Baotou's Qingfu town enriches residents with ICH event

Qingfu town in Qingshan district, Baotou city, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, implemented the "residents experiencing intangible cultural heritages" project this year, which aims to enrich residents' cultural lives.

At the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Studio in Yinhai Community, Qingfu town, ICH dough figurine master Wang Furong recently taught residents the art of dough sculpting.

In August, Qingfu town established the ICH Studio and invited dough figurine master Wang Furong and Jingdong Drum master Wang Sumei, among other ICH practitioners, to lead hands-on heritage activities, which have benefited over 30,000 residents.

Wang Furong, a fifth-generation descendant of renowned Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) dough figurine master Zhao Kuoming, has been practicing and teaching the craft for more than 30 years and was named one of Baotou city's first representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage. Wang hosts weekly dough sculpting workshops for residents.

In addition to dough sculpting, the studio offers workshops on silk fan embroidery, sachet making, and paper cutting, providing cultural enrichment and new employment opportunities for the community.

A master teaches a child how to make a round silk fan. [Photo/Baotou news network]

"I learned how to weave beautiful bags after participating in the workshop. Selling them at the night market earns me over 100 yuan ($14) some hours," said resident Mi Xiaohua.