Chinese man builds museum to preserve intangible cultural heritage

Guo Cunyong introduces a bamboo piece in the Yuhua Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, central China’s Hunan province. (Photo/ people.cn)

Yuhua Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, founded by a carpenter in central China’s Hunan province, is now serving as a local cultural hub.

To date, the 50,000-square-meter museum has gathered 359 projects and over 200 inheritors of intangible cultural heritage. It also has 12 institutions and 32 study and research platforms.

The museum's founder, Guo Cunyong, is full of confidence for the museum's future development, even though it was hard for him to begin his journey five years ago.

Unwilling to see traditional handicrafts fade away in modern society, Guo decided to halt his furniture business and engage in intangible cultural heritage.

“The cultural value of traditional handicrafts is incalculable. It would be a shame to lose them,” said Guo.

Over the past five years, he has been to 14 cities in Hunan province. He also left footprints in Jiangsu province, Guangdong province and even the Tibet Autonomous Region, searching for artists who could join him in preserving intangible cultural heritage.

Despite the lack of capital, Guo has never asked for financial support from these craftsmen. He even sold his own property to keep the museum running.

“We gather inheritors here to offer them an opportunity to show and sell their work, as well as a platform to communicate and spark new ideas,” said Guo.

“I hope one day, our museum can be home to all intangible cultural heritage in China,” he added.