On July 24, 2025, the Cangzhou Municipal People's Government announced the "Notice on the Cangzhou City's Ninth Batch of Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage List Projects", in which "Hejian Bright Glass Blowing Technique" was listed as "Cangzhou City's Ninth Batch of Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage".
Lampworking glassblowing is an ancient glass processing technology that has a history of more than a thousand years. According to archaeological records, China had already mastered this technology by the Northern Wei Dynasty, capable of blowing glass containers with large volumes and thin walls. With the continuous development of successive dynasties, lampworking glass production became more widespread during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The glassblowing technology of Hengxian has a long history and is closely related to traditional techniques.
The glassware of Hengshui's lampworking is loved by the world for its wide variety of specifications, unique shapes, gorgeous colors, and profound cultural heritage. It not only has good economic practical value but also has certain historical research and appreciation collection value. In the 1970s, a piece of green hollow pattern bottle blown by Hengshui's lampworking was purchased and collected by Taiwanese businessmen. Under the leadership of generations of craftsmen, the scale of Hengshui's lampworking glass industry has been expanding, and its strength has been greatly enhanced. The products are becoming more and more diversified. From the initial burning of chemical instruments, test tubes, etc., to the present, it has formed an industrial instrument, craft wine utensils, craft tea utensils, craft beverage utensils, craft daily necessities, indoor craft decorations and other eight major categories and thousands of specifications of products. In August 2015, Hengshui City was awarded the honorary title of "China's Talent Center of Art Glass" by the China Arts and Crafts Association, becoming the first county-level city in the country to receive this honor. Among them, MSDGLASS Company and Mingliang Company were both rated as "Hebei Province Cultural Industry Demonstration Base" by the Hebei Provincial Department of Culture. Since 2017, the "China·Hengshui International Lampworking Art Festival", jointly sponsored by the Academy of Art and Design of Tsinghua University and the People's Government of Hengshui City, is the first of its kind in the world and a grand event in the world of lampworking art, attracting masters and artists from the lampworking art circles in the United States, Australia, Russia, Canada, Japan and other countries to gather in Hengshui to exchange and learn from each other's lampworking skills.
To become a part of the intangible cultural heritage is a heavy mission for us. In the future, we will always have a reverent heart to protect this cultural root—on the one hand, to preserve its essence in its original form, and on the other hand, to actively explore ways to combine it with the times, so that it can take root and grow in more people's hearts, and truly 'live' in the present and be passed on to the future.
