Promotion of Shaanxi's traditional arts and crafts gets new thrust

Liu Kuanren (left) visits a cultural center in Xi'an.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Since the central government announced the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Liu Kuanren, head of the cultural department in Shaanxi's local government, has been thinking up ways to internationally promote the heritage of his province that is located in Northwest China. This is the home of the famous Terracotta Warriors.

Liu, who plays the xun, an egg-shaped traditional Chinese wind instrument made of clay, says culture and the arts have a big role in bringing people from different countries together.

Shaanxi is where the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) took root and united China. Xi'an, the province's present-day capital, used to be called Chang'an earlier, when it was the country's capital for 13 dynasties. The museum of the Terracotta Warriors is also situated here, making Xi'an an important place in China's political and cultural history.

The city was the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, the network of overland and sea routes that connected China with the world for centuries, and enabled trade and cultural exchanges.

Xi'an was a metropolis from the Han (206 BC-220) to the Tang (618-907) dynasties. The fast development of China's coastal regions since the Song Dynasty (960-1279) led to its decline.

Liu thinks reviving Shaanxi's culture and the folk arts is significant to the Belt and Road Initiative, with a focus on drawing more foreign tourists to the province.

"Many foreigners look for novelty in Shaanxi's culture, and there is also a tendency among Chinese to describe traditional culture as 'backward'," Liu tells China Daily.

He uses the xun as an example. The 3,000-year-old instrument has a profound anthropological and cultural background and a special tone, but "most people watch our performance only out of curiosity", Liu says.

Foreigners have yet to fully see Shaanxi's Qinqiang Opera, shadow-puppet shows, Yangge dance, the waist drum dance, the traditions of paper-cutting and farmers' drawings, he says.