"There were originally five experts in the institute, and this time I applied for ten experts from the research institute, and I invited three state-level masters from Shanghai and Jingdezhen to jointly study the new techniques of engraving porcelain and better carry forward the art of engraving porcelain." When she met Sheng Xiuhua, a deputy to the Shandong Provincial People's Congress and a master of Chinese handicrafts, she had just returned from the Boshan District Government Service Center in Zibo City and applied to upgrade the art research institute named after her to an art research institute.
As the inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, She has always been very concerned about the development and inheritance of qilu's traditional crafts.
"There's very little to do, because it's hard work and there's little reward." Let the masters bring more apprentices, pass on the good things, and cultivate a group of 'big country craftsmen'. In recent years, she has continuously called for mobilizing the enthusiasm of the younger generation to engage in traditional crafts, and promoting the excellent traditional culture of Qilu to truly take root and be passed on in innovation.
At the age of nearly sixty, Yang Xiuhua did not expect that one day she would become a "network anchor". Open an account on the short video platform to create an "online innovation studio" to promote the art of engraving porcelain.
"Now it has just been launched, slowly seeing the effect, there are many young people on the Internet, I want more people to understand." Fang Xiuhua introduced that engraving porcelain is the use of a carving knife to engrave calligraphy and painting on the glaze of porcelain, and the engraved porcelain combines painting, calligraphy and engraving. The earliest engraved porcelain dates back to the Qin and Han dynasties, when the method of stripping porcelain glaze appeared, called "peeling jade".
With the clanging sound of tapping, The engraving career of Yang Xiuhua has gone through 36 years, and the "Liaozhai" series she created won the gold medal in the sixth national appraisal of Chinese arts and crafts masters, which was the first time that the engraved porcelain won the gold medal, which "justified the name" for the art of engraving porcelain and became the academic leader of the engraving porcelain industry.
In the process of opening the door to apprentices, she passed on her skills to each apprentice without reservation, and now many apprentices have become provincial arts and crafts masters, and gradually grow into the backbone of zibo city and even Shandong province carved porcelain art.
But now there are fewer and fewer young people in the society who know the culture of carving porcelain, and her apprentices are mostly "post-70s", and there are very few "post-80s" and "post-90s".
This year, Yang Xiuhua has just been hired as a visiting professor by Zibo Vocational College to teach courses related to engraved porcelain. Recently, the institute is communicating with the relevant departments of the vocational college, discussing the curriculum setting and the talent training plan in related fields in detail, and studying the innovation studio as the extracurricular training base of Zibo Vocational College to cultivate outstanding porcelain engraving talents.
As a deputy to the National People's Congress who came out of the countryside, Fang Xiuhua is very concerned about the revitalization of rural areas, especially the revitalization of rural culture. She has repeatedly visited Mazhuang Village, Yuanquan Town, Boshan District, Zibo City, to investigate and help, hoping to forge a unique development path.
"This is a village with a deep cultural heritage, and there is also the inheritance of red culture, which is a very good rural tourism resource." As early as May 2018, Fang Xiuhua communicated with the "two committees" team of Mazhuang Village at that time, some party member representatives, and villager representatives, and reached a preliminary agreement, immediately launched the "Shandong Province Traditional Ancient Village Application Plan", starting from the historical background, natural resources, cultural precipitation, etc., digging deep into the highlights and characteristics of the village, and successfully selected as the "Fifth Batch of Traditional Ancient Villages in Shandong Province".
But this is only the beginning, the lack of perfect infrastructure and the lack of proper protection of historical and cultural resources have always been the "short board" of rural areas. She also conducted field research on industrial development and infrastructure construction, and visited Places with development potential such as Tanghuai, Nanmiao, and Beige in Mazhuang to promote the implementation of various work on the protection of ancient villages.
"At that time, Mazhuang Village was very envious of the development prospects of the 'Kaiyuan Cave' only one mountain away, and I thought that the time was ripe to find the industrial cohesion point and build a rural tourism complex." In the past few years, only in Boshan District, there have been a series of rural tourist attractions such as Wuyang Lake, Such as Moon Lake, Monk's House, and Zhonghaoyu, and almost every township is interested in developing rural tourism, but because the stickiness of tourists is not enough, there are often embarrassments such as 'applause but not seats', long-term development and lack of strength. Fang Xiuhua believes that attracting tourists is only the beginning, how to play the "rural tour" card, so that tourists in the city can live, buy, and want to come next time, is the key to development.
After investigation, Yang Xiuhua found that because of its unique geographical advantages, Mazhuang Village began to develop kiwi fruit characteristic planting a few years ago, and now nearly 90% of the cultivated land in the village is planted with kiwifruit, and suddenly there is a "kiwifruit industry" as a "plane tree", which has attracted the development idea of "rural tourism" This "golden phoenix".
In 2020, Fang Xiuhua found a group of like-minded Beijing experts to investigate and inspect the storage and cold chain transportation of kiwifruit in Mazhuang Village, and conducted in-depth communication with the "two committees" and some party members and masses of Mazhuang Village on the idea of "developing the kiwifruit industry in rural tourism". The industrial development of the village collective has also begun to plan and explore the "whole industrial chain" along this line of thinking.
"Culture sets up a stage, the industry sings, and explores the idea of corporatized operation has been opened, and how to ignite this 'first fire' is related to whether the first step in the development of rural tourism in Mazhuang Village can be taken well." In May 2021, Fang Xiuhua traveled in many directions to promote the "Mazhuang Village Calligraphy and Painting Culture and Art Festival". While the iron was hot, it actively promoted the establishment of the "Mazhuang Village Tanghuai Agricultural Professional Cooperative" and successfully registered the trademark of "Mazhuang Tanghuai".
"The revitalization of rural culture must be based on industry, and these beneficial explorations have only laid the foundation for development, how to benefit the masses and collective development is our ultimate goal." This requires people of insight from all walks of life to increase investment and support for rural industries, and only by continuously injecting living water from the source can a 'small puddle' be watered into a 'vast ocean'. Yang Xiuhua said.
In the past four years since she assumed her duties, She Xiuhua has put forward more than ten suggestions from representatives around the aspects of carrying forward the traditional handicrafts of Qilu, promoting rural revitalization, and promoting the transformation and development of old industrial areas, and has received serious answers and feedback from relevant departments in the province.
In 2022, the two sessions of Shandong Province were held, and Yang Xiuhua carefully prepared and carefully wrote the suggestions of the representatives, and this year she still focused on the development of traditional handicrafts.
Fang Xiuhua said that under the impact of multiple factors in the arts and crafts industry, the drawbacks of insufficient innovation ability and low level of industrialization are becoming increasingly apparent, coupled with insufficient construction of talent echelons, resulting in many traditional arts and crafts subdivisions being more difficult and the development prospects are worrying.
"Although governments at all levels have always emphasized the protection and even rescue of traditional crafts, and many categories have also been included in the intangible cultural heritage list at all levels, the endogenous power is insufficient." If traditional handicrafts want to develop sustainably and healthily, they must be in line with the market and accelerate the industrialization process, so that people who do this line of work can not only support themselves, but also have the motivation to continue to innovate, so that they will not be eliminated. "Fang Xiuhua suggested that we further strengthen policy orientation, accelerate the process of traditional arts and crafts industry, improve the industry innovation and development ecology, strengthen the construction of talent teams, carry forward the spirit of Qilu craftsmen, and promote the overall development level of traditional handicraft industries at a higher level.