A training program for traditional crafts and cultural and creative design talents in regions south of the Yangtze River is launched at the School of Design of Jiangnan University on Oct 8. [Photo/sodcn.jiangnan.edu.cn]

A training program for traditional crafts and cultural and creative design talents in regions south of the Yangtze River was launched at the School of Design of Jiangnan University on Oct 8.

Based on traditional craft resources, the project focuses on improving professional skills, broadening artistic horizons and cultivating the innovative ability of trainees, according to Zhang Linghao, dean of the School of Design at Jiangnan University and director of the project.

The program aims to boost the innovative development of traditional crafts that are oriented to the cultural and creative industry and contemporary life, and to inherit the spirit of craftsmanship and national culture, added Zhang.

A teaching team consisting of professors from domestic first-class professional institutes, masters of Chinese arts and crafts and hosts of State-level arts funding projects will offer classes. [Photo/sodcn.jiangnan.edu.cn]

With the school acting as the core of curriculum management and teaching, the program invites a teaching team consisting of professors from domestic first-class professional institutes, masters of Chinese arts and crafts and hosts of State-level arts funding projects.

Zhang Fuye, a professor from Tsinghua University and a tutor in the program, said that traditional arts and crafts bear great significance for the national cultural image.

"It's our hope for trainees to integrate the traditional spirit into their design and better serve the needs of contemporary people," Zhang said.

There are 30 people across the nation enrolled in the program. The trainees include several research fellow-level senior craft artists, and provincial-level arts and crafts masters.

Xu Qu, the fifth generation of his family to do purple clay ceramics art in Yixing, said that he would make further progress in carrying forward traditional craft culture.