Tao Yan casts brilliant He Yan starts a new journey - visit zhao Chengde, chairman of The Board of Directors of Tao Yan Development Company in Gansu Province

Tao Yan cast brilliant He Yan began a new journey

——Visited Zhao Chengde, chairman of Gansu Taoyan Development Company

Xue Ruirui

Zhao Chengde and his team are making the "Splendid China" giant river stone.

Tao Yan is an important cultural resource and artistic treasure of the Chinese nation. After thousands of years of baptism, the art of stone carving has shone brightly in the Yellow River Basin and is a well-known business card of Chinese culture and art.

The road is blue, and it is difficult to start a business. As the inheritor of Tao Yan and the leader of the domestic Tao Yan industry, Zhao Chengde, chairman of Gansu Tao Yan Development Company, has developed the Tao Yan craft from personal acquisition and trafficking to a leading cultural industry in the country since 1984, and has also won the titles of "Top Ten Influential Figures of China's Enterprise Reform and Innovation", "Top Ten Outstanding Youth of Gansu Province", "Gansu First Batch of Top Innovative (Management) Talents in the Provincial Propaganda and Cultural System". A few days ago, we visited Chairman Zhao Chengde and exchanged ideas with him about Taoyan's production and operation, development history and vision for the future of the industry.

Q: "Wash of the stone, hair gold iron, qiu and Hong, Jian Mi Ze" Tao Yan, has a development history of more than 1300 years. It is understood that you have been in love with Tao Yan in your youth, and through many efforts to develop this hobby into today's cultural enterprises. The development process of Gansu stone culture from Tao Yan to "He Yan" is a portrayal of your struggle in recent years. Tao Yan Development Company has been established for nearly thirty years, can you introduce the company's business philosophy and operation?

Zhao Chengde: "Great Yellow River, Great Culture, Great Tourism" is the development concept of Taoyan Development Company, and it is also the main connotation of the "Heyan" trademark. Through the production and dissemination of Heyan and Taoyan, we strive to build a large platform for the development of the cultural tourism industry, with the goal of rapidly forging a new economic growth pole. For a long time, due to natural, geographical, historical, cultural and many other reasons, the production of Tao Yan has basically been in a traditional self-enclosed state. Today, with the rapid development of the market economy and the continuous progress of modern civilization, we must take a brand-new attitude and all-round innovation and creation to make Yantai glow with new vitality and vitality. Not only as a tool for calligraphers and painters to create art, but also as a tool for ordinary people's desks, but also practical, appreciative and collected, Yantai has broad prospects for development. At present, the company has started a second business in Linxia, developing river stone resources on the banks of the Daxia River and broadening the road of river stone industry development.

Q: We know that nowadays, the exquisite works of Tao Yan Development Company are often given as gifts to art lovers across the country, which is also the result of years of hard work by you and your team. Can you briefly introduce the development process of Tao Yan's development team?

Zhao Chengde: I was born in a poor family and began to earn a living very early. Starting from the 12-year-old, he walked the streets and alleys to sell needles and threads, sifted sand, herded cattle and sheep, tasted the five tastes of life, and reduced the burden for the family. Initially, I personally sold the stones on credit from the township and sold them in the county town, and soon sold them. Three years later, the Weixinxiang Arts and Crafts Tao Yan Processing Factory was set up. In 1989, the Minxian Taoyan Factory was set up in the county seat with a factory and a warehouse. Because I didn't have my own factory building, I moved to 9 places in five or six years. In the 1990s, the then Minxian County Party Committee and the county government, as well as the Gansu Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office and the Gansu Provincial Agricultural Commission, learned about my situation and gave me strong support. In 1992, I founded the Gansu Taoyan Development Company in Lanzhou, which pushed the development of Taoyan to a new level. Soon, through this platform, the industrial chain of Taoyan radiated to Dingxi, Hexi, Hangzhou, Beijing and other places, and the enterprise became bigger and bigger, and the reputation of Taoyan spread farther and farther. The company's elaborate "Divine Pen Ma Liang" and other 8 square Yantai, with its creative novelty, wonderful conception and unique carving, won the gold and silver awards at the National Literary Four Treasures Expo held in Shanghai.

In recent years, we have been committed to transformation and development, registered the "Heyan" trademark, founded gansu Longcui Culture Media Company in Linxia, and began the carving of Yellow River stone. A few years ago, the stone stone that embodied the Qi family culture on the side of the Linxia excavated is the earliest physical object of "Heyan". I walked for several months on the banks of the River Huangdi and the Daxia River and discovered the fulcrum of the Daxia River Stone Development. The company is based on the advantages of Linxia resources, adhering to the traditional culture of Linxia, adhering to the concept of industrial enrichment, developing Daxiahe stone resources, creating Daxiahe stone culture, and casting industrial highlands. In the early summer of 2020, the "Great Dragon" certified by the World Records Association lay in the Taohe Economic Development Zone in The summer, where the Yellow River stone industry set sail.

Q: Over the years, the Tao Yan Development Company you founded has created a series of large-scale commemorative Tao Yan at many major celebrations, which has promoted the development and inheritance of traditional culture in the mainland and contributed to contemporary art. So, can you tell us about the main representative works and the impetus for creating them?

Zhao Chengde: In 1997, the "Nine Nine to One" Yan made to celebrate Hong Kong's return to the motherland was given to the Hong Kong SAR Government as a congratulatory gift from the Gansu Provincial Government; in 1999, the "Great Unity of the Chinese Nation" Yan was designed and produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of New China, which was collected by the CPPCC National Committee in 2006 and displayed in the main building hall of the CPPCC National Committee; in 2001, in order to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the "Oriental Awakening Lion" Yan was widely praised as soon as it was launched. In 2016, the "Chinese Dragon" giant Tao Yan, which is 18 meters long, 3.3 meters wide, 1.68 meters high and weighs 118 tons, was launched, and was recognized by the World Records Association as the world's largest Tao Yan, which can be called the "giant aircraft carrier" in the history of Tao Yan production; in 2017, it successively launched the "Dream China Xiangfei" Yan weighing 129 tons, the "Belt and Road" Yan weighing 19 tons and the "Huanglong Yuyan" specially made to celebrate the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up. In 2018, the giant Tao Yan - "Silk Road Dream" Huanglong jade giant stone full of the dreams of several generations of Tao Yan people appeared in Jincheng Lanzhou, won wide acclaim; in 2021, in order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the "Splendid China" Heyan carefully carved with Hezhou stone was unanimously praised and praised by experts, scholars and people from all walks of life.

If a thousand-year-old stone can speak, then my craftsmen and I are letting the exquisite stones sing new songs in the new era. To be an enterprise, we must be responsible, we must be responsible for employees, we must be responsible for society, and we must be responsible for the country. I have always believed that only by raising our horizons, looking farther, and broadening our thinking will we be able to see the situation clearly in the turbulent and rapidly changing market economy, and then accelerate development, and only in this era of increasingly fierce competition will we be able to set a correct position, catch up, aim for the first-class, and achieve good results again. The entrepreneurial practice over the years has made me deeply realize that if local enterprises in Gansu want to go steadily and far, they must not only care about national events as always, but also pay attention to the national economy and people's livelihood at all times, and conform to the needs of the country, society and the people's needs for a better life.

Q: As I said earlier, always maintaining a heart for the people is the root of local enterprises' stability and long-term development. It is said that you are called "King Taoyan", in addition to some major celebration gifts, what other work and contributions have you and your team made in terms of social responsibility?

Zhao Chengde: Gansu Taoyan Development Company has always taken the promotion of national culture as its own responsibility, to the development of Taoyan art as the purpose, adhere to the road of high-quality, serialization and large-scale growth, so that the brand image and technology level of Taoyan continue to improve, forming a one-stop business pattern of production, supply and marketing, boosting the vigorous development of the Taoyan industry, and driving the local people to get rid of poverty and become rich. At the beginning of the business, more than a dozen skilled masters among the villagers supported my factory. So far, the craftsmen among the villagers have always been the soul of my team and the company, and they have created a happy life with superb craftsmanship. In recent years, in line with the national poverty alleviation and development policy, the company has established a Yantai processing poverty alleviation factory in a timely manner. Developing industries according to local conditions is a fundamental policy for rural development and peasant prosperity. At present, there are tens of thousands of heirs of Tao Yan brought out by the gang, and there are more than 100 middle and senior technicians and arts and crafts artists.

Q: At present, Gansu Taoyan Development Company has developed into a well-known Taoyan development leading enterprise and a well-known cultural enterprise in the province and even the whole country. What is the future vision of the company and the Taoyan development industry?

Zhao Chengde: Facing the future, Taoyan Development Company will always follow the development direction of cultural Taoyan, inherit the Taoyan process, develop the Taoyan industry, and carry forward the spirit of craftsmanship. Regarding the future ideas and actions, I have five wishes: one is to donate the three-party giant brick platform that has been produced and completed, "Oriental Awakening Lion Yan", "People's Victory Yan", and "Realizing Dreams of Xiaokang Yan", free of charge, to the country and wish the motherland prosperity; the second is to donate all the nearly 10,000 celebrity calligraphy paintings that have been collected for decades to the country free of charge as the wealth of the country and the people; the third is to auction the "China Tenglong Yan" and donate part of the auction proceeds to the relevant charitable foundations after the transaction. Part of it is used to reward people of insight from all walks of life who have long cared for and supported the development of tao yan' cause, and to build the Tao Yan Cultural Industrial Park and the Tao Yan Museum; the fourth is to make every effort to build a Tao Yan Cultural Industrial Park and Tao Yan Museum that integrates visiting transactions, cultural exchanges and art collections, so that the Tao Yan industry can truly become a cultural business card that drives the high-quality development of the local economy; the fifth is to hope that all sectors of society will continue to help support the Min County Tao Yan Factory and jointly polish the Tao Yan brand. As a member of the Linxia Prefecture CPPCC Committee, this year I also submitted two proposals, "On Building a Patriotic Red Education Base" and "Building an Excellent Traditional Culture Education Center in China", in order to further guide people and the vast number of young people to establish a correct outlook on life and values. In short, Tao Yan will strive in the direction that is most suitable for the development of the enterprise, constantly surpass itself, lead its peers, and continuously introduce high-quality masterpieces that meet the development requirements of the times.