留学回国后在众筹网站indiegogo上发起了一个保护中国传统手工艺的项目，欢迎有兴趣的朋友看看，也渴求你的支持。具体可参见[url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-lost-oriental-handicrafts/x/9483238#]项目页面[/url]
或可见[url=https://www.facebook.com/thelivingorientalfolkarts]Facebook公共主页[/url]
欢迎随时讨论。

项目文案如下：

The Living Oriental Folk Arts

Who I am and why I launch the campaign?

This is Zhongwei Chen, I majored in creative industries and culture in China and history in the U.S. Based on my academic background, I always think about how to reconcile the traditional handicrafts and the modern designation. I had three Christmas in the U.S., when I found that the mail boxes of my friends in the U.S. were occupied by industrial produced gifts made in China. It recalled my memory of childhood when my surroundings were decorated by handicrafts. At the same time those craftsmen were taken place by laborers in the outsourcing factories who were exhausted and alienated by simple but tedious duties. I began to pay attention to the field of oral and intangible heritage. Surprisingly, I found that it’s in China,one of the early civilizations was born and grew up, the traditional handicrafts, not many folk arts were left, especially the traditional handicrafts. In such a civilization, only 37 items of folk arts were enlisted on Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity or Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding by UNESCO. However,the folk arts were emphasized by the government only for city marketing or nationalism promotion, not for preservation itself. The more research I did, the more incentives I was driven to preserve the heritage.

Consequently, I launched the campaign in order to make gifts by my own hands, share the methods to you all, and put them up for sale, by which the folk arts could be preserved in our daily lives.

What I have done?

I have visited dozens of craftsmen, learned the stories, techniques and experience from them, and got promises from seven of them for cooperation in the future.I also did research on how the folk arts were preserved in Japan and Western countries， the experience there could offer me different perspectives. I created a Facebook page to promote the cause in social media. I'm starting a team to achieve the cause. If you're interested, welcome to join!

The craftsmen I mentioned and their location as below in the map

The job before the Campaign Success

l'll do more research and visit more folk artists, from whom the products could be collected and the production process could be learned and recorded. I will made E-books to promote their works and techniques among the global community.I'll independently design a craft materials package, introduce how to make an Oriental handmade products yourself. I also respect copyright, without their endorsement, I won’t share any confidential information.

I will create my own brand, for preservation and spread of Oriental folk arts around the world, not only Han-Chinese but also handicrafts from other Oriental civilizations. I will keep the classical spirit of Oriental folk arts but promote by modern way, therefore they won’t lose their nature or the market.


After the Campaign Success

I‘ll ship the perks as gratitude and set up a website and an app to develop the network of handicrafts fans, for exchange, communication and trade.

The itemized costs table will be made and sent to any contributor who ask for.

If more money left, a fund will be set up to support the endangered handicrafts species.

The outlook and the stories of the perks

What are the stories of the craftsmen behind them?

What perks will you get?

How the fund will be used?

As I mentioned above, The fund will be used to find the valuable craftsmen, collect materials, design for the packs, and introduce to the global community by pamphlet and website. More funds I raise, more I can do. Your participation makes a difference.

Thanks for your support, the perks you will get as gratitude are all handmade crafts, it could be a little different from the pictures, but it’s guaranteed that all of them come from the specific craftsmen I mentioned.

Because the complicated process of hand-making by family studios, therefore, the number of perks are limited to keep their quality.

The fund-raising page will be edited along with the campaign, any questions on possible changes, please feel free to connect us.

For more details please check the Facebook [url=https://www.facebook.com/thelivingorientalfolkarts]Page[/url]