Applied arts are a treasure of Chinese civilization and an integral part of China’s outstanding traditional culture. They embody the intellectual wisdom and practical experience of the Chinese nation, and their diverse forms and techniques are renowned worldwide. The applied arts industry encompasses the production of artworks such as sculptures, drawn-thread embroidery, and jewelry. In this new era and on this new journey, these guidelines are formulated to promote the active adaptation of the applied arts industry to the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and to achieve the inheritance, innovation, and development of the sector.
I. General Requirements
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Grounded in the new stage of development, we will fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy and adhere to the “two combinations,”firmly uphold cultural confidence; take protection, inheritance, innovation, and development as the fundamental approach; regard serving the people’s better life as the ultimate goal; give equal emphasis to cultural inheritance and industrial upgrading; deeply explore cultural connotations and contemporary value; vigorously implement the strategy of “expanding product varieties, improving quality, and creating brands”; promote the digital, green, and integrated development of the arts and crafts industry; and build an arts and crafts industrial ecosystem with stronger innovation capacity, higher added value, and greater sustainability.
Preservation and Development: Upholding Tradition while Innovating. We will accurately grasp the relationship between preservation and utilization, as well as between inheritance and innovation, always prioritizing preservation. We will strengthen the exploration and transmission of outstanding traditional crafts and skills, promote the research, development, and appropriate application of new materials, technologies, and processes, stimulate the vitality of innovation and creation, and enhance the industry’s core competitiveness.
Adapt to Local Conditions and Highlight Distinctive Features. Building on regional resource endowments and comparative advantages, we will adhere to a “one industry, one policy” approach to support and strengthen local distinctive arts and crafts industries. We will establish an industrial development pattern characterized by distinct features, differentiated development, functional synergy, and complementary strengths, thereby promoting coordinated regional development.
Market-led, government-driven. Fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation to stimulate enterprises’ intrinsic motivation. Strengthen top-level design and policy coordination, enhance the provision of various production factors and the development of public service systems, optimize the industrial development environment, and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of the industry.
By 2030, the comprehensive innovation capacity of the arts and crafts industry will be significantly enhanced, with stable growth in industry scale. The levels of digitalization, green development, and convergence, as well as the capacity to ensure the supply of production factors, will be markedly improved, and the role of the industry in expanding domestic demand and stimulating consumption will be further highlighted.We will establish 50 distinctive arts and crafts industrial clusters characterized by rational layout, high concentration, and sound service systems; support 100 leading enterprises with high market recognition, strong innovation capabilities, and distinct competitive advantages; cultivate 100 regional brands with strong consumer-leading capabilities; create 500 innovative arts and crafts product cases; select a group of arts and crafts masters who excel in both moral integrity and artistic skill and lead industry development; and launch a series of new,masterpieces, and rare treasures, thereby providing strong support for enhancing the nation’s cultural soft power and influence.
II. Strengthen the Protection of Craft Techniques and Accelerate the Revitalization of Traditional Crafts
(1) Strengthen the protection of traditional craftsmanship. Encourage the implementation of categorized protection for traditional crafts. For skills facing difficulties in transmission or lacking practical applications in modern life, intensify efforts to document and preserve them, encourage transmission practices, conduct dynamic monitoring, and assist in expanding their applications in modern life. For skills with strong transmission traditions and significant market potential, support publicity and exhibitions, brand promotion, and technical upgrades, and encourage them to play a leading and exemplary role.Encourage enterprises to strengthen the preservation of traditional crafts, focusing on the collection, preservation, and archiving of physical materials such as tools, materials, and works, and utilizing modern exhibition and information dissemination technologies to promote social sharing. Strengthen research on traditional craft techniques themselves and their contemporary value, and promote the research and application of theories and technologies.
(2) Strengthen the Development and Revitalization of Traditional Crafts. Cultivate leading traditional arts and crafts enterprises with core competitiveness. Support their comprehensive mastery and application of core traditional techniques and key technologies. While preserving traditional formulas and processes, encourage the use of modern production technologies and management methods to improve production efficiency. Encourage traditional arts and crafts enterprises to distinguish between handcrafted and machine-produced items, establish dedicated handcrafted production lines, pursue innovation and development, enhance the value of handcrafted products, diversify product categories, cultivate high-end brands, and meet diverse consumer demands.Support traditional arts and crafts enterprises in fully exploring the cultural significance of traditional crafts and the spirit of craftsmanship, effectively telling the stories of handmade products, and enhancing brand value.
III. Strengthening Innovation-Driven Development to Promote Industrial Upgrading
(3) Promote Product Innovation and Upgrading. Enhance the industry’s industrial design capabilities; integrate modern lifestyles and production methods to accelerate the innovative transformation of design concepts, artistic styles, and practical value in arts and crafts, thereby promoting the widespread application of arts and crafts products in modern life. Incorporate elements such as ethnic-specific craftsmanship, cultural symbolism, patterns, and structural forms into product creation and production to elevate the cultural and artistic value of products.Explore pilot initiatives for integrated innovation within the arts and crafts sector to enrich themes and product varieties, and promote the integrated development of the sector with cultural tourism, cultural and creative industries, brand licensing, digital empowerment, technological innovation, and rural revitalization. By integrating elements of "national trends," "domestic animation," "traditional aesthetics," and "national treasures," develop a range of innovative and creative products to drive product iteration and upgrading.
[Column 1] Product Iteration, Innovation, and Upgrading Project for Key Industries
Sculptural Crafts. Expand the application of artistic stone carving and crystal engraving in the architecture and decoration sectors; develop wood carving crafts and antique-style furniture; and create a variety of traditional carved crafts, including bamboo carving, ivory carving, brick carving, and inkstone engraving.
Natural Plant Fiber Woven Crafts. Prioritize the development of straw and rattan products, distinguishing between handcrafted and machine-produced items. While preserving traditional techniques, reasonably utilize mechanized processing methods to promote product designs that combine willow, rattan, and bamboo strips with other materials.
Openwork Embroidery and Lace Crafts. Protect the traditional craftsmanship of openwork embroidery and lace products, and promote the integration of manual and automated techniques. Focusing on traditional silk crafts, develop embroidered apparel, home decor, and tourism products across various price points. Expand the distinctive styles of woven carpets in terms of materials, techniques, and patterns, and develop a diverse range of products in multiple varieties and colors.
Metal and Jewelry Crafts. Emphasize the artisanal value of metal and jewelry crafts; research and develop continuous and automated production equipment to improve the precision of mechanical processing for metal crafts and jewelry. Promote the inheritance and development of specialized metal crafts such as cloisonné and filigree inlay. Enhance the quality of jewelry, diversify styles, and vigorously develop inlaid jewelry for high-end markets such as weddings and festivals.
Ceramic crafts. Promote the integration of traditional Chinese and international cultural elements in both daily-use and artistic ceramics, aligning product design with modern consumer and aesthetic demands; preserve and pass on the artistic characteristics of renowned kilns across the country, and develop cultural ceramic products.
Lacquerware. Preserve the traditional styles of distinctive lacquerware art products; combine modern elements and fashion themes to develop personalized decorative series that also serve practical functions; innovatively apply modern technological achievements to promote techniques and equipment such as automatic decal application and screen printing.
Ethnic and Folk Arts and Crafts. Develop distinctive arts and crafts such as ethnic clothing, musical instruments, textiles and embroidery, daily utensils, and religious artifacts. Promote the application of silk flowers and figures, lanterns and decorative lights, glassware, kites, woodblock New Year prints, clay figurines, paper cutting, and woven flowers in modern life.
(4) Strengthen the upgrading of craft equipment. Support the establishment of a number of platforms for the inheritance and innovative development of traditional arts and crafts, and enhance the exploration, systematization, systematic documentation, and scientific research of traditional craft techniques. Support enterprises in intensifying efforts to explore and pass down traditional product-making techniques; while preserving traditional formulas, processes, and core skills, explore the research and application of specialized systems and equipment such as computer-aided design (CAD); and facilitate craft innovation through equipment upgrades, process improvements, and breakthroughs in key technologies.Strengthen the promotion and application of energy-saving equipment and technologies to achieve pollution reduction, carbon emission reduction, and green, energy-efficient development.
[Column 2] New Technology Promotion and Application Project
Sculpture Craftsmanship. Explore the application of new cutting, mold manufacturing, contouring, and dust-proofing technologies.
Artisanal Furniture. Adopt new wood drying technologies, intelligent control systems, high-speed, high-precision light machining, and simulated carving techniques.
Metal Crafts. Adopt “non-contact” inkjet printing technology, welding technology, nano-spray plating, new metal chemical plating and novel surface treatment technologies, as well as new metal material application technologies.
Artistic Floral Arrangements. Adopt new eco-friendly materials and processing technologies for raw and auxiliary materials.
Natural Plant Fiber Weaving. Adopting new drying and sterilization technologies, extraction and processing technologies for plant roots, stems, vines, and fibers, hardening technologies for woven products made from hemp and grasses, and molded forming technologies for woven products.
Ajour Embroidery. Utilizes new technologies such as computer-aided pattern design and weaving, dye formulation, and laser positioning and tracking.
Carpets and Tapestries. Utilizes advanced carpet weaving and post-processing equipment, with extensive application of material modification technologies.
Jewelry and Accessories. Utilizes precision casting technologies (including gem-setting electroforming, gold electroforming, imitation gold electroforming, and resin mold electroforming), surface treatment technologies (electrochemical dyeing), automated chain-making technologies, and laser applications.
Artistic Ceramics. Utilizing digital technologies and equipment such as 3D printing, laser engraving, and controlled firing atmosphere temperature, while promoting the adoption of new intelligent, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly kilns and innovative glaze applications.
(5) Strengthen the conservation, development, and utilization of raw materials. Deeply explore distinctive and outstanding arts and crafts resources across various regions. For arts and crafts categories involving natural and scarce raw materials, strengthen the conservation, development, and comprehensive utilization of raw materials. Prioritize support for arts and crafts projects with strong heritage preservation, significant market potential, and diverse application scenarios. Without compromising the protection and transmission of core techniques, develop alternative materials that are low-cost, readily available, and eco-friendly to enhance the capacity for securing raw material supplies.
[Column 3] Key Raw Material Conservation and Development Project
Sculpture. Protect and utilize carvable materials such as precious woods and jade, while developing new materials including carbon fiber, fiberglass, resin, and acrylic.
Artistic Furniture. Protect and utilize rare woods such as Huanghuali, rosewood, and padauk, and develop bamboo and wood composite materials.
Metal Crafts. Conduct research on alloy materials and apply materials such as nano-alloys, metal rubbers, and high-performance alloys.
Artistic Painting. Utilize environmentally friendly paper materials, plant fibers, natural dyes, and biodegradable synthetic organic pigments.
Natural Plant Fiber Weaving. Utilize natural fibers such as rattan, grass, coir, and bamboo, as well as polymeric synthetic materials, to develop biodegradable materials.
Ajour Embroidery. Utilizing natural fibers such as linen, cotton, and silk, as well as high-performance fibers and recycled fibers.
Carpets and tapestries. Utilizing natural fibers, blends of natural and synthetic fibers, and synthetic wool-like materials.
Jewelry. Protecting and utilizing precious stones and metals, as well as copper alloys, tin alloys, aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, lab-grown gemstones, and various new synthetic materials.
Artistic Ceramics. Preserve and utilize rare mineral clays such as kaolin, porcelain stone, and purple clay; develop healthy and eco-friendly ceramic clay formulations; and utilize new ceramic materials, lead-free glazes, and non-firing, non-toxic organic coatings.
(6) Enhance innovation support capabilities. Promote the establishment of stable innovation cooperation mechanisms between arts and crafts enterprises and universities, research institutes, and other institutions; guide creative design firms, design studios, and designers to provide creative design services to arts and crafts enterprises; and enhance enterprises’ original and independent design capabilities. Cultivate a group of industrial design innovation centers to support industry-wide design innovation. Support enterprises in establishing industrial innovation laboratories and research centers, strengthen R&D in key technologies and core technologies in emerging fields, and promote the commercialization of research outcomes.
IV. Strengthen Brand Development and Fully Unlock Industrial Value
(7) Strengthen corporate brand cultivation. Support enterprises in brand development and professional operations, promote the integrated development of product design, cultural creativity, technological innovation, and brand building, and deeply explore the cultural value and connotations of brands. Support leading brand enterprises in strengthening technological upgrades and R&D innovation, cultivate a group of century-old brand enterprises, and support eligible enterprises in applying for the “Time-Honored Chinese Brands” and “National Cultural Industry Demonstration Bases” designations to help enterprises grow stronger, better, and larger.Implement a support program for arts and crafts brands to create a group of national gift brands and expand a group of “national trend” brands, thereby enriching the product and brand portfolio to meet diverse and personalized consumer demands. Support the integrated development of domestic brands with international elements, strengthen international brand cooperation to achieve resource sharing and complementary advantages, and enhance global brand competitiveness.
(8) Strengthen regional brand development. Highlight local industrial characteristics, explore regional cultural connotations, leverage the roles of local governments and regional public service institutions, strengthen the registration and management of collective trademarks and certification trademarks, and enhance the protection of products with geographical indications to reinforce regional brand development.We will continue to promote the development of “industrial heritage” and “characteristic towns,” encourage “time-honored brands” to uphold tradition while innovating, organize exhibitions and sales events as well as online and offline promotional activities, intensify publicity for high-quality specialty products, and enhance the influence of regional brands. We will encourage third-party institutions to strengthen services such as brand planning, evaluation, and promotion, promote the internationalization of regional brands, and enhance their global influence.
V. Strengthening Industrial Cluster Development and Enhancing Industrial Competitiveness
(9) Strengthen the Cultivation of Business Entities. Encourage arts and crafts enterprises to produce high-value, personalized, and customized handmade products, and to uphold the spirit of craftsmanship that strives for perfection. Guide small and medium-sized arts and crafts enterprises to deepen their focus on core businesses, target niche markets, and achieve differentiated development. Support arts and crafts workshops seeking transformation in their transition toward corporate structures, and assist in the modernization of traditional production methods and management models to boost production efficiency.Cultivate a group of leading enterprises with strong independent innovation capabilities and distinct competitive advantages, leveraging their aggregation and spillover effects to drive the development of SMEs across the industrial chain.
(10) Promote Industrial Agglomeration and Efficiency. Through coordinated planning and scientific layout, with leading enterprises at the core, strengthen the construction of integrated public service platforms covering raw material supply, R&D of craftsmanship and technology, product design, standard formulation and revision, and testing and certification, to drive the transformation and upgrading of arts and crafts industrial clusters.In conjunction with the implementation of the new urbanization and rural revitalization strategies, identify a range of arts and crafts categories with development potential that contribute to enriching the people, creating employment, and revitalizing the regional economy. Establish a number of arts and crafts innovation and development clusters to empower rural revitalization through handicrafts, promote the development of distinctive and branded handicrafts, and cultivate traditional craft products and brands with ethnic and regional characteristics.Innovate specialized markets by developing comprehensive or integrated markets that combine the wholesale of raw and auxiliary materials, processing, retail, exhibitions, appreciation, warehousing, transportation, and foreign trade.
VI. Strengthen Digital Applications and Create Diverse Consumer Scenarios
(11) Promote new models of digital application. Establish a public service platform for digital design to aggregate cross-industry design resources, strengthen the alignment of design with product demand, and facilitate personalized customization and flexible production. Launch initiatives to collect digital resources of traditional crafts and support the construction of a digital repository for traditional craft resources.Fully leverage technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to advance the development of digital and cloud museums. Develop digital artworks featuring major representative achievements, craftsmanship techniques, and traditional arts and crafts of the industry, and promote the digital generation and transformation of traditional craft culture. Develop smart marketing models by utilizing e-commerce platforms, internet entrepreneurship platforms, and trading platforms to drive the transformation of traditional manufacturing models toward demand-driven and supply chain-coordinated approaches.
(12) Expand practical applications and consumption scenarios. Promote cross-industry integration, strengthen the creative transformation of cultural elements and craft varieties in arts and crafts, and increase their integrated application in areas such as social gifts, tourism cultural and creative products, apparel, and fashionable home furnishings. Expand the scope of application for arts and crafts products, and vigorously develop practical arts and crafts display items and decorative pieces for industries such as product packaging, interior decoration, architectural decoration, and environmental design.Innovate methods for displaying arts and crafts products, as well as retail settings and sales channels. Support the placement of arts and crafts products in supermarkets, shopping malls, and shopping areas in high-speed rail stations and airports. Encourage the use of new business models such as online sales, live-streamed sales, and experiential retail to offer services including private ordering, personalized customization, group purchasing, and limited-time auctions, thereby stimulating product consumption.
(13) Promote the display and experience of arts and crafts culture. Focusing on consumption sectors such as culture, tourism, and commerce, integrate arts and crafts culture into urban public cultural spaces and create complementary distinctive consumption scenarios. Enhance the effectiveness of urban public cultural services through urban public landscapes, regional festivals, and distinctive city souvenirs.Encourage the establishment of arts and crafts creative hubs and traditional culture experience centers within tourism experience bases, distinctive villages, towns, and neighborhoods, as well as within 15-minute convenience living zones. Innovate cultural consumption scenarios and enhance the experiential value of products. Regularly organize academic exchanges, industry forums, exhibitions, and hands-on craft workshops to enrich the supply of arts and crafts products and expand the arts and crafts consumer market.
VII. Strengthen Policy Support and Foster a Favorable Development Environment
(14) Increase fiscal and financial policy support. Fully implement fiscal, tax, and financial policies to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.Encourage budgetary units to procure arts and crafts products with local cultural characteristics. Encourage local governments to establish special funds based on the development needs of their local arts and crafts industries, strengthen support for endangered craft varieties, and improve supporting policies. Leverage the role of the National Industry-Finance Cooperation Platform and relevant local policies to guide financial institutions in innovating financial products and services, increase support for technological upgrades and design innovation in arts and crafts enterprises, and enhance the industry’s development efficiency. Guide various market-oriented funds to support the innovative development of arts and crafts enterprises.
(15) Strengthen public service capabilities. Accelerate the improvement of the arts and crafts industry standards system. Based on the different types and grades of arts and crafts products, systematically identify industry standard requirements, develop standards for areas with shortages, and revise outdated standards to enhance the supply of standards and promote standardized market order. Support the establishment of intellectual property rapid rights protection centers and product traceability and anti-counterfeiting management service systems. Improve services such as intellectual property protection, individual patent applications, trademark registration, and legal aid to enhance industrial service capabilities.Study and implement the identification of traditional arts and crafts varieties, techniques, and rare artifacts to promote the protection and inheritance of traditional arts and crafts.
(16) Strengthen the development of the talent system. Further refine and optimize the evaluation mechanism for Masters of Arts and Crafts, enhance publicity and management of these masters, and increase their social influence. Support opportunities for representatives of intangible cultural heritage and Masters of Arts and Crafts to participate in academic seminars, technical exchanges, and major national projects that help improve their skills and abilities, fostering skilled artisans and master craftsmen who uphold tradition while innovating and who excel in both moral character and artistic achievement.Support the recognition of Master of Arts and Crafts studios, and encourage these studios to establish practical training bases in collaboration with enterprises and educational institutions to lead new trends in industrial innovation and design. Organize advanced training courses and workshops for the arts and crafts industry to enhance practitioners’ theoretical knowledge and creative capabilities. Support traditional arts and crafts enterprises in establishing talent development programs to cultivate reserve talent proficient in core techniques, and encourage their participation in major production decision-making consultations and significant technological innovations to promote the transmission of rare and exceptional skills from predecessors through practical production.Support cooperation between arts and crafts enterprises and various educational institutions and research organizations to cultivate skilled professionals, applied multidisciplinary talents, and top-tier innovative talents across multiple dimensions and levels. Improve the evaluation system for arts and crafts talent to provide a solid foundation for talent selection in the industry.
(17) Promote domestic and international exchange and cooperation. Through various channels such as the internet and new media platforms, intensify efforts to publicize the contemporary value of traditional crafts and the achievements of their preservation. Promote the integration of traditional crafts into schools and communities to foster a favorable social environment for their inheritance and development.Strengthen the creation of high-quality literary and artistic works, diversify brand promotion channels, and innovate brand-led publicity. Enhance international exchange and cooperation; encourage enterprises to actively participate in international exhibitions; support the organization of trade promotion events such as “Colorful China: Festive Treasures”; and promote arts and crafts products with Chinese characteristics. Support industrial clusters in actively participating in the “Belt and Road” Initiative; leverage the service platform role of national cultural trade bases; provide service support for the international development of enterprises; and promote the “going global” of Chinese arts and crafts brands.
Local authorities responsible for industry and information technology, human resources and social security, and culture and tourism may, in accordance with the requirements of these guidelines and based on local conditions, formulate specific implementation plans or supporting policy measures suitable for the development of the arts and crafts industry in their respective regions. Regular and dynamic evaluations should be conducted, with a focus on utilizing feedback from evaluation results and promptly summarizing and promoting successful policy experiences. The role of industry organizations should be leveraged to provide services for enterprise exchange and cooperation, talent development, exhibitions and sales, and data analysis.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security
Ministry of Culture and Tourism
July 17, 2024
