World · East Asia & Pacific · 1 hr ago
Viral Videos Revive Sichuan’s Traditional Bamboo Chair Craft
In Mangcheng village near Qingcheng Mountain in Sichuan, fourth-generation craftswoman Ma Jiao returned to make traditional bamboo chairs after the craft lost buyers and faced a shortage of successors.
The chairs, known as Qingcheng Ma chairs, are made by hand from bamboo without nails or glue, using more than 100 steps.
Ma Jiao gave up a stable city job and began posting videos showing how the chairs are made.
Viral videos brought orders from across China, including one video that received 150 million views.
The orders kept the makers busy for three years, and her account now has more than one million followers.
A cooperative helps village makers earn more by organizing production and finding orders in advance; members earn about 3,000 yuan more per month, according to the story.
Ma Jiao has also set up a workshop for training and visitor experiences, and hopes to connect the craft with cultural and rural tourism.
Videos showing the traditional making of Sichuan’s Qingcheng Ma bamboo chairs brought orders from across China.
The orders from a viral video kept the chair makers busy for three years.
Fourth-generation craft inheritor Ma Jiao returned to her village and began posting videos of the work.
The chairs are made by hand without nails or glue, using mortise-and-tenon joints.
Ma Jiao’s short-video account has more than one million followers, and she has expanded the craft into training and cultural tourism.
- Who
- Ma Jiao, a fourth-generation inheritor of the Qingcheng Ma chair craft, and the chair makers in her village.
- What
- Viral videos helped revive demand for the traditional bamboo chairs and brought orders that took makers three years to fulfill.
- When
- The article was published on October 30, 2026. It says Ma Jiao returned to the village seven years earlier.
- Where
- Mangcheng village, at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China.
- Why
- The videos showed the handmade craft and helped open up sales after the craft had lost its market.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Ma Shuanghe, an ancestor of Ma Jiao, made bamboo chairs that became known as Ma chairs around Qingcheng Mountain.
Ma Jiao established the Ma Chair Bamboo Weaving Farmers’ Cooperative.
Qingcheng Ma chairs were included in Chengdu’s representative intangible cultural heritage list.
Ma Jiao returned to the village and began making short videos about the craft.
Orders from across China kept the makers busy for three years.
- Traditional construction
- Made without nails or glue, using mortise-and-tenon joints
- Craft history
- Passed down in the Ma family for more than 130 years
- Viral video views
- One video received 150 million views
- Social media following
- More than 1 million followers across platforms
- Cooperative income
- Members earn about 3,000 yuan more per month
- Training and experiences
- Nearly 200 sessions; more than 3,000 people trained or took part in study experiences
1 source
What people are saying
Every video we post brings orders.
Doing what you love is actually very happy.
Since the cooperative was established, sales have been much better than before; we used to have to sell the chairs ourselves, but now orders are secured in advance, and members can focus on production, improving efficiency and quality.