The history of arts and crafts in China presents two clear development threads: the folk arts and crafts with practicality as the main body and the palace and literati arts and crafts system with appreciation as the main body. As two cultural forms of arts and crafts that have grown up and developed in different social environments and conditions and represent the interests of different classes, they have different modes of production, organizational structures, functional purposes and aesthetic characteristics. Folk arts and crafts are mainly natural and economical family handicrafts. The purpose of production is mainly to meet the needs of producers themselves. The unity of production and consumption makes the folk arts and crafts products fully embody the basic principles of practicality and aesthetics, with simple, vigorous and lively qualities. Palace and literati handicrafts are made in official camps or private handicraft workshops to meet the needs and interests of nobles and literati, so they pay attention to expressing conceptual significance and pursuing ornamental and playful value, and advocate meticulous carving. Clever disguise. Government-run production is an important phenomenon in China traditional arts and crafts. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there appeared a "hundred workers" belonging to the royal government. On the basis of the official system of Zhou and Qin Dynasties, various craft workshops and factories subordinate to the government were established in the Han Dynasty. The official handicraft system was complete and thorough in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the official handicraft system was more systematic and strict with the imperial censor in the Ming Dynasty and the weaving bureau in the Qing Dynasty. Most official handicraft institutions are located in central cities or palaces. Materials are occupied for free, craftsmen work for free, and products do not participate in commodity circulation. In this closed economic structure, the court arts and crafts, which pursue the best and compete for beauty, emerged as an ideal style to reflect the spiritual needs of the ruling class. The traditional arts and crafts in feudal China were influenced and standardized. China's traditional cultural concept advocates "Tao" of "metaphysics" and despises "utensil" of "metaphysics". Therefore, arts and crafts with the purpose of function have always been regarded as "carving small skills" and belong to the category of "suppressing the end". This prejudice obviously inhibited the theoretical construction, resulting in the lack of complete and systematic theoretical writings on arts and crafts in China. But China's arts and crafts have always been developed according to their own ideas and principles. Undoubtedly, their individual characteristics depend on the tendentiousness and originality of China's arts and crafts thoughts and creative principles. China's arts and crafts thoughts and creative principles, which are few words, emphasize the social value and function of arts and crafts, pursue the integration of mind and material, advocate the moderate harmony between nature and labor, pay attention to the overall organic nature of arts and crafts activities, and strive to coordinate the relationship between time, geography, materials, technology and other factors.