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"Preserving artifacts, reviving craftsmanship", a project supported by the Postgraduate Education Support Group of SCNU, won the 5th Chinese Youth Volunteer Service Project Competition.
The ethnic minorities in Guizhou Province, in the southwest of China, have preserved a profound cultural heritage. Tie-dyeing and batik are both excellent examples of cultural traditional craftmanship of the Buyi ethnic minority people. ethnic memories need to be awakened. Ceheng and Luodian County in Guizhou Province, where many of the Buyi people live, were once national-level poverty-stricken counties. After moving from the mountainous areas, the local people found little employment to sustain themselves, and the need to introduce some form of industry arose to stimulate economic growth. The choice fell on the revitalization of ancient traditional craftmanship, as an excellent way to prolong and preserve the cultural traditions of the textile dyeing and creating local employment.
A project supported by postgraduate volunteers in the Postgraduate Education Support Group of SCNU was carried out in response to the national rural revitalization strategy. The team adopted the method of combining the protection of intangible heritage and poverty alleviation to preserve the traditional craftsmanship of the region. They made the most of their professional knowledge, used WeChat or other self-media platforms to spread information about the Buyi heritage nationwide. They made a plan to help villagers adapt to urban life and organized job trainings for them. The project has injected fresh blood into the traditional Buyi dyeing industry, and realize national cultural innovation, greatly promoting re-employment in the region. By making joint efforts, the two counties were officially declared as having been alleviated from poverty by March 2020.
The volunteers develop great relationship with the residents.
Dai Jiayao, one of the gold medal winning project members, recalled that during the "Preserving artifacts, reviving craftsmanship" volunteer service project, he and his teammates had put "teaching the students and serving the people" into practice. This allowed him to see the power of voluntary service features "a droplet of good deeds returning to the sea" and inspired him to continue with the voluntary work, tapping his potential and realizing his self-worth in voluntary service.
The volunteers get along well with the kids.
Another project member, Guo Qiqi, said that education is like one cloud moving another cloud, one tree brushing against another tree, one soul awakening another soul. In the process of volunteering, they are not only teaching and helping others, but also self-teaching and self-helping. In the process of serving, she can truly realize the country's assistance to poverty-stricken areas and experience strength by volunteering. The volunteers of the project let the young participants to re-capture their own minority culture and build up cultural self-confidence. While doing so, they themselves are also constantly growing.
The team member is talking with the young participants.
This year, SCNU had five volunteer projects entering the finals of the Chinese Youth Volunteer Service Project Competition. Apart from the project "Preserving artifacts, reviving craftsmanship" which won the gold medal in the competition, the other four projects: "Bauhinia Cloud Companion" (a youth on-line education service project), "Unitary Classroom" (a Chinese classics education service), "Children Warmed by Love and Accompanied by Sunshine" (a weekend-accompanying project special education students in Changdu), and "Goodbye! Little Infectious Disease Monster" (an action plan for health promotion of children in farmer and herdsman families) won silver medals each.
The list of the award-winninng projects.
The Chinese Youth Volunteer Service Project Competition, known as a national conference to exchange volunteer experience, aiming to promote the innovative development of voluntary service, is the highest-level, most widely participated and most influential activity in the field of volunteering services in China.
SCNU has long attached great importance to voluntary work by students, offering many volunteer-related activities such as the Postgraduate Education Support Group of SCNU, the Medal Volunteer Selection, and the Volunteer Cultural Festival to enhance students’ enthusiasm for volunteering.
Written by Long Yuchen, Chen Menghan
Proofread by Edwin Baak
Edited by Li Jianru
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