Beijing. As recorded in "Time-Honored Brands of Beijing" by Hou Shixiang, the company's history can be traced back to 1862 during the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty.
In the 1950s, after merging all hardwood furniture production factories in Beijing and combining the various schools of Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture styles from northern China, the unique "Jingzuo" court furniture style emerged, represented by the furniture made in the imperial workshops. Longshuncheng became the standard-bearer of "Jingzuo" hardwood furniture, alongside the "Suzuo" (Suzhou-style) and "Guangzuo" (Guangdong-style) schools, collectively known as the three major schools of Chinese hardwood furniture and referred to as the "official kilns" of furniture.
Beijing Hardwood Furniture Making Technique
The Jingzuo hardwood furniture making technique gradually evolved from the crafting of Ming and Qing Dynasty imperial court furniture, originating in Beijing with a history of three to four hundred years.
Adapted to the dry climate of northern China, Jingzuo hardwood furniture emphasizes display and arrangement, favoring substantial shapes and imposing forms, thus resulting in the elegant, majestic, and luxurious "Jingzuo" style. The production techniques reached their peak during the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns of the Qing Dynasty and later spread to the general public after the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns.
The Jingzuo hardwood furniture making technique integrates both practicality and artistry, incorporating various craftsmanship such as design, woodworking, carving, wax polishing. It combines precious hardwoods with scientifically sound mortise-and-tenon structures, dignified and elegant shapes, and beautiful carvings, creating an elegant and aristocratic aesthetic style. It perfectly integrates court art and folk art, possessing high artistic and academic research value.
Visiting and Experiencing: Longshuncheng
Address: No. 64 Yongdingmen Waidajie (St), Dongcheng District, Beijing
Longshuncheng National Jingzuo Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Base
Longshuncheng's national Jingzuo intangible cultural heritage inheritance base is located in Xisanqi, Haidian District, Beijing, adjacent to the Jinyu Smart Manufacturing Park.
The inheritance base has five specialized workshop groups, namely material processing, machine processing, woodworking, carving, and wax-imprinting. The master craftsmen have an average of 18 years of experience in the industry. Equipped with over 80 modern production machines, including CNCs, and more than 600 full-size component templates, the base boasts a database containing over 2,000 images of classic products.
Positioned as a guardian of the Jingzuo intangible cultural heritage techniques, the base is dedicated to promoting the traditional craftsmanship of Beijing hardwood furniture, including the techniques of "continuous woodworking from a single piece of timber " and "water- polishing and wax-imprinting." Aided by high-precision automated equipment and modern management methods, it strives to become a national-level model base for Jingzuo intangible cultural heritage.
