Daoming Township, Chongzhou City, Sichuan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of bamboo weaving products, patterns
2. Various of people doing bamboo weaving in workshop
3. Various of bamboo weaving products
4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Dingjuan, inheritor, Daoming bamboo weaving craft (starting with shot 3/partially overlaid with shot 5/ending with shot 6):
"This refrigerator magnet is very stylish and simple both in shape and color. This fan uses the traditional color style of Dunhuang. Our bookmarks and vases also have their own unique charm. There are many brands or merchants who have demand for those products. We have also started working on some of our projects for the Chinese New Year."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
5. Various of bamboo weaving products
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
6. Various of bamboo decorations
7. Various of people at bamboo souvenir store
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) tourist (name not given/starting with shot 7/partially overlaid with shot 9):
"I came here from Xinjiang and I just bought the earrings. They are so beautiful that I don’t want to take them off. They are made of bamboo, which is very magical."
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
9. Various of people trying bamboo earing
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
10. Various of bamboo products
11. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Liao Xu (ending with shots 12-13):
"Bamboo craftsmanship has always been a part of traditional Chinese culture. I used to think that bamboo weaving was just about making cattail-leaf fans and backpacks. I never imagined that it could be used to make so many beautiful things, including houses, bags, earrings, and even jewelry. I think it's amazing."
12. Various of tourists, souvenir store, bamboo products
13. Picture of bamboo products
14. Various of Daoming bamboo weaving craft inheritor Zhao Sijin, Zhang working
15. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhao Sijin, inheritor, Daoming bamboo weaving craft (ending with shot 16):
"Innovation is key to expanding the market; sticking to the old ways won't save it. I created a new packaging box and put it onto the market, and turned to custom-made production. I've been constantly innovating. I've been working on packaging boxes for 20 years and have developed no fewer than 50 new products."
16. Various of bamboo products
17. Various of Zhao, Zhang doing bamboo weaving
18. Various of bamboo products
19. Various of pictures of bamboo weaving patterns
20. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Dingjuan, inheritor, Daoming bamboo weaving craft (starting with shot 19/ending with shot 21):
"Just to make the dozen or so refrigerator magnets, we wove over 300 patterns. This is actually an old craft. Some bamboo weaving objects from the past also used this interweaving technique, but it's relatively traditional. Every era has its own aesthetic, and we explored the aesthetics of our time from the perspective of young people. The colors are more fashionable, vibrant, and dynamic."
21. Various of bamboo weaving products
22. Various of people doing bamboo weaving in workshop
23. Various of notebook cover with bamboo weaving
24. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhou Simin, inheritor, Daoming bamboo weaving craft (starting with shots 22-23):
"We used one of our flat patterns to make this design of 'panda hugging bamboo'. It's hollowed out, and you can actually touch the bamboo pieces. We then used it in a notebook."
25. Various of people doing bamboo weaving in workshop
26. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Dingjuan, inheritor, Daoming bamboo weaving craft (ending with shot 27):
"This women's bucket bag, for example, combines bamboo and leather for a stylish look. Through such a small product, consumers can feel our craft, which is also a way of passing on this expertise."
27. Various of bamboo weaving products

The inheritors of Daoming bamboo weaving, a national intangible cultural heritage in southwest China's Sichuan Province, have been actively innovating to add fashion elements and a sense of life to the traditional technique.

During the ongoing National Day holiday, many tourists will specifically look for unique cultural and creative products at their destinations as gifts for relatives and friends, or souvenirs for themselves.

Daoming bamboo weaving is a representative item of national intangible cultural heritage. During the holiday, Daoming Town of Chengdu City has received a large number of visitors, with approximately 30,000 on the first day alone.

A workshop in the town run by Zhang Dingjuan, an inheritor of the bamboo weaving craft, has just completed orders for the National Day. They are rushing on to produce another batch of more than 10,000 Mid-Autumn Festival souvenirs.

"This refrigerator magnet is very stylish and simple both in shape and color. This fan uses the traditional color style of Dunhuang. Our bookmarks and vases also have their own unique charm. Many brands owners or merchants have great demand for our products. We have also started working on some of our projects for the Chinese New Year," Zhang said.

Various creative bamboo weaving works have refreshed many tourists' traditional impressions of bamboo weaving.

"I came here from Xinjiang and I just bought the earrings. They are so beautiful that I don’t want to take them off. They are made of bamboo, which is very magical," said a tourist from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"Bamboo craftsmanship has always been a part of traditional Chinese culture. I used to think that bamboo weaving was just about making cattail-leaf fans and backpacks. I never imagined that it could be used to make so many beautiful things, including houses, bags, earrings, and even jewelry. I think it's amazing," said Liao Xu, a tourist from Chengdu City.

Zhang's mentor in bamboo weaving, 90-year-old Zhao Sijin, is very pleased to see more people rekindling their love for the time-honored traditional craft.

"Innovation is key to expanding the market; sticking to the old ways won't save it. I created a new packaging box and put it onto the market, and turned to custom-made production. I've been constantly innovating. I've been working on packaging boxes for 20 years and have developed no fewer than 50 new products," Zhao said.

While seeking innovation and change, Zhao also passed on his skills to more young people, including Zhang. Since graduating from university, she has been learning bamboo weaving from her mentor for seven years. In her hands, Daoming bamboo weaving, once primarily based on the natural color of bamboo, has taken on unexpected possibilities with vibrant colors and patterns.

"Just to make the dozen or so refrigerator magnets, we wove over 300 patterns. This is actually an old craft. Some bamboo weaving objects from the past also used this interweaving technique, but it's relatively traditional. Every era has its own aesthetic, and we explored the aesthetics of our time from the perspective of young people. The colors are more fashionable, vibrantly colorful, and dynamic," Zhang said.

More and more young people in Daoming are engaging in innovative bamboo weaving. They've established collective processing factories, and pushed forward commercial partnerships and collaborative custom designs. Zhang's bamboo weaving workshop alone has sold over 100,000 cultural and creative products this year.

"We used one of our flat patterns to make this design of 'panda hugging bamboo'. It's hollowed out, and you can actually touch the bamboo pieces. We then used it in a notebook," said Zhou Simin, another inheritor of the craft.

"This women's bucket bag, for example, combines bamboo and leather for a stylish look. Through such a small product, consumers can feel our craft, which is also a way of passing on this expertise," Zhang said.