Yin Liping is painting a lacquerware design drawing in Chengdu.

 

From sacrificial vessels to everyday items, lacquerware has always been part of Chinese life. Chengdu lacquerware is one of the five major schools of lacquerware in China, and its practitioners have been passing on the exquisite skills. 

 

Yin Liping is a senior inheritor, who's been making lacquerware for more than 40 years. "Lacquerware has a very long history. The technique of using lacquer to protect wooden materials can be traced back to 8,000 years ago, the Neolithic Age. It has undergone both artistic and practical changes," said Yin.

 

Meticulous decoration is the most distinctive feature of Chengdu lacquerware, and each step requires the lacquer to dry in the shade, so it can take many years to finish a piece of art.

 

It took Yin three years to finish a lacquerware which was later made into a digital collection called "Spring". Publishers use blockchain technology to generate unique digital credentials for each piece, and people who buy digital collections can display them in their own digital museums.

 

The lacquerware itself sells for nearly 20,000 U.S. dollars. But a digital collection costs just two dollars, and a limited number of 10,000 copies were sold out within three seconds of hitting the shelves.

 

"The price of lacquerware is relatively high, and not everyone can afford it, especially young people. Digital collections are also a medium for them to get familiar with lacquerware and other traditional handicrafts," observed Yin.

 

 A lacquerware artwork made by Yin Liping in Chengdu

 

Making lacquerware into a digital collection can also increase income for young people who are willing to become lacquerware artisans. 

 

"I studied product design in college, and I have been doing lacquerware decoration for five and a half years. I am an ordinary inheritor and I hope to present modern trends in lacquerware and pass on this ancient craft," said Wang Yilin, a decoration technician in Chengdu lacquerware factory. 

 

Image source: Xinhua

Source：CGTN

Edited by Wu Cuiyao