Nianhua-themed gift stores at the Shihu Cultural Heritages Zone are must-go destinations for visitors to Weifang, East China's Shandong province, the home to both Chinese kites and Yangjiabu nianhua works. [Photo by Zhong Xinglin/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Affiliated with the China Cultural Media Group Co Ltd, wodsy.com is a portal specialized in promoting traditional Chinese skills and crafts, and a key co-organizer of the conference.

Themed New Nianhua, New Life, the two-day event drew at least 300 officials, artisans, designers, researchers, and marketing and sales specialists from across China.

The conference featured three seminars on nianhua's creation and innovation, mass communication, and integration into contemporary life, a preparatory meeting attended by the founding members of the Chinese New Year Woodblock Prints Inheritance and Development Alliance, and a grand exhibition of traditional Chinese New Year Woodblock prints, neo-nianhua works and nianhua spinoffs from the hands of artisans and designers from different parts of the country.

The conference also unveiled a year-long campaign, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, to raise public awareness of cultural heritage in 2020 by publicizing master craftsmen, holding nianhua-making workshops, art fairs, and mounting nianhua exhibition tours around the nation.