Exhibiting the best of cultural heritage
Print Edition
A new intangible cultural heritage exhibition hall with temporary exhibits is set to open in the Jing’an Temple area by the end of this year.
“Now, many places simply put all they have into one exhibition, and it’s the same day by day and year after year,” says Jiang Shanyong, in charge of the hall, said of the decision to make each exhibit temporary.
“Why would anyone want to pay a second visit to a place where the exhibits never change? We want to liven our hall up,” he added.
Jing’an’s cultural elements like cheongsam and unique handicraft tools will be on display in the hall. Special exhibitions will explain the history and details of such cultural heritage.
“We want to build a platform to better preserve our past,” Jiang said.
So far, the district has designated 25 varieties of traditional art and customs as cultural heritage icons, including local snacks and cheongsam. But the hall will offer more than that.
“We hope that other districts, other cities and even foreign countries will hold exhibitions here,” Jiang said.
Visitors will be able to learn how to make craft works and traditional snacks there.
Construction on the hall started in February last year and is scheduled to be finished this year.
As in other parts of the country, the glorious days of folk handicrafts are long gone, but about a decade ago, Jing’an started a campaign to preserve the best of them.
“We found that the biggest problem was a lack of people who were willing to carry on the old traditions,” Jiang said.
Since September 2014, Fu Haixian, 68, has been going to the Shanghai Wusi Middle School every Tuesday afternoon to teach students about the history and skills of using Lu’an inkpads to make seals, an art designated for preservation in 2008.
The Lu’an inkpad was invented by drug dealer Zhang Lu’an at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It quickly gained a reputation for reproducing bright colors that didn’t fade as quickly as others, which made it popular among painters and calligraphers like Zhang Daqian, Wu Hufan and He Tianjian.
“At first, I was not sure about whether young students would be interested in it because it’s very esoteric for them, but their responsiveness surprised me,” Fu said.
A textbook about the Lu’an inkpad is now available, and there are plans to extend the project to 10 middle schools in Jing’an. Teachers will be trained first.
A project at Shanghai YF Vocational and Polytechnical School is inviting master tailors from the Longfeng and Humsuit brands to give lessons in traditional cheongsam-making to students.
Longfeng started in 1936 and Humsuit started in 1929. They are known for their exquisite clothes and complicated skills.
“The school has produced graduates who have gone on to work at these two time-honored brands,” Jiang said. “In return, the very unique and complicated craft skills are passed on.”
And to his surprise, the school recently told him that it plans to open a cheongsam exhibition hall on campus.
“I didn’t expect that they would take the initiative in helping protect and pass on intangible cultural heritage,” he said.
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