The award-winning Chinese Blue Calico Cultural Archives Nantong Volume highlights blue calico in its design. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]

The book Chinese Blue Calico Cultural Archives Nantong Volume, compiled by Nantong native Wu Yuanxin, recently received the Shanhua award, China's highest folk art honor.

The honor was bestowed on Jan 18 at the 16th Shanhua Chinese Folk Literature and Art Award ceremony held in Xiamen, Fujian province.

As curator of the Nantong Blue Calico Museum, Wu serves as an inheritor and custodian of the national intangible cultural heritage item of blue calico printing and dyeing craft. The award-winning book was the result of Wu's efforts together with significant contributions from his daughter, Wu Lingshu, and son-in-law, Ni Shenjian.

Wu Yuanxin shows off the trophy at the ceremony for the 16th Shanhua Chinese Folk Literature and Art Award. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]

The book is a sample volume systematically exploring the craft's influence in Nantong, aiming to promote the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage in China.

To preserve the outstanding blue calico cloth still mostly unknown to the world, Wu devoted about 10 years to writing the book. Of the course of this decade-long labor of love, Wu and his team visited nearly 1,000 villages in Nantong, interviewing thousands of villagers and rescuing over 23,000 pieces of ancient blue calico cloth.

Speaking of the future, Wu revealed that he plans to establish a blue calico-centered innovation base and apply for World Intangible Cultural Heritage status for the craft.