#chinaculture#china Tiantai county in Zhejiang province is welcoming inheritors of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) from across China, creating a vibrant setting for dialogue on cultural preservation and rural revitalization.
Among the participants is He Dingyu, a Zhuang brocade artisan whose work has travelled far beyond her home village, and whose journey reveals the unifying force of cultural exchange.
She recalls the moment Italian designers first visited her village in 2019. Initially deterred by the high design fees, she instead invited them to delve into the brocade’s living tradition. As they watched local weavers play the tianqin (zithers made from gourds and played like guitars), sing folk songs, and create the intricate diamond-patterned fabric, the visitors were captivated.
"They asked us, 'Can we collaborate?'"she said.
Today, they remain close partners, bringing Chinese motifs, totems and symbols onto the global design stage.
This folk art also helped nurture profound cross-Strait connections. During an event in Fujian, He noticed the resemblance between the patterns of the Zhuang brocade and those of Taroko in Taiwan province. By exploring the origin of Zhuang brocade in Xincheng, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a Taroko artisan Lian Meihui, found her sense of belonging in craftsmanship and said, "I’ve come home."
Tiantai, a serene, quaint, yet modern county in Zhejiang province,
is hosting inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and folk artists.
The county's rich cultural and historical legacy provides the perfect backdrop
for dialogues on ICH and rural revitalization.
Scenery is a very good thing.
It's a combination of shapes, patterns, and patterns.
It's a sense of fashion, a sense of line.
When we invited the Italian designers to come here,
we were wondering if this dream could come true.
The design fee they offered was very high.
So, from a business perspective,
it's very difficult to invite them.
Can we attract them in the form of Chinese traditional culture?
When they come to our village,
they look at the weaving girls,
play the zither,
sing songs,
and weave.
They are completely attracted by our culture.
They are very enthusiastic.
They say, can we work together?
We have become very good friends now.
They don't want to lose this link of our culture.
Next year, we have an international design competition every year.
They will invite us to go there.
Because they want to use our patterns,
our totems,
and all our symbols.
These are all Chinese intellectual property.
Today, if we can get them to tell us if we can work together,
I think we have a lot of confidence.
This is traditional Chinese culture.
Not only did she introduce drum brocade to the world,
but she also brought something precious back home.
When we were doing activities along the Fujian Strait,
Taiwan, Hualien, and Taroko,
their totem patterns were the same as ours.
Many of them were the same.
Even their symbols and contents were the same.
At the exhibition on the two sides of the strait,
she said that we had the same roots and culture.
She said it was impossible.
Because I am an aboriginal.
I have lived in the mountains all my life.
I have never walked out of the mountains.
How could my pattern be the same as yours?
When we finally reached the starting point of Xincheng,
there was an old man.
He was in his 80s.
When we saw the scene,
we saw this 80-year-old man kneeling down.
He said,
this is my home.
He was in his 20s,
and I was in my 25s.
I am your daughter.
I am back.
So he always treated his mother
as his own mother.
We often interacted with each other.
When we went to East Mongolia,
Thailand,
and Laos,
we would go to his village,
his library,
and his cultural center to exchange ideas.
We only got to know each other through the pattern.
If it wasn't for the pattern,
we probably wouldn't have known each other.
Meanwhile, a new generation is finding its own ways
to document and preserve cultural heritage.
I have been promoting cross-culturalism
on TikTok and other overseas platforms.
Friends from all over the world
are very interested in
Hanfu,
as well as
traditional Chinese culture.
When I create,
I usually wear traditional Hanfu
We walk into our village,
into our daily life,
to record
and share our daily life.
I found that foreign netizens
like it very much.
The scene of me and my daughter
personally spreading Hanfu
has a stronger affinity.
It can be integrated into our daily life
and daily details,
which is better
for our overseas netizens
to like
or understand
our excellent traditional Chinese culture.
We also carry out cross-cultural propagation
Through our visual expression,
our village will be more beautiful,
more cultural,
more popular,
and more prosperous.
