Chengdu, December 29 (CNN) -- Yang Longmei, the inheritor of "post-90s" Daoming bamboo weaving: inject more youth power into the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage
Author: Han Jinyu, He Xi, Wang Lei
"After receiving education and training in the school system, we can also achieve our dreams through different paths. On the 28th, an alumni sharing meeting was held at Sichuan Southwest Aviation Vocational College, and Yang Longmei, an outstanding graduate of the school and the inheritor of the "post-90s" Daoming bamboo weaving intangible cultural heritage, shared her "fingertip bamboo dream" with the younger students. She told everyone, "No matter how ordinary it seems, as long as you do it well, it can actually be extraordinary."
Yang Longmei gave a speech at the alumni sharing session. Photo by Wang Lei
Daoming Town, Chongzhou City, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province has been the hometown of bamboo weaving since ancient times. In 2014, "Daoming Bamboo Weaving" was selected into the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects, and Yang Longmei, a "post-90s" Chongzhou youth, is one of the youngest provincial representative intangible cultural heritage inheritors.
Yang Longmei was born in a family of bamboo weaving, and her family has been engaged in bamboo weaving since her grandfather's generation, although bamboo weaving "surrounded" her childhood, but she never thought of inheriting this craft at that time.
"Selecting materials, scraping green, removing knots, and breaking bamboo...... From the selection of materials to the completion of production, it takes at least more than 10 processes, and in the end it may only be worth more than ten yuan. In her opinion, the bamboo weaving process is cumbersome, the labor remuneration is still small, and her dream is to "go out and see", so she was admitted to Sichuan Southwest Aviation Vocational College flight attendant major.
In 2013, after graduating from university, Yang Longmei was preparing to "fly with her dreams", but an unexpected fire "came to naught" the bamboo weaving factory that her family had worked hard to run for many years, and the trajectory of her life changed since then. Talking about the choice at that time, Yang Longmei lamented, "If we don't continue to do it, not only will the family's hard work be wasted, but many factory workers will also face unemployment." As a child of a bamboo weaving family, I should stay and continue to protect this thing. ”
Yang Longmei shows off a bamboo brooch she designed. Photo by Wang Lei
gave up the "glamorous" flight attendant job and returned to his hometown to "weave bamboo", Yang Longmei admitted frankly that he was also very confused. "The aunts and aunts in the village all said regretfully, 'This child came back directly after studying outside, and he was still doing such a hopeless industry', and all kinds of doubts around me made me not know where to go. ”
Yang Longmei said that when she took over the bamboo weaving factory at home, the bamboo weaving industry was in a "bottleneck period", and with the rapid development of the handicraft industry, bamboo weaving was easily replaced by other lower-cost material products. "You have to accept reality and change it. Shouldering this responsibility and mission, Yang Longmei began to precipitate herself, and she successively went to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University, Sichuan University and other places to study Xi and study, looking for a way to "break the bamboo" in the industry.
How to combine the "old technology" with the new market demand has become a problem for Yang Longmei. "In the past, bamboo products were mainly daily necessities, and after a series of investigations and studies, I upgraded the product category. She founded the "Yang Longmei Studio" to carry out "cross-border" innovation on bamboo weaving products, and the products gradually involved in decoration, architecture, public art installations, landscapes, sculptures and other fields, with good sales and reputation.
Yang Longmei said that she has made progress in continuous learning and Xi, and she has become more and more in love with this ancient craft. Now, she not only wants to be a good "keeper" of intangible cultural heritage, but also hopes to pass on the charm of intangible cultural heritage to more young people, and inject a steady stream of youth power into the inheritance and development of excellent traditional Chinese culture.
Liu Ping, vice president of Sichuan Southwest Aviation Vocational College, presented Yang Longmei with the "Outstanding Alumnus" trophy. Photo by Wang Lei
Today, her studio has become a good place for local research and team building. She also took Daoming bamboo weaving into the campus and community to popularize bamboo weaving knowledge and provide professional training for free. This time, she returned to her alma mater to participate in the alumni lecture, and she reached a cooperation with the institute to teach in the "intangible cultural heritage class" opened by the school to teach bamboo weaving skills more professionally and systematically.
Liu Ping, vice president of Sichuan Southwest Aviation Vocational College, said that the school has long focused on traditional culture into the campus, in addition to the upcoming Daoming bamboo weaving "intangible cultural heritage course", there have always been guqin, calligraphy and other courses. "Regardless of the major, I hope that they will learn something from the intangible cultural heritage course, and I also hope that through the platform of the college, they will be promoted to be the inheritors and practitioners of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and spread the beauty of Chinese culture to the world. (ENDS)