WORLD CRAFTS COUNCIL
(WCC AISBL) INTERNATIONAL
Fuxin (China)
Fuxin holds a special position in history as the cradle of Chinese jade culture. It is the home of Chahai Paleoanthropological Site which, dating back to more than 8,000 years ago, is honored as the “Hometown of jade dragon and the origin of civilization” by domestic and international archaeological community due to the unearthing of the “First Jade of the World” and the “First Dragon of China.”
Agate processing is a time-honored craftsmanship in Fuxin. Beginning in the Liao Dynasty, there had been activities of gathering, mining and processing agates in the civil society; by the Qing Dynasty, Fuxin's agate industry has begun to take shape, with Fuxin agate carving already being an article of tribute to the imperial court.The prosperity and evolution of the agate industry gave birth to Fuxin’s unparalleled agate carving techniques.
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Fuxin Agate Carving, among the first to be included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China, is the biggest genre of agate carving in terms of industry size with the greatest brand influence in contemporary China. Fuxin was awarded the title of the “China Agate City” in 2013 for its profound local culture and artistic tradition, a big pool of craftsmen and a sound agate industry chain and market system.
In recent years, Fuxin has been committed to creating a better environment for the growth and development of the agate carving industry in terms of policy climate, industrial park development, product cultivation, branding and human resource services. This initiative has facilitated the development of the agate carving industry in leaps and strides and serves as a great and enduring driver for post-industrial urban development, thus being of great importance to the transformation, rejuvenation, and future development of Fuxin.
Hometown of jade dragon. Fuxin is a time-honored city. The Chahai Paleoanthropological Site unearthed in the city, dating to 8,000 years ago, is an origin of Hongshan Culture. In addition to half-cave house remains, also unearthed are the earliest extant genuine jades, pottery shreds with dragon patterns and a rock-piled dragon to date, i.e. the “First Jade of the World” and the “First Dragon of China.” As a result, Fuxin was named by the late archaeologist Professor Su Bingqi as the “Hometown of jade dragon and the origin of civilization.” In 1992, the Chahai Site Museum was completed and opened; and in 1996, the site was listed as a Key Cultural Relics Site under State Protection by the State Council.
China Agate City. Fuxin is currently a major production, processing and distribution center of agate resources from across the world. The proven prospective reserves of agate add up to 2–5 million tons. In May 2004, Fuxin saw the excavation of a 66-ton “King of Agate” which was included in the Guinness World Records. In 2006, upon approval by the State Council, “Fuxin Agate Carving” was listed among the list of the first national intangible cultural heritage; in 2005, Fuxin Shijiazi Agate Industrial Cluster was designated by the National Tourism Administration as a “National Demonstration Site of Agate Industrial Tourism;” and in 2012, the agate industry was listed in the Top 10 Industrial Clusters by Fuxin Municipal People’s Government. In 2013, Fuxin was named as the only “China Agate City” by the CA&CA. According to statistics, the city’s agate sector posted a total output of more than 3 billion yuan in 2015, with more than 5,500 businesses of various types employing approximately 60,000 professionals.