From Venice to Hunan: discovering the timeless beauty of handcrafted art
In Venice and western Hunan, China, artisans are keeping centuries-old crafts alive - from mask-making to Miao embroidery - preserving tradition in a rapidly modernising world.
In partnership with CGTN
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/11/14/from-venice-to-hunan-discovering-the-timeless-beauty-of-handcrafted-art
Spark your senses, wake your wonder. Euronews Culture seeks to show creativity in action and inspire our audience to explore the world through the five senses. Start your journey through the best of Europe's arts, gastronomy, traditions and high-end craftsmanship.
00:05Once one of the richest places on earth for centuries, this floating city was the preeminent center for East-West Exchange.
00:12Something which may explain why Venice's most iconic symbol has distant and quite unexpected origins.
00:19Well, we think we discovered that the lion is Chinese.
00:22In western Hunan province, we'll explore a craft that's woven into the local fabric.
00:27The bride behind me is wearing a special Miao wedding dress.
00:30And in Miao culture, mothers weave their blessings into their daughters' wedding dresses.
00:35Every stitch is a cherished memory, each pattern a wish for the future.
00:40Welcome to Crossing Cultures. Join us as we explore the very best traditions of both China and Europe.
00:51Nothing really prepares you for the majesty of Venice.
00:54From its stunning architecture and picturesque canals to the sheer audacity of those who built it.
01:00But delve beneath the surface and there's a darker side.
01:04It's a story of power, seduction and sin.
01:08But also creativity, one that goes to the very heart of the Venetian soul.
01:13One place that vividly brings that story to life is Samarkana.
01:17For over 40 years, it has turned the centuries old craft of Venetian mask making into a true art form.
01:23Davide, what are you working on right now?
01:26Well, I'm creating a new mask.
01:28So, I have a negative form, I have this special kind of paper called wool paper that I'm going to combine in a certain way to register all the details of the mold, creating then the new positive mask.
01:43And is this the process that would have been used centuries ago?
01:47For sure, yes.
01:48People used to use the same technique.
01:50So, a negative form and a positive form made with a mask inside it.
01:55And how do you choose the designs?
01:57Are you guided by tradition or do you create new styles?
02:00Well, it depends.
02:01There are some masks that have certain iconographies.
02:05But then there are many masks that are, you know, fantasy based.
02:08Or they are inspired by books, by films and so on.
02:12Beautifully hand painted, many masks are playful.
02:16Others are slightly macabre and unsettling.
02:19The result is a wonderful, albeit weird world.
02:22But who wore them and why?
02:24Well, at the time of the Republic of Venice, in the past centuries, everybody could wear a mask.
02:30Nobles and commoners to hide their identity.
02:33Then there are other masks for carnival that everybody could wear as well.
02:37That could have been any kind of mask.
02:41Now, from this family of mask makers here in Venice, let's uncover another ancient craft in China.
02:49Igor, over to you.
03:00The Miao are one of China's oldest ethnic groups.
03:04In the misty mountains of western Hunan, they weave their stories in thread and collar.
03:09The Miao's oldest
03:26This is a very beautiful piece of art.
03:33I know that art has no words,
03:35but would you like to use this way to
03:37put your own worldview and value into it?
03:41We use the art of art,
03:43to record some important things in the past 5,000 years.
03:49For example,
03:50we can see two traces of water.
03:55The two traces of water in the past 5,000 years.
03:59After the last few days,
04:01we have used the black, the brown and the long term.
04:04These are two traces of water.
04:06It's not a white or a white,
04:08but there are two traces of water.
04:12The traces of water in our history
04:17are about 300 hundred and many different kinds.
04:22In the Miao tradition, a wedding dress may take three generations to complete.
04:34A single thread runs through time, binding together the hearts of grandmother, mother and daughter.
04:41Their hands move at different moments in life, yet their stitches meet on the same piece of cloth.
04:52A single thread is used to keep the cost of all of them jÄ… come to dress her.
05:02At long times we have been carrying out thedırms ofahan they do the same kind of clothing so that we have filled their fian отдель given an old house.
05:15So let her dress in the fairway and possibilities in a household.
05:19So the red is actually the color of festivity in China.
05:29So back in the day, the wedding dress was actually not white.
05:33It was red because red was always like shining with happiness.
05:49Generations ago, the Miao people carried their embroidery into the mountains, preserving
06:01color and memory through time.
06:04Now through Yihua's hands, these threads of tradition journey outward again, sharing their
06:10story with the world.
06:19The tales of Venetian explorer Marco Polo, written some 700 years ago, are the first
06:30European account of the Orient.
06:33But to what extent were Venice's links already forged with the Far East and China before his
06:37journey there?
06:39Could the city's symbol tell us more?
06:41Gilberto, what have you discovered?
06:44We think we discovered that the lion is Chinese.
06:47The original copper that was used for casting is from China.
06:52And what does this discovery mean for our understanding of Venetian history and Venice's connections
06:59with the wider world?
07:00Well, the lion was up there when Marco Polo left.
07:03He saw it up there.
07:05As a matter of fact, we think that, you know, given the aesthetics and the shape of the casting,
07:12it was probably of time period, so it goes back to at least 400 years or 300 years before
07:18Marco Polo left.
07:20Do we have any idea how it got here?
07:23No.
07:24But we know that the Silk Roads, not only the road ones, but also the maritime one, were
07:30open way before.
07:32So there were clearly exchanges to Southeast Asia and China.
07:36So made in China, but a very long time ago, absolutely.
07:45From the wonders of Venice to the beauty of Hunan province, what a fantastic journey it's
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