The tale of small city: a youngster playing trick of mud in the county town becomes a celebrity of intangible heritage on the Internet with 6 million fans  

2024.07.24

Henan Business Daily : The tale of small city: a youngster playing trick of mud in the county town becomes a celebrity of intangible heritage on the Internet with 6 million fans  

Xunxian Clay Sculpture is also known as “clay cuckoo”, which is produced by using the clay from the Yellow River as the raw materials with sophisticated craftmanship. Its long history made it listed as one of the first batch of China's national intangible heritages in 2006. Nowadays, an emerging opportunity arises for this traditional artwork through the hands of the youngsters. With the help of Kuaishou platform, “Muddy Man” not only earns his living “on his doorsteps”, but also leads his fellow villagers to become prosperous together and promotes the craftmanship of “clay cuckoo”, an intangible heritage of Xun Prefecture with a thousand years of history, to the whole PRC and the world as well. So far, “Muddy Man” helped his fellow villagers sell more than 200,000 clay sculptures on Kuaishou platform. “Kuaishou Intangible Heritage Ecosystem Report 2024” indicated that the total revenue per person of the creators on Kuaishou platform who possess craftmanship of intangible heritages recorded a year-on-year increase of 55%, with the highest annual revenue recorded exceeding RMB8 million. Short videos and live streaming provide opportunities for successors of intangible heritage craftmanship to earn through their own skills with dignity.