At the "Golden Stone Bond (Jinshijiao)" integrated creative commercial street in Wulatezhong Banner, the crisp ringing of chisels against silverware echoes through the air while colorful threads dance to embroider blooming Badma flowers. Each handcrafted piece carries the warmth of the grassland, silently telling stories of interaction and integration among different ethnic groups.
In recent years, Wulatezhong Banner has adhered to the main theme of fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, deeply explored cultural tourism resources and intangible cultural heritage, cultivated the "Golden Stone Bond" integrated creative brand, and built an integrated creative district, revitalizing traditional ethnic handicrafts through creative integration and innovation, exploring a new path of promoting frontier revitalization through cultural-tourism integration and building common prosperity through ethnic unity.
Breaking Through: Scattered Old Crafts Unite as One
Wulatezhong Banner has a rich handicraft heritage, but for a long time it faced the dilemma of "difficult inheritance, difficult monetization, and small scale." To break this situation, in 2021, Wulatezhong Banner invested nearly 30 million yuan to build the "Golden Stone Bond" integrated creative commercial street. The district gathers intangible cultural heritage artisans of bronze and silverware, Wulate embroidery, wool felting, jade inlay, and other crafts, with standardized business venues, policy support, skills training, promotion, and other integrated services, effectively solving the problem of fragmented and weak traditional crafts.
In 2024, Wulatezhong Banner officially launched the "Golden Stone Bond" integrated creative brand under the theme "At the Foot of Yinshan Mountain by the Old Bank of the Yellow River · A Golden Stone Bond on the Grassland." The brand draws inspiration from the history of ethnic interactions and integration, with the development philosophy of "intangible heritage as the soul, technology as the wing, and people's livelihood as the foundation." During brand development, the local government integrated resources from seven major entities including government, universities, enterprises, and industry associations. Through a "government + university + enterprise" cooperation model, in collaboration with institutions such as the Inner Mongolia Ethnic Cultural Industry Research Institute, cultural symbols were extracted from 93 national-level treasure artifacts, developing over 500 cultural and creative products in nine major categories including Wulate clothing, bronze and silverware, embroidery, and jade inlay, providing one-stop services from research and development to production and sales, building a complete ethnic handicraft industry chain.
The market performance of these products confirms the feasibility of this path. Exquisitely crafted Wulate bronze and silverware, wool felt tapestries inspired by Yinshan rock paintings, and ornaments combining traditional embroidery with agate and jade – traditional skills and modern aesthetics are finding their fusion here, allowing more intangible heritage crafts to step out of exhibition halls into daily life and the market. Since the operation of the "Golden Stone Bond" commercial street, it has driven employment for more than 1,000 local farmers, herders, and college graduates, with cumulative sales revenue exceeding 57 million yuan.
Heritage Preservation: Keeping Intangible Heritage Skills Alive
Behind the thriving industry lies the dedication and innovation of artisans. In the bronze and silverware workshop at the "Golden Stone Bond" commercial street, Bai Yulong, a municipal-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor, holds a chisel, meticulously carving cloud patterns on a silver bowl. The rhythmic chiseling sounds bring ancient patterns to life under his fingertips. "The patterns carved on the silver bowl all originate from Chinese cultural symbols, inspired by the 'Golden Stone Bond' resource library," Bai Yulong said.
In the felt workshop, craftsman Wuriguga uses a poking needle as a pen, carefully outlining on felt as a wool felt piece gradually takes shape. "We draw inspiration from the cultural heritage of 'Golden Stone Bond,' allowing ancient crafts to enter modern life with a fresh look," Wuriguga said. To let more people experience the charm of intangible culture, she regularly invites primary and secondary school students and craft enthusiasts to learn, personally teaching embroidery and felt-making techniques.
At the Tianjun Wenyun store, shop owner Siqingtu "transfers" patterns of hunting, dancing, and horses from Yinshan rock paintings onto rugged leather surfaces. "Rock paintings are carved on stone; we bring them onto leather," Siqingtu said. His hot-stamped horsehide refrigerator magnets feature vivid three-dimensional textures, serving as both practical items and portable grassland memories.
Wulatezhong Banner currently has one national-level intangible cultural heritage inheritor (bronze and silverware making), five autonomous region-level arts and crafts masters, 15 autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage representative inheritors, and 365 inheritors at the city and banner levels. The region possesses 17 national and autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage representative projects and 120 municipal-level representative projects. A talent pool of intangible heritage skills has been established, with regular training sessions, technical exchange seminars, and hands-on experience activities. Since March this year, inheritors have been invited to hold over 20 "Golden Stone Bond" intangible heritage experience events and lectures at the creative space, communities, and primary and secondary schools, covering more than 1,000 participants, continuously consolidating the foundation of intangible heritage preservation.
Going National: From Grassland Street to the National Stage
To enhance brand influence, Wulatezhong Banner has built a multi-dimensional marketing matrix combining "online + offline" and "exhibitions + competitions." Offline, it built the "Golden Stone Bond" Art Museum, creating a comprehensive platform integrating sales, investment attraction, and exhibitions; opened creative stores, developed cultural-tourism study routes, allowing visitors to experience handmade crafts; online, it leverages new media channels such as live streaming and short videos, cooperates with university teachers and students for brand promotion, continuously expanding product distribution and sales channels.
In July 2024, the local government, together with regional universities and research institutes, held the "Golden Stone Bond" cultural-tourism product creative competition, attracting 2,192 entries nationwide, gathering quality creative resources for brand development. In March 2025, the "Golden Stone Bond" ethnic handicraft integrated creative brand promotion conference was successfully held at the Beijing Cultural Palace of Nationalities, proposing the establishment of a community for brand building of ethnic handicraft integrated creativity. The simultaneous launch of offline creative spaces and the online cultural resource database has established a full-channel production-sales pattern linking online and offline, steadily enhancing the brand's national influence.
At the foot of Yinshan Mountain, by the national border gate, small fingertip crafts are now supporting a distinctive local industry. Today, "Golden Stone Bond" has grown into a uniquely recognizable cultural industry IP of Wulatezhong Banner. People of all ethnic groups craft fine works with skill, promote development through unity, and grow closer together in joint entrepreneurship and income increase, jointly writing a new chapter of ethnic unity and progress in the new era.