Calligraphy
| Crafts
| Painting
| Pottery
The
very crafty Chinese
The
Chinese have been, still are, and always will be, prolific
makers of crafts. They carve from jade to make jewelry,
trinkets, decorative items and sculptures. They have created
amazing crafts, such as painting on the inside of glass
bottles to create an image that you can see from outside
the glass. The Chinese make things out of paper, stone,
glass, wood, gold, paint, wool, cotton, and countless other
items with skill, precision and quality. Here are some of
the more common Chinese crafts.
Jade
carvings
Since
the beginning of Chinese history, jade has been used to
make beautiful art. The neolithic societies of China have
fashioned jade into carvings with intricate design. Additionally,
jade has been assigned the eminence of the five cardinal
virtues: modesty, wisdom, charity, courage and justice.
Paper
As
the Chinese have the claim on inventing paper, they have
certainly used it well. Early paper was made by mixing bark
and hemp. Today, the Chinese make kites, use it for calligraphy,
and create other signature crafts, like lanterns. They also
make ornate paper puppets with moveable parts that they
use in children's plays.
Embroidery
Chinese embroidery is known all over the world for being
beautiful, delicate and colorful. Chinese embroidery goes
hand-in-hand with silk. Another first for China, silk was
first used by the Chinese about 5,000 years ago. Royal clothing
required embroidery as early as 4,000 years ago. Today,
embroidery is complicated, but very high-quality. It is
art fused with clothing.
The
Chinese are skilled at crafts; they have been doing them
well for about 5,000 years. In modern China, you will see
many craftsmen selling their wares near tourist zones. Others
do different kinds of crafts, that is, they forge, repair,
design, and create, shoes, metal objects, appliances, electronics,
and more, sometimes carrying all of their tools on bicycles.
When you visit China, you will see just how skilled they
really are!
