Temple fair educates children in a capital tradition
Print Edition
A DOZEN primary school girls sit in the courtyard of a hutong in Beijing, each holding sticks made from thin copper wire and swathed in red silk.
Instead a handicraft lesson at school, the children are taking part in an “intangible cultural heritage temple fair.”
One of the traditions of Lunar Chinese New Year, temple fairs can feature acrobatics, song and dance, snacks and souvenirs.
During this year’s Spring Festival, a special temple fair is being held by the No. 93 Courtyard Museum in Beijing, an intangible cultural heritage institute, to teach children traditional handicrafts.
The children are being taught to make velvet flowers. Beijing used to be a main city for their production, but the wearing of velvet flowers is rare in the capital today.
“In the past, it was popular for people in Beijing to wear velvet flowers on their heads on festive days, including the Lunar New Year and weddings,” craftswoman Liu Xueping said.
Made from flexible copper wires and colorful silk, velvet products can be made in many forms, including birds, animals and different types of headgear.
The handicraft is the only city-level intangible cultural heritage listed by the government of Beijing in 2009.
The daughter of an experienced velvet flower maker, Liu, 47, has been familiar with the handicrafts since childhood. She also makes velvet flowers, with her husband, who became her mother’s apprentice decades ago.
Through the intangible cultural heritage temple fair, Liu is able to share this traditional handicraft with children.
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