In each historical period of social development, arts and crafts reflected the advanced culture and art and the highest scientific and technological level at that time. Because of this, for thousands of years, our ancestors left the "national treasure" of arts and crafts to future generations.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party and the government have attached great importance to arts and crafts, actively adopted the policy of "protection, inheritance and development", and strongly encouraged arts and crafts artists and professional and technical personnel to innovate on the basis of inheriting the tradition, so as to make the arts and crafts park flourish.
In the new era of reform and opening up, people have a new understanding of arts and crafts, and the application scope of arts and crafts is more universal, direct and extensive. It is not only closely related to people's life, study and work, but also inseparable from arts and crafts in international communication, social affairs and folk communication, environment and decoration, living room and tourism.
Arts and crafts is a "sunrise industry" and a bright cause of building socialist spiritual civilization and material civilization.
If people love life, they must love arts and crafts.
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When it comes to arts and crafts, people seem familiar with it, but as far as its connotation is concerned, it is very profound. Arts and crafts is a kind of culture, a kind of history, and a "carrier" of history and culture. It can be said that since the emergence of human beings, there have been arts and crafts, which have emerged with human life and developed with social progress. This is confirmed by the evolution of human society.
As a part of art, arts and crafts are the "foundation" and "source" of art. It is an independent art category gradually formed after a long time. Arts and crafts are plastic arts and practical arts, characterized by tangible images. China Dictionary of Fine Arts (Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House) uses nouns to explain "arts and crafts". "One of the arts and crafts plastic arts. Arts and crafts that combine various artistic skills with practicality and have appreciation value. Therefore, it usually has duality; That is, material products also have different degrees of spiritual aesthetics. As a material product, it reflects the material culture and production level of a certain era and society; As a spiritual product, its visual image (modeling, color, decoration) also reflects the aesthetics of a certain era. Generally, it can be divided into two categories: first, daily handicrafts, that is, decorative and practical articles in life, such as some dyeing and weaving techniques, ceramic handicrafts, furniture techniques, etc. ; The second is the display technology, that is, the furnishings for appreciation, such as some sculptures, jade carvings, decorative paintings and so on. China's arts and crafts were made earlier, such as painted pottery in the Stone Age, carved white pottery before Shang Dynasty, and jade articles in Shang Dynasty. Realistic modeling and patterns show strong practicality and artistry. Due to the differences in historical period, geographical environment, economic conditions, cultural and technical level, national fashion and aesthetic standards, their productions often show different styles and characteristics. This can be said to be the basic definition of arts and crafts. In addition, the terminology in the book also gives a detailed explanation of folk crafts, special crafts, modern crafts, applied arts, arts and crafts, technical arts, design arts and so on.
1September, 983 In order to implement the State Council's Interim Provisions on Professional Titles of Arts and Crafts Cadres, according to the documentNo. (83) 16 of the Ministry of Light Industry, the examination subjects and evaluation opinions on evaluating the professional titles of arts and crafts cadres (professional and technical personnel) who do not have the required academic qualifications, the reference room of Zhejiang Arts and Crafts Research Institute compiled Professor Yan Lichuan's Brief History of China Art. People who specialize in the history of arts and crafts and those who love arts and crafts can watch it.
This paper simply expounds the application of arts and crafts in modern life.
(1) Arts and Crafts and Cultural Relics, Tourism and Collection
What is the relationship between arts and crafts, cultural relics and tourism? What's the connection between them? Especially in today's social development, what is the status and role of arts and crafts? The author made the following explanations at some seminars on the development of tourist souvenirs in our province:
A long history has created a splendid national culture. China arts and crafts is the most representative part of splendid culture, so it enjoys a high reputation in the world. From a historical perspective, arts and crafts are the precious heritage of national culture. Numerous handicrafts made by craftsmen at that time in the past dynasties have been buried deep underground, circulated among the people, destroyed by natural and man-made disasters, or stolen and sold abroad, and rarely survived, so they have a unified name: "cultural relics." These arts and crafts are not well preserved, so they are precious. Their manifestations include: bronzes, ceramics, sculptures (including brick carvings, wood carvings, clay sculptures, etc. ), lacquerware, jade, murals, colored paintings and even ancient buildings, thus attracting Chinese and foreign tourists to visit, visit, study and inspect as a cultural landscape. So what do you want to see when you travel? Look at cultural relics and historical sites, and look at the arts and crafts in cultural relics and historical sites. In fact, if you think about it carefully, it's not just bronzes, ceramics, sculptures, etc. And there are some cultural relics and ancient buildings that are magnified handicrafts. For example, the world-famous Saga Pagoda of Buddha Palace Temple in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province (commonly known as "Yingxian Wooden Pagoda"), the glazed Hongfei Pagoda of Guangsheng Temple in Hong Tong, the Big Tieniu of Pujin Ferry in Yongji Yellow River, and the Twin Towers in Taiyuan are all the same. Moreover, if brick carving, wood carving, stone carving and painting (and of course the connotation of Shanxi merchant culture) are removed from the courtyard of Shanxi merchants, wouldn't it be the Qiao Family Courtyard in Qixian County or the Lingshi Wang Family Courtyard? The artistic language of architecture is also inseparable from the dialogue with arts and crafts.
As we all know, Shanxi has the reputation of "China Ancient Art Museum" and "China Ancient Art Treasure House", with the most cultural relics on the ground and the richest underground cultural relics. It is said to be cultural relics and tourism resources, but it should actually be arts and crafts cultural resources. This obvious fact has often not been carefully considered by people in the past.
(two) arts and crafts and folk customs, clothing, packaging
Folk custom refers to different folk customs in different places, also known as folk customs. Customs often have national and local characteristics. As the saying goes, "ten miles is different from the wind." Folk activities and folk products are often closely related to arts and crafts. Some folk products are folk handicrafts and belong to arts and crafts. Therefore, folklore and arts and crafts have a "blood relationship". In 2002, the National Tourism Administration set the tourism theme as "China Folk Art Tour", in order to further promote China to the world by promoting folk customs and folk culture.
Arts and crafts are rooted in folk art, and there is the "source" of arts and crafts here. Many traditional cultures are the essence of the Chinese nation. People all know: "what is national is the world's". After visiting Xiangfen Ding Cun Folk Museum and Dingxiang Riverside Folk Museum, you will find that many folk handicrafts, such as paper-cutting, embroidery, dough sculpture, clay figurine, lanterns and weaving, are actually inseparable from the category of arts and crafts. What is more gratifying is that recently, "Chinese paper-cutting" was listed as "World Cultural Heritage" by UNESCO. The most famous folk paper-cuts in our province are Guangling, Fushan, Xiaoyi, Qixian, Xiangfen, Daixian, Xinjiang and Dingxiang, which are divided into two categories: single fight and dyeing. The editorial department of Shanxi Arts and Crafts and Shanxi Institute of Arts and Crafts jointly edited and published 1986 "Paper-cut Grand View of Shanxi". Mr. Zhang Ding, a famous national arts and crafts artist and former president of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, wrote the title of the book. This is a monograph on arts and crafts, and it is the representative work of Shanxi paper-cutting. It has been welcomed by professionals and enthusiasts. This book sells well in cultural relics and tourist attractions such as Qiao Family Courtyard in Qixian County.
In recent years, with the development of tourism, "folk culture tour" has become a special tourism product, attracting domestic and foreign tourists. "Shanxi is one of the folk arts". 1984 When the first annual meeting of the Folk Professional Committee of China Arts and Crafts Society was held in Linfen, our province, it was unanimously recognized by the national arts and crafts colleagues through the magnificent "Jinnan Folk Arts and Crafts Exhibition". Comrade Xu, then chairman of the China Arts and Crafts Society and former Minister of Light Industry, wrote an inscription: "Long live the Chinese nation! Long live the folk arts and crafts! "
China's "soil" is foreign "foreign". We are used to seeing it ourselves, but foreigners feel novel when they haven't seen it. At present, the "Shanxi Merchants Cultural Tourism Festival" held in Jinzhong, Shanxi Province has launched folk activities such as "staying in private houses, cutting window grilles, pasting Spring Festival couplets, setting off firecrackers, wrapping pages, watching New Year's Eve, lighting incense, paying New Year's greetings, watching social fires and celebrating the Lantern Festival", which has been well received by Chinese and foreign tourists, indicating the value of this art in the world. The purpose of these activities is to promote Shanxi's folk culture to the whole country and the world, so that more people can understand Shanxi's folk culture and know Shanxi's arts and crafts and folk arts. But as a Shanxi native, we must first know ourselves.
In addition, many ethnic products are unique and are tourist souvenirs, which also broadens the channels for expanding the production of arts and crafts industry. The experiences of Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou are worth learning.
Let me give you another example: lanterns are traditional handicrafts. Especially in the Spring Festival, hanging lanterns and dancing dragon lanterns are cheerful activities for ordinary people, and this custom is practiced everywhere. Showed the unique skills of folk artists. When people get old, they all know that "Pingyao meat, Taikoo lamp." Taigu Lantern is the most famous folk song. On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, the Pingyao Lantern Festival, the second torch festival of Shanxi merchants, opened, and the lantern festival lasted until March 4 (the first day of the first lunar month). The Lantern Festival in Pingyao Ancient City, a "world cultural heritage", has been held for three times during the Spring Festival and has been very successful. 1999 The first Lantern Festival in Pingyao was held with the support and help of China Arts and Crafts Association and Shanxi Arts and Crafts Association. This year's Lantern Festival has added new content to the activities during the Spring Festival in Shanxi, and added traditional programs to the "Shanxi Merchants Society Fire Festival". The Pingyao Lantern Festival consists of 60 groups of large and medium-sized lanterns, 12 unique light corridors, 10 groups of cartoon lanterns, 20 groups of exquisite paper-cut lanterns and six series of ten kinds of palace lanterns. From the west gate under the ancient city wall to more than 3,600 tourist gold wires, more than10,000 gold lamps shine at the same time, which complement the archway lamps in Pingyao inner passage, rainbow lamps in air arches, folk craft lamps in doors and windows shops, corridor lamps of buildings, spotlights and string lamps of landscape trees, forming a beautiful night scene of flaming trees and silver flowers all night. Witness the ancient and brilliant, people deeply feel the happiness and beauty of arts and crafts. This also tells people that folk customs are indispensable to arts and crafts.
People also need beautification. As the saying goes, "Buddha depends on gold, and man depends on clothes." Rich people need to pay attention to the fashion of dressing. Clothing (clothing, ornaments) has always belonged to the category of arts and crafts. This can be explained from the classical theatrical props, whether it is the dragon crown and phoenix crown unearthed from the Ming Tombs in Beijing during the Wanli period, or the costumes worn in the sequels of classical TV series such as Kangxi's Private Visit, and a large number of embroidered costumes today are from the hands of ancient and modern artists. Even the "eyes" of clothing-the exquisite "buttons" in the world are also handicrafts. In Jixian County, Shanxi Province, there is a handicraft enterprise specializing in the production of gemstone buttons. As for the dazzling array of jewelry, people are more familiar with it. The well-known brand "Hongyi" is produced by Hongyi Jewelry Co., Ltd., the largest gold jewelry inlaid jewelry manufacturer in our province. Hongyi is an enterprise that has won the title of "Shanxi Famous Brand Product Standard" and "Shanxi Famous Brand Product". 1On June 20th, 999, to celebrate the return of Macao at the end of the year, Chen, secretary of Jixian County Party Committee, planned and directed "Yellow River Baby" to fly over Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River by motorcycle. At the wedding of Zhu Chaohui and Wang Xiaoli after the success of the apprentice, I was entrusted by Li Haifeng, the general manager, to congratulate the couple on the spot on behalf of the company, and presented a pair of "lovers' rings" with Hongyi jewelry and gold.
What is the relationship between clothing and arts and crafts? Let's talk about its design first. In the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts and other institutions, there is a "clothing design major", whose title evaluation is still arts and crafts series. At present, there are many kinds of clothes and a wide range of people. Old, middle-aged, young, children, women, men, people with special needs in work and career, people with personality, and people with single season and multiple seasons have all changed the past "gray, black and blue" and replaced them with people with different colors and shapes, coming and going in the streets. Can you say that arts and crafts have not brought art and joy to millions of people? Last June, 65438+1October 2 1, the ninth informal meeting of APEC leaders was held in Shanghai. Chinese and foreign leaders attending the meeting wore Tang costumes with great interest, which really set off a "Tang costume fever" in China during the Spring Festival this year. Published in the newspaper, it suddenly promoted the silk industry in Hangzhou and other places, and brought an output value of 400-600 million yuan to silk handicraft enterprises. Another "fire" of this year's Spring Festival is the "Chinese knot". This shows the arts and crafts of Wei Li.
"Food is the most important thing for the people". With the improvement of modern people's quality of life, the requirements for diet have gradually increased. Besides paying attention to "color, smell and taste" and considering the "shape" of food, there is also the art of processing food. Whether it is the beautification (artistry) of delicacies, gourmets and foods, it also involves arts and crafts. The beautification of the dining table begins with tableware and food. Let alone the beautification of tableware. As far as food is concerned, the placement and location of all kinds of food should also pay attention to aesthetics. It has been found that putting a "peacock-proud" plate in the middle and carving an empty pattern for guests to share, the sculptor not only adds beautiful visual flavor to the food, but also increases the "added value" of the food itself.
The beautification of all kinds of food begins with the improvement of packaging. Now, when we go to the supermarket, colorful food packaging first comes into view. While people pay attention to the internal quality, they also have requirements for the quality of packaging. Packaging not only plays a role in protecting food, but also is the "face" of food. The packaging with novel design makes people love it, and virtually becomes a "matchmaker" to "sell" themselves.
With the rapid development of packaging, the classification of packaging is becoming more and more detailed, and the level of packaging design is also demanding higher and higher; Large packaging, small packaging, inner packaging, outer packaging, soft packaging, hard packaging, ordinary packaging, high-quality packaging, ordinary material packaging, high-grade material packaging, bagged, bottled, canned, boxed, gift packaging, mass packaging, single packaging, composite packaging, assembly, suits ..., you can mention a lot. Good packaging can bring good prices and good benefits. Of course, packaging is not limited to food, but only the most common and common one. Products need packaging, so a large number of packaging designers, packaging and packaging material manufacturers have appeared, and even the training of packaging designers, the holding of packaging exhibitions and the selection of packaging designs have been carried out, and packaging has really reached an elegant stage. In the past, the phenomenon that goods did not pay attention to packaging has gradually changed. China packaging has the characteristics of China packaging. When selling China products abroad, there must be packaging that can be accepted and understood by foreigners, so there are taboos in design and decoration. Different countries have different customs and languages, and here is a large set of knowledge. Especially after death, learn to learn.
The rise of "online shopping" requires not only new products, but also more detailed, intuitive and vivid packaging, which can be said to be a "revolution" in packaging design. Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts (formerly Central Academy of Arts and Crafts) has the magazine Decoration and Sculpture, which is a national academic journal specializing in arts and crafts decoration and sculpture. There is a magazine in Guangzhou called Packaging and Design, which is also specialized in packaging and design. All three magazines are bimonthly, with good content and high level. Recommend our arts and crafts designers to subscribe. To catch up with the trend of the times and not lag behind the times, not only the products are better, but also the packaging is exquisite. In recent years, the packaging of Shanxi products has been continuously improved, but it is still backward. If you want to enter the domestic and foreign markets, you still hope to be in the arts and crafts designers.
(three) arts and crafts and cultural exchanges, environmental art.
As mentioned above, arts and crafts itself is a kind of culture, which involves a wide range of culture and art. Due to the definition of arts and crafts, trademark design, logo design, packaging design, decoration design, mounting design, display design, modeling design, image design, beauty design, stamp design, etc. , both called arts and crafts and art design, can be brought into this field, so it undertakes a large part of cultural and artistic exchanges. There are also bonsai, strange stones, flowers and kite competitions in sports activities related to arts and crafts.
Arts and crafts are important media and friendship carriers for cultural exchanges and social activities. The political activities involved, such as celebrating the return of Hong Kong and Macao, and the gifts given to the governments of Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions by the central provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, are all handicrafts. Our province's gift for Hong Kong's return is "woodcarving Yingxian wooden tower model", and the gift for Macao's return is "woodcarving Yongji stork tower model". Last March, the newly-built Shanxi Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing also exhibited these two models. 1999 Kunming World Horticultural Exposition, Shanxi Scenery, a large-scale eight-cloth screen presented by the Shanxi provincial government, is a lacquer handicraft of Pingyao pushing light; In June+10 of the same year, at the National Exhibition of Famous Products in Ethnic Minorities and Ethnic Areas in Beijing, Shanxi Hongyi Jewelry General Factory, a leading enterprise in arts and crafts industry in our province, designed and produced the only large-scale handicraft in China-silver-plated flower ornaments-Stork Tower, which was praised by the central leadership and caused a sensation in Beijing. This is also a fine product of arts and crafts; In the Spring Festival of 2000, at the invitation of Singapore Zongxiang Association, handicrafts and tourism products from our province went to Singapore to participate in the "Spring to Riverside 2000" activity. The old overseas Chinese, who has lived overseas for many years, said that Lin Tao, director of Jiangxiang County inkstone research institute and a young inkstone craftsman, and Wang, a mural painter of Buddha statues in our province and director of the Provincial Institute of Ancient Architecture, respectively brought Jiangzhou inkstone and Buddhist plastic arts, one of the "four famous inkstones in China". As "friendly and convenient people", arts and crafts have played a very good role in the cultural and artistic exchanges between China and Singapore.
In addition, enterprises in the arts and crafts industry have played a vital role in the design, development and production of gifts, prizes, souvenirs and iconic products of enterprises and institutions. Enterprises such as Red First-hand Gifts, Yuda Bronzes, Golden Ribbon Gifts, Tiangan Copper Art, Pingyao Tuiguang Lacquer, New Jiangyun Carving, Datong Yungang Copper Craft, Gaoping Dali Black Pottery, Jinzhong Xianglong Black Pottery have made outstanding achievements in this respect. Pay attention to brand and culture, from product-oriented marketing concept to modern marketing concept centered on consumer demand. The arts and crafts industry is facing two international markets: domestic market, export market and tourism market, and the enterprise forms are undergoing integration and transformation. Many restructured arts and crafts enterprises are full of vitality and have unlimited prospects.
Arts and crafts are playing an increasingly important role in beautifying the environment. In today's society, human beings pay more and more attention to their living environment. The beautification, greening and purification of living space show the improvement of life quality and are beneficial to people's health and longevity. Therefore, people pay more and more attention to environmental art, and the beautiful environment represents the progress of science and technology and civilization. Social progress gives new life to arts and crafts; Beautify life and environment. People gradually realize the responsibility of arts and crafts in "designing life".
"Everyone loves beauty." Arts and crafts is the art of creating beauty, and itself is the brand, language, carrier and embodiment of beauty. Therefore, it involves all fields of people's life, work, study, rest and entertainment;
The bedroom needs beautification-this is the most basic living space of people, the concept of "home" and the "harbor" of life journey;
The place where we work and study needs to be beautified-because we have to spend most of our lives here;
The leisure environment needs to be beautified-because "people who can't rest won't work"-this is what a great man said. A beautiful and peaceful rest environment is a healthy "gas station" and a "green element" to win better work and study energy;
The environment of the guest house needs to be beautified-here refers to the "post station" of the journey-hotels, restaurants, guest houses, as well as the basic tools for travel-trains, cars, planes and ships.
The shopping environment needs to be beautified-when you go to supermarkets, department stores, boutique houses, shopping centers and flower shops, comfortable and bright design and layout, together with neatly arranged items, will bring you a good mood;
Cities need beautification, gardens need beautification, scenic spots need beautification, streets need beautification ... the pursuit of beauty will bring beauty enjoyment. All this is inseparable from arts and crafts. Therefore, the indoor and outdoor decoration industry has become a "hot industry" today. Everyone assigned to a new house, old and young, has a desire to beautify the room. This is especially true in institutions, hotels, restaurants and schools. The backbone of this rookie team active in indoor and outdoor decoration front is almost all arts and crafts or art professionals (the qualification certification of this industry requires the permission of talents with professional titles of arts and crafts).
The layout and beautification of the environment, from the sculpture "Forever Blooming Beijing" presented by the Central People's Government to the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and erected outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, led by Ms. Chang Shana, former president of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, to the design and decoration of Shanxi Hall (provinces) in the Great Hall of the People, to the decoration and display of young people's newly-married houses, are inseparable from arts and crafts.
In the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts (now Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts), there is an "Environmental Art Department". The beautification design of national large-scale building facilities, such as the waiting hall of Beijing International Airport, the main halls of the Great Hall of the People, and even the design of the National Day ceremony (shape, color, pattern, sequence, etc. ), should be entrusted to the experts and professors here to lead the host. This team of arts and crafts from the central government to the local government is indeed a valuable asset of the people's country. Not long ago, Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts was invited to hold a seminar on the cultural presentation of the stork tower, one of the "four ancient cultural buildings in China". Well-known experts and professors from the Department of Environmental Arts of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts attended the meeting and gave guidance.
The establishment and level of urban sculpture plays a very important role in the beautification of cities and the evaluation of excellent tourist cities and sanitary cities. In March last year, an iconic bronze sculpture "Jade on Jade" with a height of 35 meters and a weight of 120 tons was erected in the central square of Wuhu City, Anhui Province, with a height of 500,000 meters. Up to now, the largest urban sculpture in China was designed by Han Meilin, a famous national sculpture artist, and manufactured by Shaanxi Yuda Group, a "national tourism designated production enterprise". Zerui at the top of the pigeon has created several China firsts; The first to incorporate bronze sculpture into the operation of art projects; The internal structure adopts large H-shaped wide flange structure for the first time; For the first time, the mechanical properties of copper carving welding were tested by the manufacturing supervisor; The first one is protected by high-tech patented surface protectant. This is a concrete example of the application of arts and crafts in environmental art design. All aspects of modern life provide a very broad service space for arts and crafts workers.
(4) Forever arts and crafts
Arts and crafts are eternal arts. A senior expert in the industry said that everything in the world is liked by heads of state and ordinary people, that is, handicrafts. After China's entry into WTO, arts and crafts, as the essence of national culture and its "localization" characteristics, have more special attraction and influence on all countries in the world, and their prospects are very promising. This is a good opportunity.
To say that arts and crafts are eternal means that it has exquisite skills, profound connotation, unique charm, function of use, taste of furnishings and value of collection. It is the carrier of culture and art, the reflection of history and skills, and the "national quintessence" of our country. People love arts and crafts, that is, they love culture, life and life.
Since the founding of New China, the Party and the state have attached great importance to and supported the cause of arts and crafts, set up specialized institutions for arts and crafts, held the National Congress of Arts and Crafts Artists, held the National Arts and Crafts Exhibition, set up a series of professional and technical post evaluations for arts and crafts, formulated the Regulations on the Protection of Traditional Arts and Crafts, and named "China Master of Arts and Crafts" for the majority of artists.
China arts and crafts, as an independent art category, enjoys a high reputation in the world. There is also a "World Handicraft Congress" in the world, which is held regularly, and China is a member. At present, China's arts and crafts have been divided into 24 industries (sculpture arts and crafts, metal arts and crafts, jewelry, lacquerware arts and crafts, artificial painting, painting arts and crafts, natural plant fiber weaving arts and crafts, embroidery arts and crafts, dyeing and weaving arts and crafts, shoes and hats, embroidered clothes, carpets, art ceramics, stage props, fireworks and firecrackers, craft umbrellas, decorative lights, folk arts and crafts, toys, etc.). Lacquerware, carpets, fine arts ceramics, metal handicrafts, glassware and folk handicrafts are the key arts and crafts industries in our province. Pingyao Tuiguang Lacquerware, one of the four famous lacquers in China, Jiangzhou Chengni inkstone, one of the four famous inkstones in China, and Pingyang Woodblock New Year Pictures, one of the four famous woodblock New Year Pictures in China, are famous all over the country and affect the world. Due to the attention of the provincial party committee and government, since 1960s, our province has set up special arts and crafts institutions. Over the years, although the name of the organization has changed frequently, this work has never stopped. After 40 years of hard work, a number of influential and powerful enterprises have emerged. In the 1970s and 1980s, the export products of these enterprises spread all over the world, covering 30 to 40 countries and regions, and were welcomed by friends from all over the world.