00:00There's nowhere quite like Venice.
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
07:49been through centuries of art and craft.
07:52Until the next time, thanks for watching.
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