The Linqi Mamianqun Intangible Cultural Heritage Art Museum opened on July 24 in Guangzhou's Haizhu Creative Park, in the Haizhu District. Housed in a 3,000-square-meter space, the museum displays more than 1,000 antique pieces and over 300 Mamianqun (马面裙) skirts from founder Lin Qi's personal collection, spanning the Ming and Qing dynasties through the Republican era. It is the first Mamianqun ICH art museum in Guangzhou and the first in China named after its founder. Designed as a cultural space combining ICH exhibition, cultural exchange, aesthetic experience, and public events, the museum lays out the lineage of Eastern dress through systematic displays, with the stated goal of becoming a new landmark of Lingnan culture and a fresh vehicle for the creative transformation of Cantonese heritage.
The opening drew the consuls general of seven countries posted in Guangzhou — the Philippines, Argentina, Laos, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Colombia. At the event, a Cantonese cultural exchange base was formally established, and the first city-level ICH project for Mamianqun making technique in China was officially listed. In May this year, the Guangzhou municipal government published the ninth batch of municipal ICH representative projects, adding Mamianqun making technique to the list. Liao Weiyang (廖伟阳), president of the Guangdong Provincial Association for the Development of Cantonese Cultural Industries, said the base's founding is a concrete step toward taking Cantonese culture and its industries to the world, and that resources including a "Cantonese think tank" and a "Cantonese going-global alliance" will be brought in to support activities such as inviting overseas participants to tell Cantonese Mamianqun stories in their own languages.
Inside, the museum's curatorial theme reads "The Eastern Epic of a Skirt", using the Mamianqun as a lens onto the history, aesthetics, and cultural spirit behind traditional Chinese dress. Lin Qi (林栖), the museum's founder and director — born Shan Yufang (单钰芳) — is also the founder of the brand "Living on the Left" under Huimei Fashion Group. As China's first inheritor of the Mamianqun technique, Lin Qi's innovated skirts served as the official ceremonial dress of the 15th National Games of China. Her Mamianqun designs have appeared at Paris and London fashion weeks and in exhibitions in the United States; in 2025, her "Phoenix Comes with Fortune" (有凤来仪) series was shown at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Washington in the special exhibition "The Power and Peace of Fashion."
The collection behind the museum took Lin Qi nearly three decades to assemble, from antique dealers, auction houses, and private collectors. One piece holds special meaning: an orange Mamianqun bought back from an auction house in Paris, France. "I wanted to bring the Mamianqun home," Lin Qi recalled. The skirt had originally formed a set with a matching jacket, but one side of the skirt was badly damaged. On auction day, in-person and telephone bidders from different countries bid at the same time; "I had no idea what price it would finally reach — my hand stayed up the whole time. My only thought was to bring it back." After a wait of half a year and a journey of roughly 30,000 kilometers, the skirt returned to China and now stands on display in the museum. Lin Qi later made a reproduction based on the piece, hoping contemporary design can give damaged traditional garments new life.
At the opening, the brand launched its first "heirloom" Mamianqun. The design grew out of Lin Qi's first century-old Mamianqun — a wedding dress hurriedly made more than 200 years ago by a Lingnan embroiderer for a young lady of an elite family she had never met. The skirt's artemisia-green shaded body, full peonies signifying prosperity, paired butterflies carrying blessings, and layered sanlan blue embroidery (三蓝绣) in uneven shades carry a quiet wish: "days have their ups and downs, but the foundation is peace". "People settle with objects, and objects last with people". Lin Qi plans to release one heirloom piece each year.
To bring traditional dress into contemporary life, the team has developed eight-part, mini, and denim Mamianqun designs, and builds products around commuting, leisure, social occasions, and major life ceremonies, so the skirt can live in an everyday wardrobe. The museum houses a natural plant-dyeing workshop, an ICH workshop, a traditional embroidery research space, and a Mamianqun research lab, pushing the craft from "viewable" to "experienceable, learnable, and creatable." Its riverside event space and rooftop terrace with river views host brand launches, art exhibitions, cultural forums, and international exchanges.
Lin Qi has also folded public welfare into the plan. In 2020 she launched the "Linqi 36 Courtyards" (林栖三十六院) ICH handicraft resort project, building nearly 20 craft workshops for indigo dyeing, indigo print cloth, traditional weaving, and silverwork, and drawing veteran artisans and local villagers into the transmission of skills. The project runs showrooms and livestream studios to display and sell indigo print clothing, trains villagers in livestreaming skills free of charge, and links mountain crafts to wider markets through an "internet plus handicraft" model. "What I see is not the difficulty and revenue of the moment," Lin Qi said, "but what it may grow into decades from now — even 50 or 100 years from now, a great tree. A Mamianqun from China may one day walk out into the world."
