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Traditional Chinese Crafts: An Overview
A plain-language survey of China's main handmade traditions, from silk and porcelain to lacquer and paper, and how workshops passed craft knowledge on.
Daily Life and Customs
Dress and Handmade Crafts
Silk, porcelain, jade, dress and folk crafts.
Chinese Knots and Tassels
A look at decorative Chinese knotting: how cord is tied into named patterns, what the shapes symbolize, and where knots and tassels appear in gifts and homes.
Hanfu and Traditional Chinese Dress
An introduction to historical Chinese clothing, from crossed collars and wide sleeves to dynastic changes, and to the modern interest in reviving hanfu.
Jade in Chinese Culture
Why jade has been prized in China as a symbol of virtue, how early jades were shaped by abrasion, and how jade carving developed from ritual objects to ornaments.
Lacquerware: Layers of Polished Color
How Chinese lacquer is made from tree sap and built up in many thin coats, and how it is carved, inlaid and painted into boxes, trays and furniture.
Paper Cutting as a Folk Art
How Chinese paper cutting turns folded or layered paper into window decorations, with common motifs, regional styles and festival uses explained.
Porcelain and the Art of the Kiln
How Chinese porcelain developed from earlier ceramics, what makes it distinctive, its main forms and glazes, and why it was so admired by buyers abroad.
Seals and the Art of Seal Carving
How Chinese seals work as signatures and as an art form, with notes on seal script, stone, red paste and the close link to calligraphy and painting.
Silk: From Cocoon to Cloth
How traditional Chinese silk is made, from silkworms and mulberry leaves to reeling and weaving, with notes on the legend of its discovery and its role in trade.
The Qipao: History of a Modern Classic
How the qipao took shape in the early twentieth century from earlier robes, how its cut and image changed over time, and why it remains a recognized style.
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