At the ongoing Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) in Beijing, Hao Delan displays her skills of remaking porcelain vases that were only for emperors in ancient times.
As a craftswoman of the Beijing Decorative Porcelain Museum, Hao, 64, plans to duplicate royal porcelain from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) with her colleagues in the museum.
Thanks to the porcelain-making technology, an intangible cultural heritage, people will be able to appreciate and even use the royal porcelain, benefiting from the inheritance of the ancient civilization, according to her.
Duplicating work is not easy. It usually takes several experienced craftsmen more than a month to complete the duplicate of a porcelain vase.
"It takes about 3,000 strokes of a paintbrush to paint a small deer on the vase, and there are 99 ones on it," Hao said.
The porcelain made by the museum has been given as diplomatic gifts.
Having been working in the museum for 44 years, Hao said she enjoyed the work, because she was relaxed when duplicating the porcelain, totally immersed in the beauty of them.
Liu Xiaoran, a young colleague of Hao, said she is destined for the slow-paced work of duplicating porcelain.
"Although I had a great job when I worked for a painter specializing in western oil paintings, I fell in love with the painting of the ancient patterns on the royal porcelain the first day of working in the museum," she said.
At the CDAC, participants were invited to experience a series of intangible cultural heritage, and make jade flowers, pottery, and other crafts at the exhibition area of traditional crafts of the conference.
Slated for May 15-22, the conference focuses on cultural diversity, exchanges and mutual learning among Asian civilizations.
The communication among various civilizations can inspire us to innovate the porcelain-making technology, which is why we participate in the CDAC actively, said Shi Qin, the curator of the museum.
