At the 2022 Xinchuan Award Traditional Crafts Exhibition organized by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang Province and the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government, Yuan Duanjiao's 'Flowers and Moon Outshone' series received the 'Excellence Award'.

Key points of the report

• Studied lacquer art creation under Du Zhongxun and Chen Tiangen, both national masters of lacquer art and recognized masters of Chinese arts and crafts;
• Has mastered multiple lacquering techniques, including biantu (varied coating), gold tracery, pattern raising, relief lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlay;
• Her independently created Niuwang xipi (mottled lacquer) pieces and gold-insect lacquer pieces are distinctive, and works such as Spring, Mountain Mist and Nüwa Mending the Sky have repeatedly won awards and entered collections;
• Received the first prize of the Shaanxi Provincial Arts and Crafts Protection Project in 2019 and the first prize of the 'Lishan Cup' Lacquer Art Cultural and Creative Design Competition in 2020;
• The company has been designated by Ankang City as the 'Niuwang Guoqi Inheritor Training Base' and an 'Intangible Cultural Heritage Poverty Alleviation Employment Workshop', and has become a demonstration base for internships and practical training for several colleges and universities.

Further reading

The report also records the story of lacquer farmer Lu Hongxi: the company now collects lacquer at his door every day, and he can earn more than 30,000 yuan in a single harvest season — 'much better than working away from home, and I can stay with my family'.