In the scroll of Beijing’s folk culture, Zhacaizi (colored decoration weaving) stands out as an intangible heritage treasure, carrying the festive joy and life rituals of old Beijing with its unique charm of “bamboo frame shaping and colored silk glowing”. This century-old “Beijing-style colored craft”, known as “Jingcai” in Chinese, specializes in making various decorations such as archways, silk balls and flower ornaments by hand with bamboo strips as the frame and colored silk as the cover. It has decorated the bustling streets of temple fairs and witnessed life rituals such as weddings and funerals, embodying the old Beijing aesthetic pursuit of “elegance in customs and integration of form and meaning”. For foreign travelers, exploring Zhacaizi is an excellent way to understand Beijing’s folk culture and craftsmanship.
The century-old inheritance of Beijing Zhacaizi is deeply rooted in the soil of Beijing-style folk customs. Known as “Caizi Jiang” (Zhacaizi craftsmen), practitioners of this craft rose with the prosperity of Beijing’s temple fairs and the demand for ritual sense in citizens’ lives during the Ming and Qing dynasties. From the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China, Zhacaizi reached its peak, with workshops concentrated around temple fairs and downtown streets, providing customized colored decorations for festivals, weddings, funerals, sacrifices and prayers. At that time, the street archways of Longtan Temple Fair and Changdian Temple Fair, as well as the lintel decorations of families for weddings and funerals, were all made by Zhacaizi craftsmen. Since most decorations were temporarily built and dismantled after use, many classic styles can only be preserved in old photos, adding to the preciousness and vicissitudes of this craft. After changes of times, the craft once declined due to the transformation of social customs. Fortunately, a few craftsmen persisted, and now it has become a municipal intangible heritage skill carrying Beijing-style memories, returning to the public view.
The unique charm of Zhacaizi lies in its craft classification of “hard-colored as the frame and soft-colored as the charm” and ultimate craftsmanship. The craft is strictly divided into two categories: “hard-colored” and “soft-colored”, adapting to different scene needs. The procedures are complex and completely hand-made, testing the craftsman’s precise control of structure, color and shape. Hard-colored crafts focus on large three-dimensional components, mainly building archways, pavilions, terraces, sacrificial platforms, etc. The most common simple hard-colored craft is the “piece archway” in front of the door, which requires multiple procedures such as rope tying, bamboo pole framing, grid pulling (drawing diagonal grids between upper and lower cross poles), base covering, ribbon pulling and flower arranging. It takes at least half a month for 3 craftsmen to cooperate to make a large colored archway. Among them, the most representative “three-dimensional edge work” technique can create three-dimensional edges on a flat archway, which not only ensures stable structure and non-shedding, but also integrates with the overall shape, with extremely high difficulty, fully showing the craftsman’s skills.
Soft-colored crafts are known for their delicacy and flexibility, mostly hanging flower decorations, such as silk balls, tassels and curtains made of colored silk and crepe paper. They are dotted on hard-colored components, lintels and terraces, forming a visual effect of hardness and softness complementing each other. Although soft-colored crafts do not have the structural difficulty of hard-colored ones, they are extremely exquisite in color matching and detail decoration. Colored silk needs to be cut, folded and knotted according to scene needs, while crepe paper is made into various colored paper flowers, inserted on the grid of hard-colored crafts, which not only covers the bamboo frame, but also spells out auspicious patterns, bringing vitality to the whole work. Raw material selection is also particular: bamboo strips should be tough thin bamboo, which is not easy to deform after drying and polishing; colored silk and crepe paper prefer bright and light-colored varieties, which can be flexible in the wind and maintain full color for a long time.
Zhacaizi is also a “living carrier” of old Beijing folk rituals. Every color and shape hides profound cultural implications. According to old traditions, in wedding scenes, single happiness characters are hung on the bride’s family’s Zhacaizi, and double happiness characters on the groom’s family’s. The colors are mainly red, yellow and green, implying “three promotions in a row” and “three top prizes in exams”. Birthday celebrations are mainly red and yellow, symbolizing “double blessings of longevity and prosperity”. Ghost marriages use mainly blue and yellow, implying the traditional cognition of “sky blue and earth yellow”. Funeral activities need to choose corresponding colors according to different stages such as new funeral and first anniversary, and no rules can be violated. These details are not only part of the craft, but also record the social ethics and values of old Beijing, becoming important materials for folk custom research.
Today, this ancient craft is revitalized under the persistence and innovation of inheritors. Represented by inheritor Li Liangu, Zhacaizi craftsmen not only fully inherit ancient techniques such as “three-dimensional edge work”, but also strive to record and inherit the craft, reproducing classic archway styles only existing in old photos. Inheritance bases such as Hou’s Zhacaizi Intangible Heritage Workshop cultivate new talents through the master-apprentice inheritance model, and innovate forms according to modern needs, integrating Zhacaizi into cultural and creative products, developing small silk ball ornaments, festival hangings, etc., bringing this folk craft into daily life. Every year during traditional festivals such as Longtan Temple Fair, Zhacaizi archways and flower decorations are still the core decorations, attracting tourists to take photos and continue the century-old colored charm in a lively atmosphere.
To experience the Beijing-style charm of Zhacaizi immersively, core venues and festival scenes are not to be missed. Longtan Temple Fair is the best occasion to experience Zhacaizi. The 2026 fair will be held from January 25 (the first day of the lunar new year) to January 29 (the fifth day of the lunar new year), open daily from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Zhacaizi works are concentrated in the eastern “Thousands of Trees Adorned with Colors” area, integrated into the intangible heritage cultural section. Various hard-colored archways and soft-colored flowers hang among the trees, setting off with kite installations to restore the lively atmosphere of old Beijing temple fairs, allowing visitors to closely appreciate the 3D archways made with “three-dimensional edge work” and the details of exquisite soft-colored crafts. Full-price tickets (10 yuan per piece) can be pre-purchased on Meituan or Dazhong Dianping apps from January 15 to 24, and discounted tickets are available on site. It is recommended to enter through the Northwest Gate and exit via the North Evacuation Gate, avoiding the peak hours from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Beijing Folk Custom Museum displays rare and restored Zhacaizi works from past dynasties, enabling a systematic understanding of the craft’s evolution and folk connections. In intangible heritage cultural and creative stores on Liulichang Cultural Street, contemporary Zhacaizi cultural and creative products can also be found. Occasionally, craftsmen demonstrate soft-colored production on site, allowing visitors to personally experience the fun of silk knotting and paper flower arranging.
From the lively archways of temple fairs to the ritual flowers of streets and lanes, from the Zhacaizi workshops a hundred years ago to today’s intangible heritage exhibitions, Beijing Zhacaizi carries not only a craft, but also the folk memories and craftsmanship spirit of old Beijing. Every bamboo strip hides structural wisdom, every piece of colored silk reflects festive joy, and every work condenses the Oriental aesthetics of “elegance in customs”. When you gaze at the colorful archways and flexible silk balls, you can understand Beijingers’ pursuit of ritual sense in life, and feel the Beijing-style heritage hidden between colored silk and bamboo strips.
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