From October 2 to 3, the 20th and 21st sessions of the “Fun at Huaihua Museum · Market for National Day” intangible cultural heritage handicraft flea market were held successively in the corridor of the Huaihua Museum. Over the two days, a total of 44 booths were set up, offering 18 hands-on experience activities, with both the scale of the booths and the number of experience activities reaching a new high for previous sessions. The themed event “Appreciating Intangible Cultural Heritage Through Film” was also brought into the market at the same time, adding a special atmosphere interwoven with light, shadow, and intangible cultural heritage to this National Day holiday.
It has been wet for days in the Autumn, and the wind carries a touch of distinct chill; nevertheless, nothing has dampened local residents’ enthusiasm for the open-air market. When the market opened at 10 a.m., crowds quickly gathered around every interactive stall. At the rubbing experience zone, visitors carefully patted rice paper to make traditional rubbings. At the diancha (whisked tea) station, the soft, rapid sound of tea whisks frothing the brew fell as fine and dense as raindrops. At the poria cake stall, tourists kneaded pastries with their own hands and packed boxes full of the cakes to take away. At the bead-art and bean-tapping tables, many children bent over their work, fully absorbed themselves in the innovation of the artwork. Queues also formed for activities including dragon-kiln earthenware pottery modeling, traditional seal-script incense making, and crystal wishing bottles. Hands-on experiences such as cloisonné wire-inlay art, gourd pyrography, Wushui paper-cutting, and DIY sachets were open simultaneously, with residents joining in craft activities at every booth. A newly added stall this session, Shenshen Handmade Tea Confectionery, offered handmade white kidney bean tea cakes and piped-cream crispy cone cakes, bringing a fresh, sweet touch to the market.
On October 2, Huaihua Huanying Cinema walked into the museum to carry out the themed event “Appreciating Intangible Cultural Heritage Through Film”. Leveraging the Huaihua Museum’s profound Wuxi cultural heritage and the lively scene of intangible cultural heritage activities, the cinema set up a publicity booth at the market to recommend quality films released during the National Day holiday period, carry out special promotions and distribute benefits, and gave away some movie tickets free of charge. While visiting the market and experiencing intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, residents could also participate in interactive activities and get benefits from watching movie, fully enjoying a one-stop holiday cultural experience of “appreciating intangible cultural heritage, strolling through the market, and watching films”. This collaboration brought a film-themed event into the museum market. Next, both parties also plan to promote intangible cultural heritage in the cinema by introducing market handicrafts and performance experience activities into cinema settings, so that intangible cultural heritage can be integrated into the daily lives of the public in a more vivid form.
To ensure balanced access to all hands-on activities, the event coordinators made overall arrangements for experience vouchers, keeping the number of vouchers for each stall within 10 wherever possible, so that every type of experience program had vouchers available for visitors to draw. A total of 220 experience vouchers were distributed over the two days. After collecting their vouchers, many residents went directly to the corresponding stalls, and continued touring the fair after finishing their hands-on experience. A smooth, well-organized visitor flow took shape on site, following the orderly loop of “collecting a voucher — joining the experience — continuing the fair tour”.
It is understood that the “Fun at Huaihua Museum” intangible cultural heritage market has been actively exploring cross-sector integration, with technology brands and university cultural and creative studios having participated in previous sessions. This time, by joining hands with a cinema, it brought film culture into the intangible cultural heritage market. The integration of diverse business formats has also become a major feature that continues to attract residents to the market.
It is reported that after many sessions of operation, the market has won the popularity among residents. Quite a few people came specially to take part in the hands-on craft experiences, experiencing the unique charm of traditional skills through hands-on practice.
(Translated by Yang Sigui)