Celebrities promote traditional Chinese craftsmanship

The Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix Wedding Dress made by Guo Pei features a lavish embroidery technique. It is now being shown as part of the ongoing "Legend of Design" exhibition, which opened in Beijing on September 25, 2018. [Photo: provided to China Plus]

A dozen pieces of art treasures made by China's top artisans recently became open to the general public in Beijing.

All the displayed treasures are also simultaneously in the spotlight in a new TV documentary "Legend of Design". 

Taiwan Actress Ruby Lin tries embroidery during a publicity event for an auspicious wedding dress made by master couturier Guo Pei. [Photo: provided to China Plus]

Famous Chinese talk show hostess Yang Lan is both the producer of this culture-themed TV show and curator of the "Legend of Design" exhibition.

"Since our TV program is about the traditional Chinese craftsmanship, I think it would be perfect if the viewers of this program become able to watch the finished art pieces face to face in real life. So as soon as we designed this cultural show, we also simultaneously planned this exhibition."

The culture-themed TV show is aimed at enhancing the general public's knowledge of traditional Chinese craftsmanship. A celebrity is invited to join in the making process and then describes from an outsider's perspective how an art treasure is designed from scratch and to creating the final product.

Music producer Zhao Zhao, veteran actress Michelle Ke Lan(柯蓝), young up and coming Li Qin, Lan Yingying are among the prominent spokespeople promoting traditional Chinese craftsmanship.

Yang Lan highlights Taiwan actress Ruby Lin in her publicity efforts of an auspicious wedding dress made by the Chinese master couturier Guo Pei.

"As Ruby Lin was to speak for the auspicious dragon and phoenix wedding dress, she felt she's obliged to embed female's best wishes towards marriage through each gold thread into the dress she's going to make. She's very careful with the needle work and gradually she demonstrates she has talent in embroidery. She did an excellent job."

Meanwhile, the TV show is extended to a real-life exhibition to make the art treasures even more tangible.

Zhou Xujun is the head of the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, where this "Legend of Design" exhibition is now underway.

"Visitors to the exhibition may also get a clear feel about modern aesthetic values in these art treasures that well inherit the traditional Chinese craftsmanship. That is what the exhibition is aimed to achieve."

Highlights of the exhibition include Crafting Happiness, a wood sculpture from Qu Feng, a sculptor and wooden antique restoration expert at the Palace Museum and Always, a lacquer-ware by Gan Erke, an inheritor of the Huizhou lacquer ware technique.

These items, though eye-pleasing, are a bit far from ordinary citizens' lives. Yang Lan admits there are challenges in conveying the profound meaning behind the art.

"The challenges lie in getting into the innovations made by each artisan. The inheritance and their techniques are relatively easy for us to comprehend. So how we should present viewers the innovative parts in each piece of art is quite a challenging task. But in the meantime, as we accomplish this task, we are interpreting the difference between craftsmanship and workmanship, which gives us in return a lot of pleasant surprises."

"Craftsmanship is the result of the interaction between natural laws and human intelligence. Its existence is a prerequisite for human society," Su Dan, one of the exhibition's curators, wrote it in the preface.

The "Legend of Design" exhibition will run until the end of October.