“It’s very beautiful. We like it and enjoy to see. I’d like to take some clothes and make one for me,” Jeanne Karpf, wife of the Consul General of Angola in Guangzhou, exclaimed over the beauty of a series of Gambiered Canton Gauze after a close admiration. From November 27th to 28th, consulate officials from 5 countries and their families were invited to appreciate the Gambiered Canton Gauze production and ceramic making in TANGY Silk Garden, the National Intangible Cultural Heritage-Shunde Gambiered Canton Silk Protection Base and DATON Pottery during the "Foshan Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience and Exchanges" Activity.

Foshan, as a national historical and cultural city, attaches great importance to the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. By June 2020, Foshan has 14 national intangible cultural heritage projects and 50 intangible cultural heritage projects above the provincial level, with 15 national intangible cultural inheritors and 58 intangible cultural inheritors above the provincial level.

Gambiered Canton Gauze dyeing and finishing skill, with a history of nearly 600 years, has appeared in Lunjiao Town, Shunde District, Foshan since the middle of the Qing Dynasty. It is currently the only real silk fabric dyed with pure plant dyes in the world. The TANGY Silk Garden in Lunjiao Town, Shunde District is planned and constructed to protect and inherit this national intangible cultural heritage and promote the development of the Gambiered Canton Gauze cultural industry, which aims to protect, inherit and activate the dyeing and finishing skills of Gambiered Canton Gauze.

Jasmine, wife of the Consul General of Germany in Guangzhou, said that she is very interested in Foshans intangible cultural heritages. She also introduced that the textile materials used by many fashion designers in Germany are derived from Gambiered Canton Gauze. She hopes to organize a Sino-German fashion design event next year so that Chinese and German designers can design fashion products based on Gambiered Canton Gauze together and hopefully more Germans will understand and fall in love with Foshan through cultural exchange activities.

Foshan is known as the Ceramic Capital of the Southern China with a history of more than one thousand years of ceramic production, whose ceramic products have been exported to Southeast Asian countries since the Ming Dynasty. In the DATON Pottery Ceramic Art Exhibition Hall in Zhangcha Sub-district, Chancheng District, the ceramic products with unique shapes and designs are very eye-catching.

Spanish Tourism Consul Ms. Ana Lafuente and Spanish Citizens Ministry official Ms. Virginia Delgado jointly stated that Spain also has a very long ceramic tradition and cooperates with many ceramic companies in Foshan. It’s reported that Spanish primary and secondary schools offer ceramic-related courses for students to understand ceramic creations. They will also consider more in-depth exchanges with Foshan in cultural aspects in the future.

After closely learning about the making of Gambiered Canton Gauze and ceramics making, the delegation also participated in the experience of traditional techniques such as tie-dyeing, national fan, pottery kneading, etc., each step of which was carefully studied. Kurtulus Aykan, Consul General of Turkey in Guangzhou, said that when he came to the Shunde Silk Conservation Base, he realized that expertise is hidden behind all the process and he is very grateful for this rare experience opportunity. "I will keep this wonderful memory," Tulu Icozu Aykan, wife of the Consul General of Turkey in Guangzhou, looks forward to learning, experiencing and discovering more excellent Chinese culture.

土耳其驻广州总领事Kurtulus Aykan及其夫人Tulu Icozu Aykan接受佛山新闻网采访

Foshanstyle Studio

(Anthony)