Culture-loaded hairpin to be passed down with care

The history of Chinese hairpins can be traced back thousands of years. Today, this intangible heritage item is highly favored by young people.

According to Yang Huizi, an associate professor at Beijing Union University, it is rare for an intangible heritage item to become a hit. When one does, it can draw widespread attention to better preserving cultural heritage, extending from single items to regional cultures.

Professor Zhang Yi from Jiangnan University believes that as hairpins become popular among young people, there is no need to be overly strict about their design. He suggests that hairpins should evolve with consumers' aesthetic preferences, allowing free expression. This, in turn, will help the craft spread more widely and ensure its inheritance and development.

Zhang suggests that hairpins could adopt a DIY format, allowing consumers to create their own pieces and deeply understand its cultural connotations through hands-on experience.

This year, two of Yang's students combined traditional velvet flowers and filigree inlay with contemporary aesthetics to create a series of exquisite jewelry, including earrings, necklaces, and rings. In graduation season, many students adorn their graduation caps with flowers, exemplifying the fusion of tradition and modernity.

Source: Youth. cn; trans-editing by Guo Yao