Peach garden: Stories from the Chinese world

Huang Shen (1687-1772), A Night Banquet at Peach and Plum Garden in Spring; Wikimedia Commons

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China shows itself today to be technologically and economically advanced. Yet at the same time, there is growing interest in its craft traditions, as reflected in our Ancient Now issue.

As you browse through the stories below, you might want to ask why the Chinese are seeking to revive their heritage from previous dynasties. Is it to find an alternative to the otherwise homogenous world of technology? Does the Confucian ideal of respect for ancestors persist in modern China? Is there something about the way China revives its crafts that can inspire those in other cultures?

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Holding walnuts, like life, in the palm of their hands
Dragon Scale Binding: The revival of an ancient Chinese book format
Lacquerware needs two legs to walk: The wisdom of master Gan Erke
Strange tales from a Chinese studio: Geng Xue’s porcelain imaginary
Hmong spirits sojourn on their way back home
A gaiwan for my father
Jayanto Tan ✿ Delights for every palette
The Shanghai Public Cultural Content Supply Platform: Distributing culture to the people / 通过公共文化服务平台
Crafting “natural” conceptions in and of China, of its nationhood and its people   
The meaning of yellow
The robot embroiderer
Jaffa Lam ✿ Chasing an Elusive Nature
Earth Nidus: An unnatural nature
Sveta Dorosheva ✿ Two worlds, one brush
Preliminary notes on relationships between Chinese Ge Ba textiles and the walls of Amateur Architecture Studio 中国格巴纺织品与业余建筑工作室墙壁的关系初探
Peach Garden ✿ Stories from China
Suoyi: RuCai Lyu’s rain cape and its ongoing tradition of protection
Garland is in the Little Red Book
Pamela Leung’s Red Line Story 
The year of the paper tiger 🐅
An examined life: Fairweather and China
Craft – Radical or conservative? Lessons from French and Chinese history
Pulp Friction: A paper trail from China
Xiaoxi ✿ The craft prince of China
Mid-Autumn Festival: A time to make many blessings under the same moon
The gate is open: Guan Wei and Jayne Dyer in China
Wang Chaohui ✿ The story behind family history books and wooden movable type
Zhuizi: An ordinary dog’s tale
Song brocade: The lost past and the promising future in Chinese crafts
Mian Wei ✿ From temple roof to table top
Augmented reality: From the art of intervention to the craft of public engagement 
The craft heritage revival in downtown Hong Kong
Chinese landscape cut-out over time
The Earth and its elements: Wood, fire, earth metal and water
Dawn Beasley ✿ On a slow boat to Jingdezhen
The red candle in China’s “craft of love”
Wu Wei: “Nothing doing” is the future of Chinese papercutting
TikTok: A new platform for promoting crafts in China
Ancient again in China: Chengdu heritage festival draws huge crowds
A world in cork: How China refined the Xmas card
Ma Luocheng ✿ The craft of “impeachment”
Liziqi ✿ China’s craft princess
Weaving Pang Jai: In search of old Hong Kong
Luo Wanxing ✿ A life’s hard labour for sweet reward
Al Sadu ✿ A craft tradition goes solar
Rong Design Library ✿ Deconstructing craft for design
Beijing Shadow Show Troupe combats “electric shadows”
Living with dragons
Tangchang cloth shoes in Sichuan
China’s craft revival: The cultural shift
He stood up! ✿ Winds of change at the Ancient Now symposium
Ancient Now
Quarterly essay ✿ “Drifters” in Jingdezhen: Past meets present in the porcelain capital
Editorial
The re-awakening of lacquer in China today 🇨🇳
唤醒中国物感——大漆的品牌化发展
The ladybird garden of Chen Ping
Dragon reborn: The making of Bendigo’s Dai Gum Loong
Remembering people and places past/passed: Ceramics by Ah Xian, Ai Weiwei, Sin-ying Ho and Liu Jianhua
Very peaceful for the ancestors: Chinese memories in the Lambing Flats Folk Museum

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