In Venice and western Hunan, China, artisans are keeping centuries-old crafts alive - from mask-making to Miao embroidery - preserving tradition in a rapidly modernising world.
Once one of the richest cities on Earth, Venice was for centuries the pre-eminent centre of East–West exchange, a legacy still visible in its art and symbolism.
At Ca’ Macana, mask-maker Davide Belloni preserves the ancient Venetian craft of hand-sculpted masks, blending historic iconography with modern fantasy designs. For centuries, masks gave Venetians the power to conceal identity and class - and today they remain a vivid expression of creativity.
Across the world in China’s Hunan Province, Yegor Shyshov, host of Inheritors on CGTN, meets Yi Hua, a Miao embroidery artisan. In Miao culture, wedding dresses are woven with blessings passed down through generations, “a family’s love stitched in red,” Yi explains. Every pattern tells a story, preserving memory and migration through colour and form.
Back in Venice, new research by Professor Gilberto Artioli of the University of Padua has uncovered an unexpected connection between the two worlds: chemical analysis suggests that Venice’s most famous symbol - the Lion of Saint Mark - was cast using copper from China, dating back hundreds of years before Marco Polo’s travels.
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