Guests of the Handicraft and Folk Art Observation and Exchange Summit visit the kite heritage base during the Weifang International Kite Festival in 2019.
At 17:04 Beijing time on November 8, Weifang has entered chilly winter after the first snow, while a news from thousands of miles away lightens the city on fire.
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), headquartered in Paris, France, has officially announced that Weifang was designated as one of the UNESCO Creative Cities in 2021. At present, Weifang is the fourth UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art in China and the first one in Shandong Province.
A. Why do we apply for?
On 15 February 2017, the 12th CPC Congress of Weifang City proposed Weifang to apply for the creative city of crafts and folk art.
9 days after, the initiative was published on the Weifang government work report in 2017.
7 months later, Weifang government submitted the application letter to China UNESCO National Committee on September 18,2017.
Although the process looked hastily, the decision has been well-considered and comprehensive assessed.
Adjacent to the birthplace of Confucius and known as the provenance of kites, since 1984 Weifang has hosted the Annual International Kite Festival, sparking trade and cultural exchanges between 110 countries and regions. Kite flying has become the bond connecting Weifang to the world, and the symbol of the city's cultural assets and vibrancy.
In recent years, Weifang crafts and folk art practitioners are increasing, and skills are constantly innovating. The city has established 1,847 traditional craft enterprises and family workshops, with an annual output value of more than 25 billion yuan. More than 50,000 people have been employed, including nearly 20,000 women and nearly 10,000 vulnerable groups.
B. Twice application in five years
There is no way in the world, but when many people walk, there is a way. More than 5,000 years ago, the black pottery technology here led the world. The world's first wooden kite flew from here 2,400 years ago; The Buddha statue of Longxing Temple that made more than 1,000 years ago were excavated in Weifang and attracted attentions of Western scholars as "a major discovery that rewrote the history of Oriental art".
As the project leader, Weifang Bureau of tourism and culture highlighted the application as one of the most important tasks and set up a specific and professional team to operate the program.
The application team had visited Santa Fe, Kanazawa, Japan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Jingdezhen, Wuhan ,Beijing and other creative cities to learn experience in innovation and promote Weifang’s handicrafts. As well as actively obtained the chance to present local handicrafts in large festivals at home and abroad, like the Olympic Games, World Expo, China intangible Cultural Heritage Expo and others. During the process, the team have carried out cultural exchanges and operation in more than 30 countries for promoting Weifang traditional crafts.
except going abroad, we also organized a number of large-scale national cultural activities to invited guests visiting Weifang, such as the Protection Achievements Exhibition of Weishui Cultural and Ecological Protection Experimental Zone, Weifang Branch of China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, etc. In 2018 and 2019, during Weifang International Kite Festival, the team hosted two sessions of international summit on crafts and folk art communication and innovative development, invited representatives of the creative city South Korea, Mexico,Suzhou, Qingdao, Jingdezhen, and top experts and scholars attending.
Unfortunately, Weifang was failed in 2019, although it gained the recommendation from the UNESCO China Committee.Weifang government and the team never quit developing pace to being a qualified creative city. They prove themself by their action.
C. New start line
“Seeing the designation list in my WeChat monment, I was thrilled to forward the good news to my friend in art field at the first time” said Zhang Guohua, the 6 generation inheritor of peach pit carving. Being a creative city increases chances of cooperating with abroad and communicating with various culture to enrich our creativity.
Zhang’s words are voice of many craftsmen. Weifang is a creative city that is a good new beginning, every citizen obliges to work hard for implementing the mission of UCCN and developing our own new city.
We will take cultural creativity as an important driving force for sustainable urban development, focus on building an completed industrial chain of crafts and folk art for Weifang creativity.
Actively implementing the next four years plan for the construction of creative city, we will build a place for artists, teenagers and the public to experience art together, and advance the popularization and improvement of handicrafts and folk art.
We will fulfill international obligations to strengthen cultural dialogue with Africa, Latin America and The Arab region, and contribute to their talent training and creativity promotion.
A series of activities such as "I am endorser for Weifang, creative city of Crafts and Folk Art" and "The city Logo Design Competition" have been organized to set off the public upsurge.
