A graduation ceremony for a group of students studying Zhang's clay figurines (in Chinese, "NiRenZhang") was held at Tianjin University on Dec 10.

The sixth generation inheritor of Zhang's clay figurines -- Zhang Yu -- was invited to open a series of new courses on clay figurine craftsmanship from Nov 6 to 10 to offer students opportunities to learn about the history of such traditional artwork and how to make clay figurines by themselves.

Zhang Yu, sixth generation inheritor of Zhang's clay figurine art, explains an ancient clay work to students. [Photo/people.com.cn]

Zhang Yu gives courses on classical sculpting theory to students. [Photo/people.com.cn]

The courses were meant to help preserve inheritance of the traditional Chinese craftsmanship and to promote diversification of ancient culture.

Zhang Yu helped students systematically learn the history of Zhang's clay figurines and their classical sculpting theories and gave them a chance to make clay figurines. His courses improved the students’ artistic level and exposed them to ideas about a cultural enterprises' business operation.

Zhang Yu and students discuss the history of clay figurines and the skills needed to produce them. [Photo/people.com.cn]

Zhang Yu gives a graduate her graduation certificate. [Photo/people.com.cn]

In recent years, China has focused on promoting intangible cultural heritages to support cultural industries similarly to many other countries such as Japan and South Korea which list traditional crafts as one of the pillar industries of their national economy.

College and university courses on the promotion of traditional cultural crafts and histories spread knowledge of intangible heritages and help develop China's cultural industries.

The graduation certificate of Zhang's clay figurine course includes the name, major and age of the graduate and says the student has completed the experiential traditional clay course. [Photo/people.com.cn]