四川竹编 (Sìchuān Zhú Biān)
Sichuan bamboo weaving (四川竹编) encompasses both utilitarian basketry and an extraordinary fine-art tradition: weaving silk-thin bamboo strips over ceramic or glass forms to create a fitted bamboo skin so fine it is translucent — the ceramic form is visible through the woven bamboo surface. The fine-art tradition (瓷胎竹编 cí tāi zhú biān — porcelain-body bamboo weave) requires splitting a single bamboo strip to a thickness of 0.1–0.2mm, then weaving it over a ceramic vessel without adhesive, the bamboo tension alone holding the woven skin in place. This is among the most technically demanding material processes in the database — at 0.1mm, the bamboo strip is thinner than most human hair.
Risk level: Endangered · China National ICH List (2008)
The hand carving and painting of mahjong tiles.
Printing from cast lead-alloy Chinese type: the compositor picks individual characters from type cases, sets them on a rack, locks the forme and prints on a hand-fed or automatic platen press.
The hand making of round bamboo steamer baskets for Cantonese cooking, from splitting Luo bamboo into flat strips to weaving the base and lid.
The hand painting of white porcelain with overglaze enamels and gold, fired a second time at low temperature in a kiln.
The hand making of the Cantonese bridal costume known as the kwan kwa, a two-piece red silk or satin outfit of jacket and skirt embroidered entirely by hand in gold and silver thread with auspicious motifs such as dragons, phoenixes,…
The shaping of hot sugar syrup into animals, mythical beasts and blown forms by pulling, pinching, cutting with scissors and blowing air through a straw into a sugar ball.
The hand-braiding and weaving of Panama's own native straw hat — genuinely made in Panama, unlike the internationally famous "Panama hat," which is in fact Ecuadorian — using bellota palm fiber for the base braid and a distinctive black…
A tradition of basket and hat weaving from the coastal and inland areas of Lazio — using rush, straw, and willow from the Pontine plain, the Tiber valley, and the coastal marshes — producing domestic baskets, hats, and decorative objects…
The hand-weaving of palm leaves into baskets, hats, mats, and cordage by artisans of Djerba, a small Mediterranean island off Tunisia's coast, dotted throughout with palm trees that supply the craft's raw material.
The making of the traditional bamboo bow (zhu) and arrow (da) used to play archery, Bhutan's national sport since 1971.
Miyako jōfu (宮古上布) is a ramie cloth from Miyakojima and Tarama, woven from hand-spliced yarn so fine that a single warp strand is split to about the width of a hair.
Yaeyama jōfu (八重山上布) is a fine ramie cloth from Ishigaki and Taketomi in the Yaeyama Islands, Japan's far southwest.