A needle-punched, boneless festive lantern from Jinhua is displayed at the Reviving Craft — China's Intangible Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Design exhibition in Milan, Italy. [Photo/Dongyang Converged Media Center]

Over 100 exquisite pieces of intangible cultural heritage from Jinhua, Zhejiang province, are being displayed at the Reviving Craft — China's Intangible Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Design exhibition, which is being held from Oct 3 to 12 at the Palazzo Serbelloni in Milan, Italy.

Among them are around 20 pieces from Dongyang, featuring the county-level city's intangible cultural heritage items, including wood carving, bamboo weaving, and festive lantern crafting.

Two works of Dongyang bamboo weaving — a handbag and a tea cake box — are being presented. Unlike the decorative bamboo-weaved products common today, they emphasize practicality while preserving intricate weaving techniques.

Jiang Baoliang, a renowned wood carving artisan, created a lion-themed piece for the exhibition. Jiang said that lions, originally introduced to China from abroad, symbolize Sino-foreign cultural exchange. He described the piece as a "cultural backflow" to Italy, where lions are deeply revered.

Xu Bin, a representative craftsman of Dongyang's needle-punched, boneless festive lanterns, presented a stunning collection. He adapted the designs to use LED lights instead of traditional candles, ensuring safety during transportation.

Xu said that the dragon and fish lanterns retained their classic forms to directly convey Chinese lantern culture to global audiences, while other lanterns were designed in the shape of a vase or a flower basket.

In recent years, Jinhua's intangible cultural heritage has gained prominence at major cultural events, with Dongyang's inheritors committed to integrating heritage into modern life, driving its creative transformation and innovative development.