Liu Yang, who established a company to promote the heritage of Shanxi province [Photo/Wechat account shidaixinren]
Shanxi Yijiangtianxia, a company focused on the spread of Shanxi's intangible cultural heritage, went public at Shanxi Equity Exchange Center on Dec 29, 2017.
Liu Yang, the 29-year-old owner of the enterprise has made videos to promote Shanxi's intangible culture heritage for more than a year.
"I studied game production at the Communication University of Shanxi and worked at a media enterprise for one year," said Liu.
In 2012, he worked at a school to teach video production. One year later, he left school and started developing an APP to provide local services.
"We failed and suffered losses of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,625). But we didn't give up because we learned a lot," said Liu.
Afterwards they made two films about intangible culture heritage which proved extremely popular.
With an investment of 400,000 yuan, Liu Yang and his partners founded Shanxi Yijiangtianxia in April 2016.
Liu tried to work with the protection center of intangible cultural heritage under Shanxi Provincial Department of Culture.
According to the department, more than 700 items were listed as intangible cultural heritage in Shanxi, including 116 of national importance, and 403 at the provincial level.
"Shanxi province boasts rich intangible cultural heritage which is just waiting to be explored. We are confident we can help these items win national and international recognition," said Liu, adding that the local government has been providing strong support.
At present, Liu Yang and his team have made over 50 videos with the help of the provincial protection center of intangible cultural heritage.
The viedo about Pingtao cloth shoes made by Liu Yang's company is popular on the social media platform Sina Weibo.[Photo/sina.com.cn]
Their videos about items like Pingyao cloth shoes and Taigu pastry won wide acclaim among netizens, especially among craftspeople skilled in practices that have been designated items of intangible cultural heritage.
"The video about Shenchi mooncake is much like the documentary A bite of China. It attracted much attention online and helped me increase sales of mooncake. It is a more practical way to preserve intangible cultural heritage," said Lv Xiaozhong, who makes traditional Shenchi mooncake –– an item of provincial intangible cultural heritage in Shanxi.
Liu plans to open online and offline stores to sell traditional products, helping more craftspeople earn a living.
According to him, more products such as documentaries about Shanxi and a micro video platform are currently in the pipeline.
He also plans to film 500 more videos and organize exhibitions in the next three years, making a further contribution to promoting Shanxi culture to the world.
