Craft China: (Re)making ethnic heritage in China's creative economy

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In partnership with the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology (CNME), the UCL Institute of Archaeology research team will trace the development and reception of the 'China Craft' exhibition from Nov 2018 to Oct 2020. This project focuses on how traditional ethnic-heritage crafts across China can be developed and remade in collaboration with the 'cultural creative' industries. In particular, it seeks to contribute to the wellbeing and economic sustainability of local communities, particularly in rural areas. The UCL team of researchers will function as a critical friend for the project. We regard the China Craft project as a vibrant space for remaking both ethnic-heritage, but also the practice of exhibition-making itself. The project knits together a network of individuals and institutions with diverse interests and pursuits - academic, commercial, curatorial. It therefore creates a space for encounter and communication, as well as a means of studying how the cultural creative industry, known in China as wenchuang, functions.Since China joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in 2004, the creative sector has been playing an increasingly significant role in the growth of China's economy. The wenchuang economy refers to a set of cultural, artistic, technological and service industries, which have been incorporated widely into the economic strategies of cities across the country, linked closely with city branding, urban planning and the development of tourism.' Following the notion that heritage is constantly 'in the making' (Harvey 2010; Svensson and Maags 2018), we see the engagement with heritage in the wenchuang industries as an ongoing process of 'creative remaking', where heritage is given new forms and meaning, resulting in reconfigurations of the values of authenticity and creativity.By tracing the CNME's interactions with the other involved actors (V&A Shenzhen, Yunnan Minzu University), we explore how China's wenchuang industry functions on both the local and international levels and attempt a critical understanding of its engagement with heritage. This 'remaking' process ranges from the interactions between local craft people and ethnologists in Yunnan, to the manufacturing of heritage-inspired design products in the cities of Jingdezhen and Yiwu, and then to the V&A's newly-built outpost in Shenzhen, which will be collaborating with the CNME in staging craft-themed design weeks. The primary data for this project will come from a combination of workshops and ethnographic fieldwork to be held at each of the partner sites. Workshops will be conducted over a week-long period and will focus on creating an atmosphere that fosters dialogue and collaboration. One of the main goals of the project is to create opportunities for dialogue among local craft people, museum/heritage professionals, academics, and designers. The research would benefit the craft people in local communities by incorporating their pursuits and concerns more significantly into the exhibition-making process. Through the non-hierarchical dialogues in the workshops, we aim to deepen their involvement in the China Craft project, from providing their knowledge to co-creating the exhibition. Most importantly, it would facilitate discussions on ways to develop a sustainable relationship between local ethic communities with the creative industry. In keeping with the dialogic spirit of the project, we will be producing a series of podcasts that trace the development of the China Craft exhibition and explores some of the key debates about heritage and the creative economy in China today. For exhibition-developers, a downloadable booklet illustrates our workshops and exhibition-making process. Finally, our WeChat network will keep the public up-to-date with all the latest news about the project and allow you to communicate with the project team.