Beijing Women's Federation

Beijing 'Smart Lady' Promotes Cultural Heritage on Campus, Overseas

Beijing 'Smart Lady' Promotes Cultural Heritage on Campus, Overseas

Beijing 'Smart Lady' Promotes Cultural Heritage on Campus, Overseas

Beijing 'Smart Lady' Promotes Cultural Heritage on Campus, Overseas

On March 1, prior to the 109th International Women's Day, organizers held a special show marking the annual event. The show was first of its kind of 2019 and 15th in the overall series, held under the title of Experience Chinese Culture with Smart Lady.

Zhao Yujie, a Chinese knotting art expert and national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor, was invited to make a presentation tonetizens across the world on how she learns and spreads her craft techniques. She also shared her perceptions of bringing an intangible cultural heritage onto a college campus.

The program aimed to disseminate the stories of how women in Beijing are creating a better life by themselves, and drew attention and support from over 700,000 netizens at home and abroad through its captivating content.

The art of Chinese knotting is referred to as a "living fossil" of folk culture. It stems from the ancestral tradition of using knots to record events, which dates back to Neolithic times. Over the course of thousands of years, Chinese knotting has evolved from practical utility to an art form with aesthetic value, and it is thought to be endowed with various auspicious effects.

As a crafts expert dubbed with the title of BeijingSmart Lady, Zhao has engaged in knotting since 2016. She learned the craft from Li Ding, an inheritor and folk artist. Zhao obtained certification upon successful completion of a teacher training course on related intangible cultural heritage projects, and received a certificate of achievement having reached an advanced standard for knotting art and techniques.

While inheriting the art of Chinese knotting, Zhao also actively promoted intangible cultural heritage activities. She hopes that through introducing the traditional craft onto campuses, youngsters can be encouraged to develop an interest and love for intangible cultural heritage, thereby gaining wider social participation in the preservation of the cultural assets of the Chinese nation.

For 2019, the theme for UN International Women's Day was "Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change". By showing a vivid example of how a Beijing Smart Lady creates a happy life, this program presented the wonderful stories of how a craftswoman in the capital has inherited traditional techniques, engaged in innovation and helped business start-ups in light of the development of the times.