The 40thHungary International Folk Art Festival was recently staged at Buda Castle in Budapest. As a highlight event of Hungary’s National Day celebrations, the festival brought together master artisans and cultural inheritors from multiple countries worldwide to showcase their crafts and engage in cultural exchanges. Li Sha, Studio Director of the AIGC Intangible Cultural Heritage Lanxie Studio, and Li Qinghua, interpreter, from Shanghai Donghai College (SDC) were dispatched to the festival. With the time-honored Chinese intangible cultural heritage craft of Lanxie (traditional indigo tie-dyeing), they delivered a stunning performance on the international stage, vividly narrating the story of Chinese intangible cultural heritage to the world. Having successfully fulfilled the cross-cultural exchange mission and received international honors, their participation fully demonstrates SDC’s fruitful achievements in the inheritance and innovation of intangible cultural heritage.
Centered on multicultural integration, this year’s festival transformed the historic Buda Castle Hill into an exceptional platform for exchanges and mutual learning among global civilizations. As specially invited official Chinese delegates, the two SDC faculty members were assigned a booth in the core exhibition area, right beneath Matthias Church. Over the four-day event, Li Sha and Li Qinghua collaborated seamlessly, presenting a stunning collection of original indigo artworks. Featuring elegant layers of natural indigo hues, one-of-a-kind handcrafted textures and organic artistic charm, the pieces perfectly capture the craftsmanship and profound cultural heritage of traditional Chinese Lanxie technique. Each work is entirely handcrafted through tie-patterning, dip-dyeing and air-drying by the two teachers, retaining the inimitable warmth of handmade art. The millennium-old legacy and innovative vitality of traditional Chinese dyeing and weaving crafts are brought to life in every piece.
During the exhibition, SDC’s booth attracted visits from senior representatives of a number of Hungarian official bodies, including the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, and the Hungarian Folk Art Association. The guests learned in detail about the technical process and innovative development model of traditional Chinese indigo craft, and spoke highly of the studio’s dedication to intangible cultural heritage inheritance and its role in promoting cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world. Certificates of Honor were presented on-site to the two teachers in recognition of their outstanding contributions to international folk art exchanges. In addition, local Hungarian intangible cultural heritage inheritors specializing in indigo dyeing also made a special trip to the booth. The two sides held in-depth discussions on key topics including indigo dyeing techniques, pattern design, and intergenerational transmission of heritage, marking a heartwarming episode of multicultural exchange at the festival.
The AIGC Intangible Cultural Heritage Lanxie Studio of SDC has long upheld the philosophy of “heritage as the foundation, innovation as the soul”, integrating traditional intangible cultural heritage crafts with modern design and digital creativity. This participation in the Hungarian festival, which received high attention from SDC’s leadership and meticulous coordination from the relevant school and the Office of International Exchange, represents an important practice for the studio in promoting Chinese culture overseas. The trip has not only presented traditional Chinese culture to the world and demonstrated the cultural confidence and exquisite artistic competence of SDC’s faculty, but also raised the international visibility of SDC and Donghai Workshop, building a friendly bridge for folk cultural exchanges between China and Hungary. Going forward, the Lanxie Studio will continue to deepen its efforts in intangible cultural heritage aesthetic education. Using art as a medium and culture to nurture people, it will bring more outstanding Chinese intangible cultural heritage to the world stage.
(Correspondent: Li Sha, Translator: Liu Yichen)
