An exhibition of China’s intangible cultural heritage was held at the Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Center on February 9-23, 2009. More than a thousand folk artists attended the event, displaying 2,000 items of traditional arts and crafts that attracted nearly 200,000 visitors. 

Huang Chuncai, successor of the Fujian wooden arch bridge craftship remained in the exhibition hall for 15 days. His technique, to put it simply, is to use wood and wooden tools to complete the bridge entirely by hand. Some of the bridges can span dozens of meters. Huang said, “Now there is no lack of work”, because many scenic areas have invited them to build wooden bridges, and the market demand has ensured the handing down of the craft. Besides his two sons, Huang stated, “many other people have also come to me to learn the technique”.

Huang’s arch bridge is one example of how China is currently protecting traditional arts and crafts, through production and market circulation. Of course, to that end, craftsmen also need to adapt to market changes.

While at the exhibition, Ms. Lu Xue, representative of Tai’an paper cutting of Shandong Province and president of the Chinese Arts Paper-cutting Association, said: “Tai’an paper cutting has a history of a thousand years, but I believe traditional skills also need to keep pace with the times. Paper cutting, for example, is not only a window decoration during festivals, but should meet diversified needs of the people. Only in this way can we create greater value from traditional crafts.”
Pointing to a piece of work, Lu said, “This is a representative of my works, scenes from Andersen’s fairy tales. The Danish Queen had a great fondness for it and granted me the Royal Knight Medal.” Every year the Danish royal family would rent the work from Lu as a ceremonial decoration, for USD 50,000 a week.

Cao Zhenrong, successor of the Nanjing colored lantern, pointed to his ox lantern and told the reporter: “The colored lantern once lost popularity in Nanjing and I was anxious. Three years ago, I hit an idea. I began to focus on the lantern shape and launch each year an animal lantern according to the Chinese lunar calendar.” After three years of hard work the craftsman acquired another role as head of the Nanjing Dongcai Lantern Plant.

It is evident that traditional crafts have subsisted by adapting to the market and winning recognition. The policy of “protection through production” has proven effective. However, another question has arisen: how to protect the intellectual property rights of innovative products such as these?

   “We lost some 300,000 Yuan in 2009,” said Cao. Counterfeit goods appeared as soon as Cao’s lanterns aired on TV and displayed market potentials. “Their ox lanterns are neither fish nor fowl, for they don’t know how to handle the bamboo framework. Some buy the framework of the rat, others are even more outrageous-they simply plant the head of goat on the body of ox.”

Cao seemed rather helpless when talking about how to protect his own interests: “It takes too long to apply for a patent, especially for designs, but our lanterns must be recreated every year. Some suggested copyright, but we need registration and possibly worse, go to court.” Now, Cao aims to establish a brand for his lanterns and to protect them.

It is a long process to protect oneself through a brand, and not all craftsmen are willing to do so. Lu is one of them, “My focus is still on my research and teaching students, and I never considered opening a company.” But she is equally concerned about intellectual property protection since many have reproduced her products. When asked whether being part of the state intangible cultural heritage can bring any form of protection, Lu said, “this grand title dazzles you, but can in no way save you from infringement. What we need are concrete measures.”

(Translated by Li Heng)