The Shaanxi booth was unveiled at the International Culture Industries Fair
The Shaanxi booth was unveiled at Hall 1, exhibiting the works of the Chang’an Painting School
On May 10th, China (Shenzhen) International Culture Industries Fair (ICIF) was opened. The Shaanxi booth was unveiled in Hall 1. The Yaozhou porcelain, the creative cultural products of the Gilt Bronze Silkworm from the Shaanxi History Museum and Jingyang Fu tea attracted swarms of visitors.
On May 10th, the 14th China (Shenzhen) ICIF was opened. The Shaanxi booth was unveiled in Hall 1, in the Comprehensive Cultural Industry Hall. The “Chang’an Painting School” Shaanxi Contemporary Chinese Painting Exhibition was exhibited in Hall 6.
The front portion of the Shaanxi booth displayed a historical picture with the Silk Road map and pictures of the history, culture and well-known historical sites of Shaanxi on the scroll. The booth’s colors were yellow and red. Yellow represented the Han and Tang dynasties, indicating the time-honored history of Shaanxi; red represented the modern revolutionary sacred sites of Shaanxi, a symbol of the positive, catching up and the struggling spirit of modern Shaanxi. The slogans “中华根脉文化陕西” (The root of China and the culture of Shaanxi) and “了解中国从陕西开始” (Shaanxi, the key to China) were on the front and back of the booth respectively.
Near the north gate passage of Hall 6 was the booth of “Chang’an Painting School” Shaanxi Contemporary Chinese Painting Exhibition. It was learned that a total of 75 masterpieces by calligraphers and painters were displayed at this time, including The Yellow River Far Away (《黄河远上图》) by Zhao Zhenchuan, Li Po Reciting Poems (《太白吟》) by Wang Xijing and the calligraphy works by Jia Pingwa. According to the booth organizer, two masterpieces were purchased yesterday when the exhibition started.
Lack of young craftsmen raised a heated discussion between Shenzhen businessmen and the Yaozhou ware producer
At the Shaanxi booth, the Yaozhou ceramics attracted a lot of attention. Mr. Ye, a local jeweler in Shenzhen and his friend picked two pieces of ceramics craft, and said: “The price is really nice. If I were the owner I would sell them for over 1,000 yuan each.” He spent RMB300 on a celadon vase, and praised that this kind of handmade celadon and that it had a wonderful texture, a technique which cannot be replicated by machines.
Mr. Ye has a family businesses in ceramics. Besides the ceramic process, he and the Yaozhou ware exhibitor also discussed the development of the ceramic industry. Mr. Ye said: “This industry is promising, but there’s a lack of young talents.” According to Mr. Ye, his brother graduated from the Shenzhen University with a bachelor degree in Technology and Software, but went to the ceramic industry due to its bright future. Nevertheless, many young people were not willing to enter this industry, causing a lack of young process technicians and general workers.
Liu Bin, the Vice General Manager of the Tongchuan City Yaozhou Ware Development Co., Ltd., said: “So far our development is relatively smooth. To fill the gap of talents, we have cooperation with some schools, colleges and universities.” In the face of the lack of young craftsmen, they have conducted cooperation with universities and vocational schools covering the College of Art and Design of the Shaanxi University of Science & Technology and Tongchuan Vocational and Technical College. The company have helped setting up the major of Ceramics in universities and colleges, offered advice on the curriculums setting, and provided jobs for the graduates from the universities.
Creative cultural products earned acclamation and those themed around the Terracotta Warriors would be sold online in late May
The Shaanxi booth boasts various elements, including excellent movies and TV series, boutique stage plays, fine publications, imitations of cultural relics, creative cultural products and other products launched in recent years.
The publication Liangjiahe Village were sold over 200 sets in a short half an hour after the exhibition opened. The Jingyang Fu tea was ready to sell on site, attracting many people to have a taste. “This tea tastes very good. It’s gentle with a thick flavor.” Mr. Wang from Gansu Province said. Two Russian spectators gave it the thumbs up to show their favorable comments on Jingyang Fu tea as well.
“We make Jingyang Fu tea into Han Wuzhu coin-shaped teacakes and eaves tile shaped teacakes, hoping people can have a better understanding of the historical culture and tea culture in Shaanxi.” The organizer of Yangling Mausoleum exhibition said.
The Shaanxi History Museum launched a series of creative cultural products featured by the gilt bronze silkworm. The breastpins, bookmarks and accessories with the shape of the silkworm larva were rather popular, for a visitor even bought 100 breastpins at first sight.
According to Yan Wei, the deputy-director of the cultural industry department of the Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, they launched the creative cultural products with the anticipation that people could bring the museum culture home. The team began to design creative cultural products since 2010, and the colored terracotta figurines then were more like souvenirs. Later on, more cultural elements have been added, following the issue of more and more creative cultural products. So far, they have designed 2,394 cultural products in total, which generated a pre-tax profit of RMB11.6425 million in 2017. In the late May 2018, they are about to sell these cultural products on Taobao, JD.com, Amazon China and other e-commerce platforms. The names of their online stores on JD.com and Amazon China will be “兵马俑旗舰店” (Terracotta Warriors Flagship), and the Taobao one will be “兵马俑文创” (Terracotta Warriors Creative Cultural Products).
