When I was younger I spent some time traveling through Africa. In one interaction with a tribal elder I was told of the sacred connection between the master potter, clay and the bowls put forth from the studio that allowed his community to eat from.  As we all are aware bamboo has been used as a resource for centuries. Imagine a land where bamboo is the resource instead of clay. Imagine bowls woven so tight that water could be held inside. Imagine these useful tools being decorated and named with intention blessing good fortune from those that eat from them.

600 years ago, loads and loads of bamboo baskets were sent from Huizhou, Anhui Province to the capital Beijing as tributes, after they were hailed by the then emperor Zhu Yuanzhang as “exquisite folk baskets” on his royal visit to Xiuning, a county directly under the jurisdiction of Huizhou.

Recently, Yu Rihua, a master craftsman of Huizhou arts and crafts, gave one bamboo basket and two bamboo plates to the Museum of Anhui Province in the hope of impressing visitors with the beauty of those antique works of art. “It’s no exaggeration to say that one can draw water with the bamboo basket as most of the water can be saved within,” the 67-year-old said. It took him nearly four months to complete weaving the fancy basket.

On top of  the basket, the old craftsman who had a 53-year career also donated to the museum two bamboo plates: one is the plate of “fortune, emolument, longevity and happiness (fu, lu, shou, xi)”, and the other the plate of “double happiness (shuangxi)”.