Many craft masters of intangible cultural heritages see their recipes as priceless treasure and won't show them to others. But Zhan Xingdi is an exception. The porcelain master from Yixing City, southeast China's Jiangsu Province, has released the recipe of materials composition that she has spent 40 years developing. Zhang showed it to the public in hope of promoting the Yixing celadon glaze, an intangible cultural heritage of Jiangxi Province.
The making of celadon porcelain has a long history in Yixing. In its heyday in the 1960s-70s, porcelain works of Yixing celadon was chosen by the Chinese Government as gifts for foreign leaders and honored guests on diplomatic occasions. It was hailed as "oriental sapphire". However, the creation of celadon is on the wane today and inheritance of the craft appears to be a striking problem. Currently, there are only a dozen celadon workshops in Yixing, with no more than 200 craftsmen. By making the glaze composition public, Zhan hopes that this unique craft can be handed down to next generation.
Donation of the recipe perhaps might not be the best way to save an intangible cultural heritage that faces difficulties in promotion. But it will help arouse the interest of the public to take measures to protect traditional culture. More importantly, people should think about how to better continue excellent crafts to new generation and integrate them with modern life.
It is needed to build a mature industrial chain to research and commercialize intangible cultural heritages. Meanwhile, crafts should take advantage of Internet platforms and get adapted their skills to meet people's demands in a fast-changing era.
(This is an edited excerpt of an article published in Guangming Daily October 17)