My first convention was the 4th Israeli Origami Center gathering in 2008. Since then, I have attended about 40 conventions in 12 different locations spread over four continents. None prepared me for the Puyuan Origami camp, which took place from July 18 to August 11, 2025.
Pan Hang, a Chinese entrepreneur, decided that China needed an origami convention, and his way was to go big. He created a concept I only wish I had thought of: four 5-day sessions taking place in a 4-week period, with each session aimed at a somewhat different audience.
With about 400 participants, around 40 creators and an (estimated) average age of 14, the Chinese folding community represented there was like no other. Their work was powerful and authentic but limited in spectrum; there was little modular or geometric work and mostly complex figurative and color-change themes.
For teachers, Pan Hang decided to invite all those who had taught at his online event during COVID days. There were 23 origami instructors, 11 from abroad, and 12 from China. Add to them four non-origami guests to complete the list of 27 invitees. Read this sentence again: 27 special guests!
Put this all in a new facility, Puyuan Fashion Resort— immersed in a reconstructed medieval Chinese town in the southern Yangtze Delta, split by canals and picturesque bridges and containing a super-modern hotel — and you can start to imagine the impact it had on me.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/8fbfFFei8YQEcCRH8 plain map https://maps.app.goo.gl/cG2ZnUtXKCKceHME9 terrain
And to top it all, you have Chinese cuisine, represented with oh-so-many restaurants, and you may understand why I put this at the head of my list of holistic origami experiences.
The Events
The first five-day session (July 18-23), Origami Joy, covered simple-to-intermediate models directed toward families. Kids and their parents sat together and learned from some of the best origami creators in the world. The groups were small, around 20 people. Classes were given with a top-down camera and projected onto a big screen. There was only one class at any given moment, and this was the way workshops went at the next sessions as well.
After five days, there was a day to rest. Then session 2 (July 25-28), Origami Convention, started. This was the real deal: 250 folders sitting in a huge hall in front of a huge (6 by 19 meters) screen, where the (huge) hands of the teacher were projected.
Most were young kids. I could count the folders past the age of 40 with one hand. The creators’ community, naturally, was older, but not old; the oldest was Mi Wu, age 46. While most, if not all, international origami communities are struggling to bring in new blood, Pan Hang managed to gather numerous youngsters, but they present a unique problem — how to make sure they will cross into their adult years of the college-work-family cycle while maintaining their passion for origami.*
The first day of this session started at 8:30 and was scheduled to last until 23:00, with lunch and dinner breaks. That timespan would have been accurate if the pace had been kept, but it hardly ever was. The students claimed their rights to complete the program, and even if the penultimate class lasted an extra hour, and the clock said 23:30, they rushed to the supply table to get their 50 cm sheets for the last model. That day ended at 1:30 a.m., and the next day started at 8:30, as scheduled.
The evening classes were mostly dedicated to presentations by the guests on a variety of topics from techniques to life stories and concepts of design.
The third session (July 30-August 4) was called Origami Master and was aimed at the more-addicted folders. The workshops could last up to four hours and were mostly complex. These sessions were located in a smaller room. Since there were only about 90 folders — fewer and at a higher level than in session 2 — the workshops were easier to handle.
The level of the students was not as consistent as you might expect. The organizer did not screen their level, and anyone could join, with the understanding that the level is extremely high. And it was. I saw kids folding a dinosaur by Bodo (Haag) for the first time, and the final result looked so refined that you could not believe it was their first time. But some attendees struggled with a relatively simple model by Roman Diaz, which made him and me wonder how it could be.
Apparently, folders will try a hard model, even if it is above their level, and will just give up. With simpler models, the weaker students held on and tried to finish. For me, it was a great opportunity to present designs and the logic behind them, to allow a better understanding of the creation process and maybe to encourage participants to become designers.
And one of them did just that:
The last session (August 6-11), Origami Beyond, was all about paper — not only folding, but cutting, gluing and pre-made kits — and enhancing the experience and the possibilities embedded in each sheet. I was able to attend only one workshop by Haruki Nakamura from Japan, maybe the greatest inventor of paper toys. There is so much joy in a toy that executes a surprising back flip and sits perfectly on its hind legs.
Origami Beyond had fewer than 20 attendees, and Pan is considering merging it with Origami Joy in the future.
The Community
Since the first Origami World Marathon, I have been in contact with numerous Chinese creators, and for many reasons, my experience has been highly positive. Communicating with these creators has been hard, since most are not on Western social media. For this trip, I realised I had to install WeChat, the equivalent of WhatsApp, but I was worried about the wisdom of having it on my phone. I asked Roman Diaz if he wasn’t also concerned, and he said, “What’s the big difference? Do you have WhatsApp or Google Maps? You are being tracked anyway.” Realizing this truth, I followed his lead and installed it.
Most of the creators at the convention were men ranging in age from 18 to 37. They focused on complex models and a lot of color changes. The exhibition was only for teachers and creators. Just two people exhibited tessellations, and one showed modulars.
Most participants in the convention spoke only basic English and were a little shy about doing so, but with Google Translate (or the local version), communication was possible, although slow. Since there were so many Western visitors and the English proficiency of the Chinese participants was limited, the dinner tables were divided by language.
The folders were amazing. They were dedicated and disciplined, which is a natural development of the Chinese educational system paired with parental support and guidance. Many parents accompanied their kids, sitting in the hall, making sure the kids followed the instructions.
When there was a difficult step in a model, you could see a small group of students huddled around the teacher asking him either to explain (rarely) or to complete the move for them, which he did. In this aspect, the system did not work so nicely, as the whole hall had to wait for those par-10 folders.
Since the exhibition was exclusive to teachers and creators, some folders decided to dedicate a hotel room to their own exhibition, which we were invited to explore. Their work was at the highest level I have seen, and I’ve seen quite a lot in my life.
The Teachers
The 11 non-Chinese origami guests were Bodo, Roman, Dave Brill, Assia Brill, Vincent Floderer, Tomoko Fuse, Kei Morisue, Cuong Nguyen Hung, Hoang Tien Quyet, Nguyen Vo Hien Chuong and I. It’s hard to feel special with so many other special guests, so Pan used the term “origami friends” to describe us.
The Chinese list was longer. It comprised Chen Xiao, Syn, Yanhui Lai, Mi Wu (Guo Song), Meng Weiling, Tu Kaiming, Wang Hao, Wang Zhajian, Yang Meng, Zhang Yifan, Du Julai and Zhang Ziliang.
With so many teachers, each one was able to give only one workshop in the second session and two in the third. They also gave a presentation each week.
I found out I am not that good at following long precrease sequences. You must stay in full focus all the time, and even with a short lapse of concentration you can get completely lost. Attempting to stay in focus the whole day, I came to appreciate the stamina of the young folders.
What was special for me — and I realized it only after Roman said it aloud — was that this was the longest period I have ever spent with other creators, nonstop. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, and all the classes in between, I sat among origami creators and talked about everything origami: papers, design, teaching, other conventions, etc. And I was never bored. When it ended, I couldn’t say it wasn’t long enough (as we usually say when a normal convention ends), but I still enjoyed every moment.
The Venue
Puyuan Fashion Resort is an amazing place. It was originally a medieval village (founded in the 12th century), but from 2016 to 2023, it was torn apart, and on the same land they built underground areas for galleries, museums, and more and covered them again with the same buildings that were there before. So, you walk into a small old house, and inside you discover a huge (I’ve used the word again and again) staircase, leading to a huge hall presenting old clothing, the history of Puyuan, a coin museum ...
Outdoors, it’s just beautiful, with canals and lovely trees between the old-style wooden awnings. There is a huge temple, a tower and a lake with kayaks.
Our hotel was of the highest standards. On the ground floor, there was a health center with 10 rooms for treatments like softening your skin with various oils or taking a sound bath, where you lie on your back for an hour and listen to a lady beating various Tibetan bowls. A true story.
Next to the main building, there was a recreational center with an indoor Olympic-size pool (not air-conditioned!), a gym, a Pilates room, an outdoor infinity pool of the same Olympic size, and a rock climbing facility (that was ready but not operating just yet).
The Food
The more people sitting around the table, the more dishes you get. We had 20 dishes at the first dinner, and I felt like I was in heaven. I love Chinese food, and it was a perfect start. We alternated restaurants every day, having meals in about eight different places. I will let the images complete the picture.
Yes, there were some unusual dishes, such as snails, duck feet, and cow stomach, but none of the extreme options found in the market, like scorpions on a stick.
To Conclude …
This was an eye-opening event. To see that there could be such an elaborate project, lasting a month and filled with young folders, was a revelation. The Western origami communities are getting old, with not enough young forces joining in, and we have to rethink how we grow the next generation. We need to learn from the Eastern empire, which created paper, and, by definition, created paper folding.
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* Editor’s note: Origami USA has launched a junior board to address this problem. Wendy Zeichner, our president, wrote in The Paper (issue 148, Fall 2025) We are looking to the junior board to be our future leaders, bring in young people like themselves and keep our organization growing, fresh and relevant for folders everywhere.
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Comments
I am amazed at the scope and intensity of this convention, extremely encouraged by its implications for the future of this artform, and, I admit, envious of the luxurious setting. Thank you, Ilan, for taking the time to share all this with the rest of us.