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Looking China: Searching for silent harmony in clay pottery

CCTV.com

10-20-2017 15:22 BJT

Full coverage: ‘看中國’外國青年影像計劃專題

By CCTV.com Panview

Editor's foreword: "Looking China" International Youth Film Project is co-organized by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture (AICCC), Beijing Normal University and Huilin Foundation. The program focuses on the young participants’ personal experiences of Chinese culture and encourages them to discover and tell Chinese stories from their own perspectives.

As of the year 2017, students from all over the world were invited to participate in the project. They were stationed in 12 municipality, provinces and autonomous regions here in China. Every filmmaker has worked out a 10-minute short film about Chinese culture around the topic of "Craftsmanship·Inheritance·Innovation.”

The short silent film, The Pearl Celadon, directed by Elizaveta Balakireva and produced by Lynn Lee, features a ceramics artist living in an isolated forest and hilly region of China.

With traditional music scenery in the background, viewers capture a glimpse into his daily routine. He wears a traditional white Chinese wardrobe, pants and shirt, young adult male with a goatee that makes him look like an ancient Chinese painter. His entire life embraces ancient Chinese cultural traditions.

He's a Taoist, who worships at a local temple and takes long walks in solitude in the surrounding forests. But he's also a successful businessman in his hometown.

He appears to run a ceramics factory that mass produces pottery while using ancient tools and techniques. He's a dedicated worker, as well as a pottery teacher at his nearby primary school.

The ceramics potter holds a deep passion for his craft and seeks to pass on his wisdom and heritage to a younger generation of locals, so that ancient pottery making will never go out of existence.

His efforts are remarkable, but also necessary if the rich heritage and culture of Chinese ceramics hopes to stay alive in our future.

(The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

Panview offers a new window of understanding the world as well as China through the views, opinions, and analysis of experts. We also welcome outside submissions, so feel free to send in your own editorials to "globalopinion@vip.cntv.cn" for consideration.

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