Intangible cultural heritage is the awkward term for things that are practised rather than built: crafts, music, dance, cooking, medicine, festivals and techniques, which exist only as long as somebody keeps doing them. China has been unusually systematic about cataloguing and supporting them, and Chengdu built a park on the western edge of the city to display them, which hosts the international festival of intangible cultural heritage and runs a permanent exhibition and workshop area between festivals.
What is there
The site is a large landscaped park with exhibition halls, streets of workshop buildings and outdoor performance areas. Inside, craftspeople from Sichuan and from across China work at their trades in public: bamboo weaving, lacquerware, silver and copper smithing, embroidery, tie-dye and batik, woodblock printing, paper making, pottery and porcelain, clay figurine painting, kite making and puppet carving. There are displays of regional opera, folk instruments and dance, a food hall, and temporary exhibitions tied to the festival. Because it is a working demonstration site rather than a museum, the interest is in watching hands and asking questions, and most craftspeople are happy to explain through a translation app.
The crafts worth looking for
Sichuan's own specialities are the ones to concentrate on. Shu embroidery is a fine, dense, double-sided style worked in silk, historically produced in Chengdu and still practised by a small number of masters. Shu brocade is woven on complex drawlooms and was a state monopoly in the Tang. Bamboo and rattan work, lacquer and silver smithing are strong in the province, and the region's folk painting, paper cutting and New Year print traditions are all represented. Many of the workshop buildings sell what is made there, which is a more direct way to support the craft than buying in a souvenir shop.
Practical notes
The park is on the western side of Chengdu, on the road towards the airport, and is reachable by metro plus a taxi or by car; it charges an admission and is open daily except one weekday. It needs two or three hours to see properly and much longer if the festival is running, when the site is crowded and performances are scheduled through the day. Check the festival dates before planning a visit, since the park's programme is much fuller then. It combines well with the Dujiangyan and Qingcheng Mountain direction, which lies beyond it.
