Pingtan, an island renowned for its cross-Straits ties and growing international tourism industry in Fujian Province, has added two local craft arts to the provincial intangible cultural heritage list. On April 6, 2026, the People's Government of Fujian Province announced the eighth batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage representative projects, with Pingtan Sand Painting and Pingtan Sea Willow Carving making it onto the new entries list. This brings the total number of provincial intangible cultural heritage projects in Pingtan to six.

The eighth batch includes 81 projects-75 new entries and six expansions-covering categories such as traditional music, dance, drama, sports, fine art, handicrafts, medicine, and folk customs. Pingtan Sand Painting is listed under traditional fine arts, while Pingtan Sea Willow Carving falls into the traditional craftsmanship category.

Lin Fuping creates a sand painting work.

Pingtan Sand Painting blends traditional Chinese line drawing techniques and draws on the island's unique natural sea sand—the sand, with a quartz content of over 90 percent, shows various hues without artificial dyeing. Its creation involves meticulous procedures including material preparation, line drawing, gluing, sand spreading and fine tuning, resulting in layered, three-dimensional works that mostly feature Pingtan's stone houses and fishing port scenery. "Pingtan Sand Painting must reflect the essence of Pingtan, such as its mountains, seas and local sand," said Lin Fuping, an inheritor of Pingtan Sand Painting. He added that immersive experiences will be launched to let the audience see the whole creation process, and cooperation with education departments will be strengthened to bring the intangible cultural heritage into campuses.

Shi Xiaobin makes a sea willow carving work.

Pingtan Sea Willow Carving uses deep-sea sea willow as raw material and goes through more than ten processes like cutting, filing, carving, hollowing and polishing to create artworks such as cigarette holders, ornaments and bracelets. The material is hard with a unique color, making the works both practical and collectible. Shi Xiaobin, an inheritor of Pingtan Sea Willow Carving, noted that publicity will be the priority next step to attract more people to participate in the inheritance of the craft.

Beyond the two newly recognized provincial intangible cultural heritage items, Pingtan already has four established provincial intangible cultural heritage practices: Fujian Shell Carving (Pingtan), a maritime-themed traditional craft turning seashells into decorative art and souvenirs exhibited at home and abroad; Pingtan Rice Paste, a medicinal-culinary tradition of herb-rice paste nourishment now modernized into portable tea bags and an inheritance gallery; Pingtan Ciming Opera, a late Ming–early Qing opera form known as a "living fossil" of local art, featuring puppetry and arias and staged regularly in cultural centers; and Pingtan Tengpai Dance (Rattan Shield Dance), a martial arts-gymnastics-folk dance from military origins, taught in local schools and designated a national "One County, One Characteristic" cultural art case.

Taking this recognition as an opportunity, Pingtan will increase efforts to protect and inherit Pingtan Sand Painting, Sea Willow Carving and other intangible cultural heritage projects. It will support inheritors in teaching apprentices, holding performances and developing cultural and creative products, enabling these time-honored crafts to thrive and energize the construction of the island's international tourism resort.