Honors and Awards
ICH Recognition · Industry Standards · Design Awards · Industrial Impact
Honors & Awards
Honors and Qualifications at a Glance
From the Qinba lacquer forests to the international stage, every recognition and award marks a stretch of the road this craft has traveled.
Techniques and Intangible Cultural Heritage Recognition
Heritage & Qualification
2022
Niuwang Raw Lacquer Lacquering Techniques · The Seventh Batch of the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Shaanxi Province
Covering three aspects — lacquer tapping, lacquer making and lacquer coating — it forms a complete technical system from tapping and refining to lacquering, with Yuan Duanjiao as the inheritor of this line of transmission.
2023
Shaanxi Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop
The company was named a 'Shaanxi Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop', and designated as the Ankang Niuwang Guoqi Inheritor Training Base and an ICH poverty-alleviation employment workshop.
2020
Drafter of Lacquer Tree Industry Standards
Participated in drafting two industry standards: 'Technical Regulations for Lacquer Tree Afforestation' GH/T 1299-2020 and 'Technical Specifications for Pest and Disease Control of Lacquer Trees' GH/T 1300-2020.
Science and Technology Innovation Demonstration Base of the Xi'an Raw Lacquer Coatings Research Institute, All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives
Recognized as a science and technology innovation demonstration base for lacquer tree breeding and raw lacquer refining, with long-term industry-academia-research cooperation with Northwest A&F University and the Xi'an Raw Lacquer Research Institute.
School-Enterprise Cooperation and Internship & Training Demonstration Base
Named a school-enterprise cooperation / internship and training demonstration base by the College of Fine Arts Education of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, the Art Design Department of Hubei Industrial Polytechnic, Shanghai Art & Design Academy and the School of Handicraft Arts of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.
Municipal-level Forestry Industry Demonstration Base
Cultivated as a municipal-level forestry industry demonstration base, and pioneered a 'company + cooperative + farmer' interest linkage mechanism.
Works and Design Awards
Awards & Design
2025
German iF Design Award · Modular Custom Chinese Lacquer Eyewear
Developed in collaboration with a teacher-student team from Xi'an Jiaotong University, it stood out among more than ten thousand entries from around the world, bringing Chinese lacquer art onto the international design stage.
2025
'Baihe New Talent Award', China Arts and Crafts Expo · 'Yunjian Jianlongxiang'
Made with the bodiless (coreless) lacquer technique and an original 'layered incised gold' method: black lacquer as the ground, incised and traced with gold, completed through 72 procedures.
2025
First Prize, 3rd China Lacquer Art Expo · 'Five Oxen Scroll Jar'
A large-scale lacquer art work that carries ancient methods while harboring new ideas; works from the same period, including the carved lacquer vase 'Songhe Yannian' (Pine and Crane) and the 'Nüwa Mending the Sky' root-carving lacquerware, also won recognition within the industry.
2025
Shaanxi 'Chuanshi Zhenpin' Title · 'Menghuan'
The work 'Menghuan' was awarded the title of Shaanxi 'Chuanshi Zhenpin' (Treasured Masterpiece).
2021
Excellence Award, China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo · 'Biyue Xiuhua'
The lacquer art work 'Biyue Xiuhua' received an Excellence Award at the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo.
2022
Excellence Award, China ICH Inheritor Xinchuan Award · 'Biyue Xiuhua' Series
Received an Excellence Award at the Xinchuan Award Traditional Crafts Exhibition held by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang Province and the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government.
2019
First Prize, Shaanxi Provincial Arts and Crafts Protection Project
Works including 'Spring', 'Lan' and 'Nüwa Mending the Sky' won awards and were collected by the Shanghai Minhang Lacquerware Museum and the Museum of Northwest A&F University; the gold beetle lacquerware production project received the same award.
2020
First Prize, 'Lishan Cup' Lacquer Art Cultural Creative Design Competition
The lacquer cultural creative work won first prize at the 'Lishan Cup' Lacquer Art Cultural Creative Design Competition.
Personal Honors
Personal Honors
Arts and Crafts Master of Shaanxi Province
Yuan Duanjiao was named an Arts and Crafts Master of Shaanxi Province; she studied under the national lacquer art masters and China Arts and Crafts Masters Du Zhongxun and Chen Tengan.
Provincial-level Representative Inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage
As the provincial-level representative inheritor of the Niuwang Raw Lacquer Lacquering Techniques, she has mastered a range of lacquering techniques including biantu (varied coating), gold tracery, pattern raising, piled lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlay.
2025
China Rural Crafts Master / Shaanxi Provincial Rural Crafts Master
Named a China Rural Crafts Master and a Shaanxi Provincial Rural Crafts Master, and selected for the first 'Local Culture Talents' list of Ankang.
'Jinzhou Craftsman'
Named a 'Jinzhou Craftsman', and affectionately called the 'Lacquer Fairy' by fellow villagers.
Industrial and Social Impact
Industrial & Social Impact
2025
Processing over 200 tons of raw lacquer annually, with an output value of more than RMB 50 million
Processing more than 200 tons of raw lacquer a year and achieving an output value of over RMB 50 million, directly raising the income of 300 lacquer farmer households across the county on a stable basis.
The 'Lacquer Farmers' School' has trained more than 300 local technical workers
Established an inheritor training base, an ICH workshop and a 'Lacquer Farmers' School', systematically teaching the complete set of techniques through offline classes, online livestreams and instructional videos.
Intelligent upgrading: lacquer liquid transparency 72% → 89%
In 2023, intelligent mixing and constant-temperature equipment was introduced, together with power grid upgrades in the production area; the transparency of the lacquer liquid rose from 72% under the traditional process to 89%, and the product scrap rate fell to 0.05%.
Over 800 mu of transferred lacquer gardens and more than 1,300 mu of self-owned lacquer gardens
Providing lacquer saplings and technical training in a unified way and purchasing uniformly during the tapping season, the company binds more than 600 lacquer farmers through three channels: employment in the park, market purchase and cooperative profit sharing.