The opening ceremony of the 2022 China (Chengdu) Traditional Crafts Summit kicked off in the Art Museum of the College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts on the morning of November 12. The event was held to boost the revitalization of traditional crafts, meet the cultural needs of the people for craft aesthetics, promote academic research and exchange, and serve economic and social development. Zhao Hongchuan, First-level Inspector of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, attended the event and announced the official launch of the China-ASEAN Handicrafts Exhibition, the Sichuan Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Inheritance Base Exhibition, and the Chengdu-Chongqing Lacquer Art Exhibition. He Rong, Deputy Secretary of the Education Working Committee of the CPC Chengdu Municipal Committee, announced the opening of the arts and crafts fair. Yan Xing, Vice President of the Chengdu Federation of Social Sciences, Mao Zengyin, Secretary-General of China National Arts & Crafts Society (CNACS), and Wang Xiaojun, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Chengdu University (CDU) and Executive President of the College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts, attended the event. Zhou Xiaoji, Secretary of the Party Committee of College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts, hosted the opening ceremony.
Vice President Wang Xiaojun delivered a warm speech, and extended his sincere welcome to all leaders, experts and scholars attending the event. He also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to all leaders and experts for their guidance and support to the Traditional Crafts Institute. He said that this summit is a summary of the achievements made by CDU in the research and application of traditional crafts in the past year, and also a prospect for the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional crafts. This summit will definitely gather all forces to further promote the development and prosperity of traditional crafts in the new era.
Secretary-General Mao Zengyin said in his speech that the excellent Chinese cultural tradition boasts a long history and rich and profound background, and is the brainchild of Chinese civilization. In the new era, the CPC Central Committee has made a significant decision to revitalize the traditional craft industry, heralding the blooming of the traditional craft industry. In this context, we should be fully aware of the important role of traditional crafts in promoting contemporary design. Through communication and exchange at the summit, we can reach a consensus and gather various forces to jointly promote the revitalization and prosperity of Chinese traditional arts and crafts.
At the ceremony, Secretary-General Mao announced the College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts of CDU as the Research Base of CNACS. Inheritors of Emei Martial Arts and the outstanding performers of the Sichuan Opera Theater of Chengdu delivered wonderful performances at the ceremony.
After the ceremony, participants visited the exhibition and fair. The exhibition included three major exhibitions, namely, the Sichuan Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Inheritance Base Exhibition, China-ASEAN Handicrafts Exhibition and Chengdu-Chongqing Lacquer Art Exhibition, covering a variety of categories such as porcelain, jade ware, enamel, goldwork and carving, and gathering a large number of representative craft masterpieces. The arts and crafts fair was supported by more than 20 traditional craft masters, with more than 40 booths on display.
The theme forum of "Innovation and Design—Expression of Traditional Handicrafts in the New Era" was held in that afternoon. It featured two parallel sessions, namely "Symposium on Design Discipline Construction" and "China-ASEAN Handicraft Culture and Art Forum". The forum attracted many well-known experts and scholars, intangible cultural heritage inheritors and cultural and creative designers in the field of traditional crafts. They emphasized the importance of integrating traditional crafts into modern design, and actively engaged in the research of China-ASEAN crafts culture, striving to truly highlight the internationalization and modern innovative expression of traditional crafts by keeping them close to the daily life of the general public. Following the guiding principle of the 20th CPC National Congress, the summit has made a sound response to the long-existing issue of how to realize the modern expression of traditional crafts by comprehensively exploring their implication and value. It also will provide us with enlightenment in revitalizing and inheriting traditional crafts and protecting intangible cultural heritage, thus making the traditional Chinese integrate into modern and international design in a flourishing period in the future.
More than 100 people attended the event via video link, including relevant heads of the Publicity Department of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, the Publicity Bureau of the CPC Chengdu Municipal Committee, the Sichuan Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, and the Publicity Department of the Party Committee of CDU, the Social Sciences Department and Graduate Student Department of CDU, School of Fine Arts and Design of College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts, as well as well-known experts and scholars, intangible cultural heritage inheritors and cultural and creative designers in the field of traditional crafts.
