Sisters are a glass act honoring heritage

In 2009, the craft was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage in China, and the Chang sisters became inheritors of it.

They made more improvements to the family craft. For example, while the traditional "grapes" were only purple or green, they tempered more colors and thus diversified their offerings. They have also modified the styles of the "grapes".

The Chang sisters were not engaged with the craft on a full-time basis until they retired.

In the old days, people who mastered crafts sometimes regarded it as exclusive and did not impart their skills to people who were not family members. So it was with the Chang family. The female members, distrustful of the males, decided the craft would only pass from female to female within the family. In order to not reveal the craft to others, five female members of the Chang family remained single and devoted themselves to the craft, including Chang Yuling.

Chang Hong tried to write down their stories about a decade ago, but the task brought on a deep melancholy and sadness. In her eyes, her elders, especially the five women, really sacrificed a lot for the craft, and that is one of the reasons that urged her not to give up on it.

In the 1950s, the Chang family's grape-making craft broadened its horizons and started to recruit apprentices. In 1957, with help from local government, they received an order of 50,000 bunches of "grapes".