Xiangqiao District, at the heart of Chaozhou's old city, is turning its intangible cultural heritage (ICH) into hands-on experiences for tourists. The district, home to 106 intangible cultural heritage items, has designated 30 "ICH Living Scene" sites, including workshops, teahouses, embroidery studios and guesthouses, where visitors can experience the traditions firsthand.
At Boyin Jingshe studio on Paifang Street, travelers sit at potters' wheels and shape local red clay into teapots under the guidance of inheritors. The unfinished pots can be fired and shipped to visitors' homes afterward.
Chen Xiaoxing, a district-level inheritor of Chaozhou embroidery, teaches visitors the padded gold-thread stitching that gives the craft its bas-relief textures.
In a lane off Paifang Street, the Phoenix Teahouse stages regular performances of Chaozhou opera, tea ceremonies and Yingge dance, with audiences seated at low tables.
Nearby at Meixiangju, owner Mei Weitao pours kung fu tea and walks guests through the architecture of the old house, then hands them dough to make red-peach rice cakes.
A visitor surnamed Xu, staying in an old courtyard house with her child, described the experience: "In a hotel, you just sleep. Here, drinking tea, hearing about the building, talking — that's when you feel you've really lived the way people in Chaozhou live."
The sites are connected by a newly launched digital heritage map. The next phase, local officials say, is to convert more of the old city's underused courtyard houses into spaces where intangible cultural heritage is practiced every day.
Author | Feng Huiting
Photos | Nanfang Plus
