Speech-paper1

It is my honor and privilege to stand here at this time and give an address to something
important.

It is seem that Chinese traditional culture is being exported directly. For example, the poems and
costumes of traditional Chinese culture have been spread out through film and television works.

But is this the case? Think it over. Can you still see some handcrafts full of childhood memories,
like candy sculpture in the streets? How many traditional handicrafts are included in the list of
intangible cultural heritage?

Take a very typical example. Jingdezhen, the ceramic capital of China, has been producing
ceramics since the Han Dynasty. Nevertheless, more and more people are using ceramics to
create wealth, without really studying and restoring it. I went to Jingdezhen with my friends a few
years ago because of its fame. However, I felt very disappointed because the textures of ceramics
are very rough.

Why is that? Why are the traditional crafts that used to flourish disappearing from our lives step
by step? Now I would like to briefly talk about three reasons of the disappearance of traditional
crafts.

Firstly, most people want to spend less money to buy something they would like to have, and no
longer care about the quality of the product. For example, in the face of a small bottle of single
color pigment for thirty dollars and a large box of various colors for thirty dollars, most people
would choose the latter.

Secondly, the fast-paced and fragmented life is a challenge for artisans to stick with. Changing of
raw materials and the shorten of steps are adaptions to the age. Take food as example, more and
more "inauthentic food" gradually covered the entire market. Let's talk about rose cake, it takes
long time to make homemade rose sauce. So most businesses choose to use ready-made rose
sauce to make the cakes, or even mix it with a rougher sauce to save time.

Thirdly, the aesthetic orientation of artworks is gradually becoming single. Think about it, do you
prefer exquisitely made but uniformly compiled products, or handcrafts with slightly rough?
Again, most people would choose the former. Thus, the absence of flaws becomes the mark of
beauty, and the traditional crafts are gradually replaced by high technologies.

Thus we can see, the appearance of crafts related to three causes:

(1) The pursuit of low prices
(2) The conflict between fast-paced life and slow process.
(3) The perfectionism of the masses
As I conclude this speech, I would like to let you guys think more about the direction of
traditional handicrafts and the survival of traditional craftsmen. What’s more, as consumers, we
should update our consumer tastes, and learn to appreciate the beauty of tradition and nature
contained in handcrafts. In this way, culture can be better passed on.

Thank you.