2024 marks the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's passing. In 2024, Alessandro Martini, a young man from Milan, Italy, performed in the dance theatre Invisible Cities, portraying his idol Marco Polo.
His Chinese friends affectionately call him Alex. Alex has longed to come to China ever since he heard about Marco Polo's story in elementary school. He started to learn Chinese in high school. Several years later, he finally came to this fascinating Eastern country and stayed for eight years.
Over the past eight years, Alex has traveled to most parts of China and is thrilled to discover that the mysterious Chinese intangible cultural heritage is a collection of Chinese wisdom and techniques that can be touched and learned. So, as the modern-day "Marco Polo", he will visit some uniquely charming cities to learn traditional Chinese crafts and explore local youth-run shops and museums from young inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, thus sharing these fascinating Eastern techniques with everyone.
Alex traveled to Nantong, in Jiangsu province intending to learn the renowned Blue Calico dyeing technique. The beautiful city, Nantong, was once recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo. The raw materials used in making blue calico, such as cotton and "Lan" grass (the Polygonum tinctorium Ait which can be used to dye the cloth indigo), are sourced from nature. The blue and white color scheme imitates nature, reflecting the Chinese respectful utilization of the natural world. The Chinese philosophy of harmony between humanity and nature is thus vividly practiced.
(Source: China Youth Daily)
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