"Strait Hairpin: A Tale of Two Cities" is a family epic and cultural inheritance legend that spans 85 years of time and space. The story is based on the national intangible cultural heritage of the hairpin flower weaving technique in Changpu, and interweaves a moving chapter of grandmother Lin Xiuniang and granddaughter Lin Wei across the strait through a dual-line narrative.
In 1943, 18-year-old Lin Xiuniang, a girl from Cangpu, was forced to travel to Southeast Asia due to famine. On the bottom floor of the cargo hold of the stowaway ship, under the moonlight in the rubber plantation, and in the dungeon of the colonist's house, she used a hairpin needle as a pen and exotic flowers as ink to write about the tenacious vitality of Chinese culture amid suffering. From using fish bones to grind needles and shells to carve flowers, to integrating Malay batik and Indian beadwork to create a unique genre of "strait hairpins", she spread the ancient skills of southern Fujian fishing villages to the land of Southeast Asia.
In modern Singapore, after the death of her grandmother, Lin Wei, a completely westernized granddaughter, embarked on a journey to find her cultural roots through a Hokkien diary and a mysterious key. When she returned to her hometown with her grandmother's hairpins that had been sealed for half a century, she used AR technology, blockchain and other modern technologies to rejuvenate traditional skills with the help of a young man named Cheng. From the holographic hairpin show at Singapore's Marina Bay to the stunning UNESCO display, the Xunpu Hairpin Wai finally entered the world cultural heritage list.
This work is not only a magnificent epic of the overseas migration of Chinese culture, but also an innovative declaration of the revitalization of traditional culture empowered by modern technology. Through the dialogue between grandparents and grandchildren across the air, it demonstrates the strong vitality of Chinese culture and the innovative spirit of advancing with the times, and plays a symphony of Strait culture across time and space.
