Fish-skin art creates bridge for cultural exchange

Inside the bustling cultural exhibition hall of the 10th China-Russia Expo, a steady stream of international visitors found themselves huddled around a workshop table, handling a material few associated with fine art: raw, tanned fish skin.

Guided by 58-year-old Zhang Lin, Russian merchants, foreign tourists and local residents took up carving tools to cut and paste intricate shapes. Zhang’s booth, showcasing the ancient fish-skin collage techniques of China’s Hezhe ethnic group, has become a striking highlight of the expo, transforming an ancient hunting tradition into a medium for modern cross-border diplomacy.

“Intangible cultural heritage is a language without borders,” said Zhang, a provincial-level inheritor of the endangered craft from Heilongjiang province. “As long as our neighbors come to understand this culture, my perseverance will have been worthwhile.”

By the early 2000s, the grueling process of tanning, cutting, carving and sewing fish skin had nearly vanished. The craft’s trajectory shifted in 2006 when it was officially listed as a Chinese national intangible cultural heritage, anchoring preservation efforts.

The Hezhe, one of China’s smallest ethnic groups, have historically inhabited the river valleys of the Heilong River — known in Russia as the Amur River. Dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), their ancestors developed a unique lifestyle centered on fishing and hunting, utilizing salmon skins to construct durable clothing, daily utensils and sacred totems.

At this year’s expo, Zhang brought two fish-skin garments and 16 collages, along with cultural and creative products made from fish skin.

Zhang’s fish-skin arrangements present lively, vivid images of divine deer, soaring eagles, ancient ethnic totems and distant landscapes that evoke China’s northern regions.

The inheritor has been a fixture at the China-Russia Expo since its inaugural event in Harbin in 2014. Invited by the provincial department of culture and tourism to present three-dimensional, bas-relief fish-skin art, her work always finds an audience.

“It was a great opportunity to showcase our cultural heritage,” she said. “Despite the language barrier, many foreign guests stopped to observe and touch,” she added. Because China and Russia share a border, they also enjoy a certain cultural affinity. Intangible cultural heritage is a language without borders, Zhang said.

At past expos, Zhang incorporated Russian cultural elements into her traditional fish-skin works.

“Each expo gave me the opportunity to have face-to-face conversations with Russian artists,” she said.”We would discuss fish-skin tanning, carving and pasting techniques, and I gave them detailed explanations of Hezhe history and folklore.”

Over the years, Zhang has taken her fish-skin creations to multiple Russian cities for folk cultural exchange activities. At an event in Russia’s Amur Oblast, her artwork received high praise. The craftsmanship and ethnic patterns impressed ordinary people and art aficionados alike, she said.

In July, Zhang donated 20 of her works to a Russian museum, displaying themes of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, the flower of good fortune, spring swallows, autumn cranes and fish-skin clouds.

“I was happy to see that the intangible cultural heritage of Heilongjiang would be permanently rooted in the cultural halls of a foreign country,” she said.

Zhang has also extended her reach to universities within Heilongjiang, allowing her ancient craft techniques to take root and flourish on campuses.

“In Zhang’s classes, she never follows a script,” said Alla Shulgan, a Russian student at the Harbin Institute of Technology. “Instead, she brings complete fish-skin materials, production tools and fine artworks, explaining the history of Hezhe fishing and hunting culture in simple terms, and breaking down the core techniques of fish-skin tanning, carving, pasting and coloring, allowing us to experience the charm of intangible cultural heritage from scratch.”

Shulgan said that before coming to China, she was completely unfamiliar with the culture of the country’s ethnic groups. “After a semester of diligent study and hands-on creation, I truly understood the charm of this ancient intangible cultural heritage — simple fish skin can be transformed into exquisite and beautiful paintings, carrying the local ethnic group’s lifestyle characteristics and traditional customs.”

Shulgan said she has shared her fish-skin artworks and learning experiences with family and friends back home.

For Zhang, intangible cultural heritage transmission cannot rely solely on the preservation of old skills, but must also reach young people in new generations.

“With craftsmanship as a bridge and culture as a bond, I hope to ensure that the beauty of this heritage will continue to shine,” Zhang said.