On the afternoon of April 25, the "Perfect Ten" Family Costumes – A New Look for the Dongpo Family launch event was held at the Huanggang Dongpo Red Cliff Scenic Area. The event was jointly organized by Wuhan Textile University, the Huanggang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the Huanggang Dongpo Cultural Tourism Zone Management Center, and the Hubei Huangmei Opera Theater.
At the launch event, Qu Kaijun, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Huanggang Municipal People's Congress, delivered a welcoming speech. He stated that university-local cultural collaboration is a vivid practice for revitalizing Dongpo culture and empowering high-quality cultural tourism development in the region. He expressed the hope that both sides would take this opportunity to deeply explore the cultural riches and set a benchmark for the integration of culture and tourism. Huang Chunhui, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Director of the University Office of Wuhan Textile University, spoke highly of the design team's dedication to exploring traditional culture and practicing cultural heritage. In his address, Huang Chunhui noted that the university consistently adheres to distinctive development, fully leverages its disciplinary strengths, and serves local economic and social development. He emphasized that this industry-education collaborative innovation project is not only a creative transformation of traditional culture but also a showcase of the university’s achievements in cultivating applied innovative talents. The university will continue to deepen its collaborative innovation and development with local partners.
The full set of costumes presented at the event was meticulously crafted by the university's "Po" Interesting Team. Under the guidance of three faculty members—Jin Yihong, Guo Li, and Liu Ya—the team spent several months delving deeply into the life stories of Su Dongpo, the family traditions and cultural heritage of the Su family, and the essence of Song Dynasty costume aesthetics, bringing the thousand-year-old charm of the Song Dynasty and the spirit of Dongpo to life through contemporary apparel. Jin Yihong, a faculty member from the School of Media and Communication, shared the creative concept as well as the journey of overall project planning and cultural core exploration on site. Jiang Yunru, an undergraduate student from the School of Fashion and the lead designer of the family costume series, shared her practice-based experience and how she integrated the Dongpo family ethos with the elegance of Song Dynasty aesthetics.
As music began to play, the ten bespoke costumes representing the Dongpo family were officially unveiled. Su Mai, Su Dai, Su Guo, Wang Chaoyun, Wang Runzhi, Wang Fu, Su Zhe, Su Xun, Mrs. Cheng, and Su Dongpo himself made their appearances in succession. Dressed in exquisite garments, they recreated the attire aesthetics of the Song Dynasty and the dignified bearing of the Dongpo family, drawing many tourists to stop and admire, interact, and take photos.
The event concluded with a special performance by the Hubei Huangmei Opera Theater, where traditional opera and Dongpo culture complemented each other, bringing the event to a successful close.
This launch event serves as an active exploration by the university to fully leverage its strengths in textile and fashion disciplines, promote the deep integration of the university’s innovative design capabilities with local cultural tourism resources, and practice the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s excellent traditional culture. In the future, the university will continue to deepen university-local collaboration and write new chapters in cultural heritage and innovative development through industry-education integration.
