Polished lacquerware well inherited in N China's Shanxi

Upon stepping into the China Polished Lacquerware Museum in the ancient city of Pingyao, north China's Shanxi Province, one will find artisans at their workbenches, gently sweeping brushes across lacquerware bases as gold powder slowly settles into the patterns.

Photo shows Pingyao polished lacquerware. (People's Daily Online/Wang Fan)

As a national-level intangible cultural heritage, Pingyao polished lacquerware craft involves six specialized trades and 66 intricate processes.

"Gold painting and polychrome decoration are at the very heart of Pingyao polished lacquerware," said Lei Tianyong, an arts and crafts master.

Lei Tianyong carefully examines the details of the gold painting and polychrome decoration process. (People's Daily Online/Wang Fan)

An artisan uses a whetstone to polish and refine a lacquerware base. (People's Daily Online/Wang Fan)

The lacquer-making process is painstaking and demanding. For years, Lei has pondered how to inspire young people to devote themselves to learning the craft. In 2009, he began exploring ways to bring the intangible cultural heritage into schools, and in 2011, he officially began enrolling and teaching students.

"We take in around 30 students each year. Many are initially drawn by curiosity, but those who stay must be able to endure the solitude," Lei said.

"Purely handmade works cannot be replaced by AI. They embody decades of accumulated skill. You must have patience when practicing a craft. First, you have to settle down, preserve the traditional foundations, and only then talk about innovation," he added.

Chen Haiming, an arts and crafts master, works on a piece of polished lacquerware. (People's Daily Online/Wang Fan)

Inside the exhibition hall of the China Polished Lacquerware Museum, lacquerware pieces stand quietly on display. The museum's centerpiece, depicting cats frolicking in spring, was painted over three years by Xue Shengjin, an arts and crafts master and a national-level representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage.

Nearby is a polished lacquerware piece by arts and crafts master Chen Haiming, depicting 128 immortals in flowing robes, with mineral pigments that remain vivid to this day.

A young artisan applies gold painting and polychrome decoration to a Pingyao polished lacquerware base. (People's Daily Online/Wang Fan)

In the museum's educational workshop, young people gather around workbenches to watch artisans demonstrate fabric wrapping, ash application and polishing, and to feel the texture of natural lacquer for themselves. The workshop is now a study and practice base for primary and secondary school students in Shanxi, allowing them to see, hear and experience intangible cultural heritage up close.

Visitors select Pingyao polished lacquerware jewelry boxes. (People's Daily Online/Wang Fan)