Arya News - Whether it`s clam oil or enamel basins, people are increasingly tapping into a nostalgia for yesteryear.
BEIJING – When Edward Hugh Fraser, 45, was leaving Beijing to return to the United Kingdom, he wanted to take home a souvenir. Instead of choosing a box of tea or a fine silk scarf, he picked out a vintage-looking tin of clam oil — a petroleum jelly-like skin product known as “Chinese Vaseline” that was a familiar household item in China back in the 1960s and remains in production today.
“It’s hardly your typical tourist souvenir,” Fraser said, adding that it allowed him to bring back a slice of local Chinese life.
The clam oil that Fraser found was tucked away in Dafang Department Store, an old Beijing shop that retains the feel of a State-run shop from decades past. It was there that Fraser encountered everyday objects he had never imagined would still have a place in modern Beijing.
On the shelves, he noticed white-and-red enamel basins and mugs. A sales assistant told him that such enamelware was commonly given as wedding gifts in China in the 1970s and 1980s. Nearby, a foot-pedal sewing machine from around the same era was still in use.
Fraser noticed that customers still came to have quilts made for children who were heading back to boarding school.
“What touched me most is that these vintage objects have preserved a way of life from the past, and they remain available to ordinary citizens today,” he said.
For Italian architect Fabrizio Gurrado, these relics of everyday life offer something else: a way for Chinese nostalgia and Western aesthetics to meet.
Near the landmark Drum Tower in Beijing, Gurrado has transformed several enamel basins into pendant lamps hanging from the ceiling of an Italian restaurant.
Against the restaurant’s European-style interior, these distinctly Chinese objects do not feel out of place, Gurrado said, adding that their age is precisely part of their appeal.
“The chipped edges, the faded colors, the typography — they carry a kind of imperfect elegance that fits very well into modern spaces,” he said.
But Gurrado’s connection to these items goes beyond design. Having grown up in southern Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, he remembers similar enamelware in family homes. Picking up an old Chinese enamel mug can unexpectedly take him back to his childhood and evoke memories of his parents.
“I see stories of family meals, of communal living, of thrift and care in them,” he said.
Such familiarity gives vintage items a resonance that can cross cultures: An everyday object from another country can evoke memories of home.
That appeal is also traveling far beyond physical shops and interiors. On social media, Chinese retro goods and lifestyles have been finding audiences overseas, particularly among younger users. For example, traditional Chinese cloth shoes with “thousand-layer” soles went viral on TikTok. Some online users dubbed them the “Air Jordans of the BC era”, drawing attention to the enduring craftsmanship behind the traditional footwear.
Retro reimagined
For many overseas observers, Chinese vintage may offer a glimpse into an unfamiliar past. For young Chinese, however, many of these objects are not exotic curiosities, but reminders of things once found in the homes of their parents and grandparents. That nostalgia is now inspiring them to reinterpret this heritage in contemporary ways.
Chinese content creator Hu Yu, who grew up in the 1980s, has documented that disappearing material world through short videos. In one series, he visits surviving State-owned department stores, filming the goods still found inside. The videos have attracted viewers who use the comment sections to reminisce about similar items from their own childhoods.
“It really surprised me,” Hu said.
For younger creators, old everyday objects also offer a distinctive visual language to work with. Their bold colors, simple forms and recognizable motifs can easily be recast in modern designs.
Guo Minjie, 21, is a pattern designer for fuse beads, a craft popular among young Chinese enthusiasts. Rather than focusing only on familiar anime characters or pet motifs, she designed a series based on old Chinese household items such as sewing machines, bicycles, enamel basins and tin frog toys.
When she posted the patterns in a fan group with more than 10,000 members, the designs quickly caught on. More than 2,000 people signed up for the series, with fans sharing their finished pieces and asking her to create more.
“Real retro objects will eventually wear out, but creativity ensures that the family bonds and the evolving memories of the times behind them live on,” Guo said.