When the mayor of Cernobbio, in Italy's Como province invited the curator of a local museum in far-away Pingyao county, Shanxi province, for a 10-day cultural heritage visit to Italy and Switzerland, starting Dec 14, it included the transfer of some selected antique artifacts produced in the museum’s workshop.

Liu Wentao, the curator of the county's Wentaofang Ancient Weapon Museum, explains that sword-making is a tradition in the county with a long history, which involves many techniques, including smith and chasing, which have been passed on for generations. The results are quite popular among Chinese collectors.

Liu was carefully with his preparations for the trip and wanted to take along the best swords, as well as silverware and tea sets from his workshop's collection to give the foreigners a better understanding of the craft. The workshop also made some special objects that were designed with the culture of Italy in mind, for example, with the appropriate colors.

This trip is not just about culture, but about academic exchanges as well, with Liu and his coworkers having discussions with European museum curators, heads and professors of arts schools from some European countries.

In this, Liu considers himself more as a messenger of Chinese culture and says he thinks that traditional handicrafts needs more publicity to be preserved and that it is inevitable that Chinese works should travel abroad. The Chinese government also has policies for helping its products to go overseas, and Liu said he would take advantage of this to promote his works and Pingyao culture outside.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw