Huishan clay figurine, Fengxiang clay sculpture, Nanshi color painting, Beijing painted clay sculpture “Lord Rabbit” and Henan clay dog are five intangible cultural heritage items featuring clay sculptures and paintings from different parts of China. They gathered together at the Mission Hills Maker (MH Maker) in Longhua District on Saturday, as part of the opening ceremony of the Mission Hills Intangible Cultural Heritage Week.

“This is a major experience project launched during the culture week. People can compare and feel the wonderful cultures of different regions in China. At the same time, it is also a very good opportunity for cultural heritage inheritors to communicate with each other,”  said Wang Ning, a manager at the MH Maker.

The cultural week (from Friday to Aug. 28) is themed on “connecting traditional arts with modern life.”

Intangible cultural heritage inheritors of string puppets perform at Mission Hills Mall in Longhua District on Saturday. Sun Yuchen

Themed activities include intangible cultural heritage experiences, traditional performances, art exhibitions, an art market and an intangible cultural heritage alliance to promote intangible cultural heritages to the public.

At the opening ceremony, MH Maker was officially named as a non-heritage learning and research base, a child-friendly practice base in Longhua, and an off-campus practice base for primary and secondary school students in Bao’an.

Apart from enjoying exhibitions and performances, visitors are encouraged to attend intangible cultural heritage classes and art salons. People can learn fan brush paintings, leather carving, tie dyeing and making wood art bookmarks.

The salons include color painting art, intangible cultural heritage recitation, the art of Chinese seal engraving and jade carving art.

Several inheritors of the string puppet intangible cultural heritage also performed at the opening ceremony and interacted with visitors.

In addition, audiovisual intangible cultural projects such as Peking Opera and Guqin performances were presented to the audience.