Manhole cover culture is a general term for all cultural content related to manhole cover, including humanities, arts, technology, and craftsmanship.
Manhole cover culture has flourished since the 1960s. Some cities in the United States, France, Germany, Poland, Finland, Korea, Japan, Norway, Brazil, Canada and other countries have their own manhole cover culture. Many famous historical and cultural cities abroad have promoted the manhole cover culture to the city's business card level. In recent years, manhole cover culture has also appeared in some areas of China. Manhole cover culture can not only beautify the urban environment, but also reduce the incidence of manhole cover accidents.
The manhole cover has become a business card for the city. It began to solve practical details, but also became an art because of superb craftsmanship, and eventually continued to spread to a special culture.
In a developing country, almost every city can see colorful manhole covers with animals, landscapes, historical stories or urban features, and have a strong sense of design.
Japan has designed more than 6000 types of manhole covers and even established several manhole cover museums. A semi-official "Manhole Cover Association" was also formed, consisting of 32 companies, dedicated to protecting and studying manhole covers throughout Japan.
According to the Manhole Cover Association, they were designed in the late 1850s by engineers in big cities such as Tokyo to prevent skidding. In the rainy season, motorcycles and bicycles slip on the manhole cover. The engineer improved the texture of the surface of the manhole cover by adding some bump pattern designs, which is not only non-slip but also beautiful.
Many creative young people in China began to paint on manhole covers everywhere. The students used their spare time to paint on the campus manhole cover, and the funny "manhole cover" turned into a different campus landscape.
This kind of "hot" manhole cover art is no longer limited to campus. On August 18th, 2014, in a residential area in Taiyuan, Shanxi, more than 30 creative "manhole cover paintings" have become a different kind of landscape in this community. Creators not only graffiti on a manhole cover, but also use similar manhole covers for creative design, making graffiti creative works more ornamental.