Handmade products give trade fair global appeal

"This is my first time to the Fuzhou fair. We brought traditional thangka that can be hung on the wall and creative cultural items, such as miniature pendants with thangka elements and framed paintings made of leaves," Jiaobata says.

He says he was a bit surprised by the frequent inquiries coming his way at the fair.

"It shows that people at home and abroad have taken an interest in our culture," Jiaobata says, adding that many of his customers are artists and collectors abroad.

It usually takes a local thangka artist two to three months to finish a piece of work, which conveys vivid Buddhist elements in bright colors.

Jiaobata says the positive market response has given more confidence to local craftsmen in the field in carrying on their traditional labor.

Handiwork has been a very popular category in cross-border e-commerce trade, says Huang Chaoying, in charge of communications with the fair.

According to the General Administration of Customs, the country's cross-border e-commerce export and import trade reached 2.11 trillion yuan in 2022, up 9.8 percent. The export value stood at 1.55 trillion yuan, up 11.7 percent.

"There is an evident rising craze for Chinese cultural items overseas," Huang says.

He adds that the fair attracted more than 100 handiwork enterprises this year, which are engaged in various fields of production, including ceramics, bamboo and woods, and paper art.

"A considerable number of them feature special characteristics of Chinese culture," he says.

Players from more than 60 industries across the country, as well as cross-border e-commerce service providers from home and abroad, showed what they have to offer at the fair, which saw the intended transaction value reach more than $4 billion, according to the organizing committee.