Celebrate Christmas this year with a Chongqing cultural flavour.
These locally made artisanal products make ideal gifts for the festive season.
Hechuan gorge ink stone
合川峡砚
Hechuan gorge ink stone has been in use for thousands of years, with the earliest dating from the third century B.C. Their design allows writers to create their own ink by rubbing an ink stick into water on the sloping surface to produce a small well of ink at the lower part of the slope.
Hechuan gorge ink stone is carved from the stone found in Libi gorge section of the Jialing river. The stone can only be found in the mountainous area around Maliu village in Caojie town on the east bank of the gorge.
Liangping blue printed cloth
梁平蓝印花布
Liangping blue printed fabric is hand-hollowed out into a variety of patterns on the special oil paper plate, covered in cotton, linen, cloth handmade textile, scraping plaster mud to dry, and then put into the local specialty of indigon-soil liquid immersion, the blue background white flower cloth are printed.
Rongchang pottery
荣昌陶器
Rongchang pottery originated from Anfu town, Rongchang district, Chongqing. Before the Qing dynasty, known as the magnetic kiln, there are historical evidence of pottery first appeared in the Han dynasty, the Ming and Qing dynasties have been widely developed, reached its peak in the 1970s; more than 100 years ago, they were sold to southeast Asia; from the 1960s, they were sold to the United States, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Japan and other countries.
Dragon and phoenix candle
龙凤花烛
In Chinese culture, the dragon and the phoenix represent good luck and happiness. These handmade candles are a traditional part of Chongqing’s Tujia and Miao ethnic groups.
The family Rao’s peachstone carving
重庆饶氏桃核雕刻
First developed by Rao Sunmo in Shimen town, Jiangjin in the Qing dynasty, traditional subjects include birds and animals or people even stories depending on the shape of the peach stones.
Traditional gold mosaic art
花丝镶嵌
Fine gold mosaic, also referred to as flower inlay, was once a traditional craft used in royal jewelry. The base is usually gold, silver, or copper, and is then worked into elaborate shapes and patterns, as well as inlaid gems and pearls.