Heritage crafts find new life

Heritage in style

In the Mid-Autumn Festival season of 2025, specialty coffee brand M Stand partnered with Zhang Dingjuan, a 30-year-old inheritor of Daoming bamboo weaving. The craft, recognized as national intangible cultural heritage, comes from Daoming town in Chongzhou, Sichuan province, with its roots tracing back to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).

"When we collaborate with a brand, we always look for shared elements between their identity and bamboo weaving,"Zhang explained. "With M Stand, we focused on patterns and simplicity. The Z-shaped weave echoes the 'M' in their logo, and the neutral colors match their clean, minimalist style."

Zhang grew up watching her grandfather, a bamboo craftsman, weave baskets at local markets. After studying product design at university, she wanted to further explore the craft. She traveled to Daoming to train under Zhao Sijin, the master inheritor of Daoming bamboo weaving.

"At first, he didn't think I was serious," she laughed. "He told me, 'Come learn whenever you like.' But I showed up every morning at 8."

One of the most commonly used materials in Daoming weaving is Yinshan cizhu bamboo, usually harvested at two to three years old. With long joints, thin walls, and strong elasticity, it produces durable, long-lasting products. But the process is painstaking, involving dozens of steps — scraping, splitting, slicing, thinning, and stretching the fibers.

For Zhang, the hardest part was handling the heavy splitting knife. Splitting requires gripping the bamboo with one hand while pressing down on the blade with the other, especially at the nodes.

Cuts were frequent, leaving pale scars behind. "The strips are sharp, and fibers sometimes slipped under my nails," she said. "It hurt, but I kept practicing."

Today, Zhang has expanded the craft beyond traditional baskets into earrings, bracelets, phone cases, designer bags, and even car seat backs. A gourd-shaped bookmark she designed brought in more than 100,000 yuan ($14,325.69) in a single month. Last year, she launched her own brand and began taking custom orders.

"It took a long time to get here," she said. "I spent seven years learning in Daoming. From making small pieces to taking on complex, customized projects, it's been a long journey."