Recently, the 50 X 50 NEW BORN fashion and art exhibition opened at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai. The exhibition invited 50 outstanding global creators from a variety of fields including fashion and art to explore the infinite possibilities of fashion and art inspired by the themes of new life and sustainability. Renowned artists from home and abroad shared the stage, including the famous French shoe and jewelry designer Pierre Hardy, who has designed for Christian Dior, Hermès and other top luxury houses, Japanese architect Shuhei Aoyama, and pioneering Chinese media figure and writer Hong Huang. One noteworthy participant is Chen Qing, an embroiderer from the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou, China, who presented her work titled Butterflies Chasing Flowers to showcase the beauty of Miao embroidery, an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) by UNESCO. She is a student of Donghua University's Intangible Cultural Heritage Research and Training Program.
(Chen Qing’s work on exhibition)
In 2016, the first round of the ICH research and training program at the Fashion and Art Design Institute of Donghua University started as the designated research and training program of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The ICH research and training program offered by the school aims to improve the design competency of the students by focusing on exploring the creative design of traditional embroidery. During this time, Chen Qing embarked on her journey as a student of the program to create Miao embroidery artwork. She seized this hard-won opportunity to keep improving her skills and became one of the best young trainees.
In 2020, Chen Qing also joined in the research and training program Return of Elite for Targeted Poverty Alleviation created by Donghua University in support of the national strategic goal of poverty alleviation. Those who enrolled included excellent students of previous research and training projects in Donghua University and the students from Zunyi, Guizhou, which is an assistance partner of Shanghai. The school redesigned the training curriculum based on past teaching experience, formulated the training plan, and implemented the mentor system.
（The work co-designed by Chen Qing and a DHU graduate student）
Donghua University's ICH research and training program has made great efforts to revamp ICH. Most of the enrolled students work in the field of ethnic costumes and crafts. In this research and training program, students will learn innovative design and take courses on the static display of costumes and crafts as well as dynamic exhibition and sales on e-commerce platforms. The school hopes to provide well-rounded support to those students.
The comprehensive offering of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery disciplines of Donghua University build a solid foundation for the ICH research and training program. Meanwhile, the Fashion and Art Design Institute boasts a full set of advanced hardware facilities for fashion content publishing and a professional model team for fashion shows, which allows students of the ICH program to share the spotlight with co-designers and models. Every student will proudly walk on the runway in their own ethnic costumes under the guidance of professional fashion show directors.
