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 for coming 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.
In order to learn the "Chinese White" Dehua Porcelain, Alex traveled to Dehua, Quanzhou, Fujian province, which is especially mentioned in the Travels of Marco Polo. The "Chinese White" Dehua Porcelain has always been popular in Europe, renowned for its quality and dazzling whiteness. It represents the respect for people of virtue and the admiration for the beauty of nature. Using porcelain as a medium, it unveils Chinese stories through porcelain, embodying a philosophy of harmony and cooperation.
(Source: China Youth Daily)
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