China News Service, Hangzhou, September 27 (Qian Chenfei, Zhu Ziyang) "Teacher Zhen, happy holidays..." Across the screen, Zhen Jinghu, a master of arts and crafts in Zhejiang Province, received blessings from students in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan.
Two months ago, a kiln of celadon was fired at the Duorao Gamuya Culture and Art Museum in Kangding, Sichuan. The children gathered around the kiln and opened the kiln door together. There are yaks, horses, and birds on the porcelain plates, vases, and porcelain plates, as well as Tibetan mottos and thangka patterns.
This is the first time that Jiangnan Yue kiln celadon firing techniques have been introduced on the snowy plateau.
"There used to be no local ceramic firing on the plateau." Zhen Jinghu said that local Tibetan compatriots relied on abundant clay resources to develop clay pottery firing techniques. However, due to conditions such as low air pressure on the plateau, it was difficult for traditional open fire firing to reach high temperatures, and it has been difficult to fire high-temperature porcelain in the true sense.
To this end, Zhen Jinghu and Hou Hongmei, a master of arts and crafts from Zhejiang Province, traveled to Ganzi many times to bring the Yue kiln celadon firing skills to the local area, from drawing, shaping and repairing the blanks. In 2026, the standardized Yue kiln celadon studio was established in Duoraogam, Kangding, and launched systematic courses.
Batang black clay pottery artists exchange skills with Zhen Jinghu (second from right). Photo provided by interviewee
The skills have passed, but the works do not copy the Jiangnan style. Local students integrated plateau plants, thangka patterns, and Tibetan mottos into ceramic creations. Some people rubbed leaf veins on clay tablets, while others incorporated local flowers and plants into their works. Yue kiln celadon has a new expression on the plateau.
Such exchanges also occur between other crafts.
Huang Yan, deputy director of the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum, said that since 2022, the museum has organized more than 20 arts and crafts masters in the fields of ceramics, Hangzhou embroidery, fan art, gold and silver joinery, rubbings, calligraphy and other fields to go to Ganzi, Aksu and other places to conduct more than 90 exchanges with more than 30 representative inheritors and craftsmen of local intangible cultural heritage in the fields of black clay pottery, thangka painting, Tibetan embroidery, sutra engraving, patterned bronze, Tibetan calligraphy and other fields.
Some technical exchanges have also gradually entered the daily life of local people. Masters of techniques such as Hangzhou embroidery and wool felt have provided training for women in Kangding, Danba and other places, helping more than 500 residents master income-increasing skills; the Garze Prefecture Special Education School also ordered 1,000 material packages after the course to allow students to continue learning. In addition, the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum has also gone deep into Ganzi, Aksu and other places and organized more than 300 public education exchange activities, covering more than 100,000 people.
From the classroom to the exhibition hall, the space for communication is also constantly extending.
In recent years, the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum, in conjunction with the Garze Prefecture Ethnology Museum and the Garze Prefecture National Folk Handicrafts Intangible Cultural Heritage Association, has successively launched three major exhibitions: "Qiantang Craftsmanship·Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Garze Exhibition", "Hengduan Secret Realm·Sichuan Garze Culture Exhibition" and "Kangba Craftsmanship·Garze Prefecture Traditional Handicrafts Exhibition", which were interactively exhibited in the two places, attracting more than 300,000 visitors to experience the exhibition.
From a kiln of celadon, to a piece of embroidery, to a piece of jointly created product, the "cultural and museum visit" across mountains and seas has given space for exchanges of skills from different regions, and also allowed traditional culture to gain new vitality through mutual learning and joint creation. (over)
