Zhang Jinpei

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Zhang Jinpei, Male, Unspecified, from Dongguan, Guangdong, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Lantern Art (Ⅶ-50). The tradition is documented in Dongguan, Guangdong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Lantern Art in Dongguan, Guangdong: The Thousand-Angle Lantern has always been the exclusive possession of the Zhao family of Guancheng, Dongguan. The Zhaos lived in Jieyuan Lane, Guancheng, and their ancestral hall, the Pufan Ancestral Hall, long displayed this lantern. The lantern is made once every ten years, with twenty-four decorative ribbons; its making and exhibition were both presided over by the family. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the making of the Thousand-Angle Lantern was interrupted for more than forty years; today it has been remade with the support of the Guancheng District government, and its making and teaching activities are concentrated in the Guancheng area. Although the lantern itself was repeatedly remade, its ribbons were still objects from the Song dynasty, always treasured by the Zhao family; they were destroyed in the 1960s.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The thousand-angle lantern is a giant decorative lantern handed down within the families of descendants of the Zhao imperial house of the Song dynasty who settled in Dongguan. Its making involves no drawings and no surviving models; the craft has been passed on only by oral instruction, from one generation to the next. Building on a thorough knowledge of traditional thousand-angle lantern methods, he improved the materials used for the thousand small lamps, moving from the ancient oil cups with burning wicks to kerosene lamps and then to electric bulbs. His lanterns combine paper crafting, painting and palace lantern craftsmanship in a single object. Within the documented technical tradition of Lantern Art in Dongguan, Guangdong: The Thousand-Angle Lantern is a treasure of the folk craft of Dongguan, Guangdong, originally the exclusive possession of the Zhao family of Dongguan. The Dongguan Zhaos are descendants of the Song imperial family; legend has it that the Zhao family began making the Thousand-Angle Lantern in the early Yuan dynasty, with twenty-four decorative ribbons attached. The Thousand-Angle Lantern is made once every ten years; before the founding of the People's Republic of China it was exhibited at the Pufan Ancestral Hall (the Zhao family ancestral temple in Jieyuan Lane). After an interruption of forty years, the making of the Thousand-Angle Lantern has revived; the current principal inheritor, with the support of the Guancheng District government, spent eight months completing a Thousand-Angle Lantern, but as he is now advanced in years and lacks successors, there is an urgent need to pass on the making technique. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The twenty-four Song-dynasty lamp bands": Named for its twenty-four decorative bands, kept by the Zhao family and said to be Song relics destroyed in the 1960s. "From oil lamps to electric bulbs": Zhang Jinpei replaced the old wick-burning oil cups of its thousand small lamps first with kerosene lamps, then with electric bulbs. "A giant lantern taught mouth to ear": Uniting paper craft, painting and palace-lantern work, it has no drawings or models and is passed on only by word of mouth. "Zhang Shuqi teaching in schools": Born in 1946, Zhang Shuqi trains his two sons, runs school programmes and workshops, and has refined parts of the craft.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Also known as Zhang Fo, male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1920, died in May 2009, a native of Dongguan, Guangdong Province. A national representative bearer of Lantern Art (Dongguan Thousand-Angle Lantern), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His works were exhibited many times and received awards including the gold prize of the China Folk Literature and Art Shanhua Award, jointly presented by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Folk Literature and Art Association.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Zhang Jinpei · National Representative Bearer Archive