Take Part in Exploration of the Intangible Cultural Heritages of Ningbo

Over the last few months， Ningbo municipal government organized a series of activities for foreign friends to experience Ningbo’s Intangible Cultural Heritages including Siming Neijiaquan， gold and silver color embroidery， Ningbo Golden Painted Lacquer.

On the morning of October 30， 2015， in the Siming internal school boxing hall， Master Xia BaoFeng and his senior students demonstrated and taught the basics of Sìmíng Nèijiāquán – an internal fighting style native to Ningbo – to a class of German high school students who are visiting Ningbo for a few days. The event was the first in a series meant to shed light on the various cultural heritages of Ningbo’s culture for foreign residents and students. Master Xia then got to demonstrating a few moves by calling up a few students. He motioned to a heavy set student to grab his hand and not let go， before executing a simple bend and slip that immediately pried his hand loose. Laughing， he showed the students again and again before calling more students up to learn some basic grappling techniques. I spoke with one of the German students， who was excited to learn some real kung fu， telling me happily that he would be interested in pursuing it when he returned home. The lead teacher was pleased as well. She had had experience with taking students on such exchanges before， and liked sharing Ningbo’s local language and culture with the students.

November 7， 2015， we went to Yin Zhou Gold and Silver Embroidery Art Museum to learn Ningbo's gold and silver color embroidery， where many beautiful and intricately embroidered items for daily use and special occasions were on display， including a huge embroidery picture that took years to complete.

We were given an opportunity to try the Gold and Silver Embroidery for ourselves on traditional embroidery looms. Our teachers， the Masters of Embroidery are very lovely ladies who are masters of their craft； some have been doing this for over 30 years. The Master， Shi Cui Zhen and the other teachers showed us how to split the silk threads into even finer threads and how to do different stitches. Their hands moved so fast， with such precision and beauty， it was fascinating. We were all able try. However， while it looked easy it was really hard to get even and consistent stitches. Obviously， it needs a lot of practice. We really enjoyed this very relaxing and peaceful activity and the silk has such a beautiful sheen and radiant colors that the results are stunning.

“The Gold and Silver Embroidery is personally my all-time favorite activity. It was very awesome experience and through it， I learned Ningbo's art and culture which I will try to let our people know when I will be returned back to my homeland and I want to learn more about Ningbo's art culture”. Said Maida from Pakistan.

The last event took place on December 4， 2015. It was to learn making Ningbo Golden Painted Lacquer. This was also a wonderful experience. The inheritors of intangible cultural heritage， Mater Chen HuaMing and Mater Shen LiJun came to Red Peony’s Academy so that we could experience this ancient craft. The Masters had prepared the plates for us with beautiful peonies， but left the stems and leaves for us to complete. In Ningbo， you see many of the ancient items covered with ornate， detailed raised designs and patterns that are decorated with Gold Leaf. This craft is hundreds of years old.

This craft activity was very absorbing； looking around you could see that everyone was completely engrossed in the work of creating beautiful stems and leaves. To finish the flowers were decorated with gold paint and they looked amazing beautiful. Everyone was so very happy with their work and that they had a treasured memory of Ningbo to take home with them.

Emily from England said ，“I really enjoyed learning making Ningbo Golden Painted Lacquer. They had designed the plate for us， and so after they showed us what to do， it was actually quite easy to make the leaves and stem. They all looked really good once we had finished. I would never have otherwise had an opportunity to learn about this part of Ningbo's Intangible Cultural Heritage， so I really enjoyed it. I'm going to give the plate to my grandfather as a present！ ”