On the afternoon of November 29, the Fifth China Intangible Cultural Heritage – Dongwu Forum, with a special focus on the women’s costumes of Luzhi’s water towns, was held in Luzhi.

The academic session of this forum was chaired by Professor Li Chaode, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Arts at Soochow University. The panel of experts included: Teacher Sun Jianjun, former Director of the Institute of Arts and Crafts at the Chinese Academy of Arts, Vice‑Chair of the Professional Committee on Arts and Crafts of the China Arts and Crafts Society, Secretary‑General of its Theoretical Committee, and Member of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Committee; Teacher Huang Rongguang, Associate Professor and Ph.D. in the School of Humanities at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an expert on Japanese economic history; Teacher Qian Qier, Professor at the School of Design of the China Academy of Art and Chair of the Academic Committee of the China Fashion Designers Association; Teacher Hu Ping, Professor at the School of Arts of Southeast University, Deputy Secretary‑General of the Theoretical Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Society, and Member of the Jiangsu Provincial Expert Review Committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage; Teacher Zheng Lihong, Associate Professor and Ph.D. in the Department of Art Studies at the School of Arts of Soochow University, as well as a leading figure in Suzhou’s Wu Zhong District in the fields of culture and the arts, and Associate Research Curator and Director of the Luzhi Town Center for Culture and Sports, Teacher Zhou Minsen. Also in attendance were more than 90 scholars and experts from across the country, representing the fields of intangible cultural heritage and fashion design.

The theme of this forum is the inheritance and preservation of women’s traditional attire in the water towns of Jiangnan, the challenges it faces in contemporary life, and how to advance these efforts within the context of fashion trends. At the forum, Professor Zhou Minsen began by outlining the origins and current state of conservation of the women’s costumes of Luzhi Water Town. He noted that since being included in the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2006, local governments have steadily intensified their protective measures, yielding remarkable progress in safeguarding and passing down this cultural legacy. However, as the traditional garments have gradually lost their functional contexts and everyday settings, they now appear “outdated” in the eyes of younger generations. The question at hand is how to ensure their continued transmission in the modern era—preserving distinctive techniques such as patchwork, embroidery, and edging while also integrating contemporary fashion sensibilities, thus achieving innovation through inheritance and sustaining tradition through creative evolution. Through this forum, the organizers hope to solicit insights and guidance from experts across disciplines.

At the forum, several experts offered their insights and shared their perspectives. While acknowledging the achievements in safeguarding the traditional costumes of the water‑town women of Luzhi, they also lamented that many intangible cultural heritage items have been reduced to “bonsai‑like” curiosities. They suggested that Luzhi could seize opportunities such as new‑rural development to preserve the “space” of its intangible heritage. On the subject of innovation, Professor Sun proposed the approach of “transferring affection to a new object”: retaining the original forms of the water‑town costumes while refining them and integrating contemporary elements, thus making them part of modern fashion. Alternatively, he advocated creating derivative products—such as accessories and crafts—based on the distinctive motifs of these costumes. Drawing on Japan’s experience with the preservation of kimono, Professor Huang recommended steering the water‑town costumes toward an even more exquisite aesthetic, positioning them as a hallmark of high‑end fashion. Meanwhile, Professor Hu Ping argued that today’s preserved and transmitted costumes have lost the very contexts that once sustained them. Moving forward, the challenge is not simply to transplant past garments—originally worn during fieldwork—onto the stage of contemporary life, but rather to infuse them with modern elements that resonate with contemporary tastes and to repurpose and further develop them; this, he calls, is the era of “post‑craft.”

Experts note that, much like the women’s costumes of Luzhi Water Town, there are few truly successful examples of seamlessly blending tradition with modernity. However, we can strive to transform intangible cultural heritage into a cultural industry, charting a path toward market‑driven, large‑scale production—something that will require concerted efforts from the government and all sectors of society. The women’s costumes of Suzhou’s Luzhi Water Town evoke a deep sense of nostalgia, embodying both national spirit and aesthetic sensibility. The challenge lies in preserving that nostalgia while organically integrating traditional elements with contemporary preservation and innovation. We are confident that, through such endeavors, the cultural essence of Luzhi’s women’s attire—and the evocative beauty of its “wild grass”‑like charm—will surely endure.

It is reported that the Fifth China Intangible Cultural Heritage – Dongwu Forum was co-hosted by the China Fashion Designers Association, the Costume Art Committee of the China Artists Association, and the School of Arts at Soochow University. The forum opened with great ceremony at Soochow University on the 28th and moved to the ancient town of Luzhi on the 29th, where participants jointly explored new avenues for the preservation and transmission of the traditional costumes of women in Luzhi’s water‑town region.