Disclosing Secret Recipe

Guangming Daily October 17

Many craft masters of intangible cultural heritage see their recipes as priceless treasure and won’t show them to others. But Zhan Xingdi is an exception. The porcelain master from Yixing City, east China’s Jiangsu Province, has released details of the materials composition that she has spent 40 years developing. Zhan revealed it to the public in hope of promoting the Yixing celadon glaze, an intangible cultural heritage of Jiangsu.

The making of celadon porcelain has a long history in Yixing. In its heyday in the 1960s-70s, porcelain works of Yixing celadon were chosen by the Chinese Government as gifts for foreign leaders and honored guests on diplomatic occasions. It was hailed as “oriental sapphire.” However, the creation of celadon is on the wane today and inheritance of the craft appears to be a striking problem. Currently, there are only a dozen celadon workshops in Yixing, with no more than 200 craftsmen. By making the glaze composition public, Zhan hopes that this unique craft can be handed down to the next generation.

Donation of the recipe perhaps might not be the best way to save intangible cultural heritage that faces difficulties in promotion. But it will help arouse the interest of the public to take measures to protect traditional culture. More importantly, people should think about how to better convey excellent crafts to new generations and integrate them with modern life.

It is needed to build a mature industrial chain to research and commercialize intangible cultural heritages. Meanwhile, crafts should take advantage of Internet platforms and get adapted their skills to meet people’s demands in a fast-changing era.