Written by: Mayigul Ayitihaz
Posted on: December 19, 2018 | 
| 中文
Xinjiang Pavilion in Shenzheng Cultural Expo
The Gaochang Wisdom Series of cultural and creative products with Xinjiang features, such as seals in the shape of a cartoon King Gaochang and sketch books, impressed visitors with distinctive Xinjiang features at this year’s China Western Snow and Ice Tourism Festival, The 12th China Xinjiang Winter Tourism Industrial Trade Fair, and China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair. The products that were popular at these large tourism trade events all came out from Xinjiang Mohuying Culture and Media Company.
"Mohuying" sounds like a name with a story behind it. Recently, the reporter interviewed Lu Bingjian, the company's general manager, and asked him to explain the meaning of the name. "It is the name of a Tang Dynasty fair, which was one of the border trade markets between the east and the west, located just next to the ancient Gaochang city," Lu explained with a smile. Lu and his team named their company in response to the "Belt and Road" Initiative.
At the Cultural and Creative Souvenir Store of Museum of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, “Gaochang Wisdom Series” of products sell very well. "After we restored the frescoes through computer painting, the illustrators refined the pattern elements of the original frescoes. Then the sculptors, through observation of various facades of the modeling, established stereoscopic models of the characters, and finally designed them into more acceptable cartoon images with a great sense of humor.” When it came to the design of their products, Lu kept on going, showing his professional design background.
Lu graduated with a design major from Xinjiang University. His team members are all locally trained in Xinjiang. "Our company's illustrators, designers and copywriters add up to nearly 20 people, and they are all of the ‘post-1990 generation'. They come from Xinjiang Arts Institute, Xinjiang University and so on. These young people who grew up in Xinjiang have a more accurate understanding of Xinjiang culture."
The company has designed rich and varied cultural and creative products, all of which originated from artifacts unearthed in Xinjiang, such as products originating from the famous silk painting "Ladies Playing Weiqi," cards made with elements of brocades with connected circles and bird patterns unearthed in Turpan, as well as a group of dynamic emoji packages of king or queen of ancient Gaochang kingdom.
At present, in addition to "Gaochang Wisdom Series," there is another series of Grassland Stone Figure Bali, whose image is taken from the grassland stone figures in Altay and Yili area. Based on the postures of the stone figures, the creative products are set with different character attributes, added with modern colors to enrich their expressions, and turned into cartoon images to cater to children and adolescents.
In the interview, Lu repeatedly said, “I think Xinjiang is a great treasure house of cultural resources. There are too many things that can be excavated and developed. Although the development of cultural and creative industry in Xinjiang is lagging behind, we are all optimistic about the future.”
Lu entered the cultural and creative industry out of his love for Xinjiang culture. He used to be engaged in real estate planning and promotion, and had his own company with good income, but the creative industry is more attractive to him. In May 2016, he formally established the current company, which developed smoothly over the past two years, and his company has created more than ten kinds of products. The first group of products went on sale in October 2017, which was the end of summer tourism for Xinjiang. Even so, their products still sold very well.
The general manager also has a clear idea for development of the company in the future. "We want to try to combine cultural creativity with Xinjiang's intangible cultural heritage handicrafts, which will better embody the profound culture of Xinjiang. We want to set up an area in each major scenic spot in Xinjiang to display our creative products, and design different products for each scenic spot. These products should be individualized and variant. For instance, the scenery of Kanas is different from that of Kumtag Desert, and products presenting them should be definitely different.”
Lu is fully confident for the future. “The visitors to Xinjiang are growing in number every year. In 2017, the number of visitors to Xinjiang Museum alone was over 900,000. What a big market it is! The longer I am in this trade, the more I feel that Xinjiang's creative industry is full of opportunities and challenges.”
Translated by Xu Donglin
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