Skilled bamboo weaver strives to revive intangible cultural heritage

Pan Yunfeng, a bamboo weaver in Hangzhou city, east China’s Zhejiang Province has amazed netizens after short videos of him making umbrellas, pot brushes, cots, cell phone holders and tea tables out of bamboo were uploaded on social media platforms, including TikTok.

Pan Yunfeng busy making a bamboo product. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)

With 5.15 million followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and one of his videos garnering 2.19 million likes, Pan has made a name for himself by promoting traditional bamboo weaving art, which was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008, simply by using his own hands.

Born in Hengling village in Lin’an district, Hangzhou, Pan started to learn bamboo weaving from his uncle at an early age in 1984. But when he was ready to work, he found that bamboo products were no longer popular, as they were replaced by a variety of other products. Facing difficulties making a living with his skills, Pan left his village to work in cities in the mid-1990s.

Pan went on to work as an oil worker, a chef, and an electric welder. In 2019, Pan decided to return to his village. He occasionally saw short video clips about bamboo weaving, which rekindled his enthusiasm for the craft.

Believing that he could make even better bamboo handicrafts, Pan learned how to shoot and edit videos himself and later had the chance to understand more about all the settings. Gradually, as his short videos went viral on the Internet, Pan started to promote his bamboo products through live-streaming sessions. This has not only increased his income, but also helped his local counterparts to expand sales channels for their own bamboo products.

Now, Pan’s videos have put a spotlight on the intangible cultural heritage of his craft and helped to spread the traditional bamboo weaving art across the world. But Pan has also been aiming to revive the “outdated” cultural heritage through new innovations. Drawing inspiration from the designs of fashionable objects and the features of wood and metal crafts, he has developed a series of creative bamboo handicrafts.

According to Pan, innovation is the essence of carrying forward intangible cultural heritage and making it relevant for modern times.

Pan remains optimistic about the traditional bamboo weaving art. “Nowadays, more and more people are interested in bamboo weaving and buy bamboo handicrafts,” the craftsman said.