Zhou Tingyi

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Zhou Tingyi, Male, Unspecified, from Handan, Hebei, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Paper Effigy Craftsmanship (Ⅶ-66). The tradition is documented in Handan, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Paper Effigy Craftsmanship in Handan, Hebei: In some places, straw stalks are used in place of bamboo splints for the armature, with plain cloth, silk, or bark paper as the surface; the colorful cloth platform craft (caibu ningtai) of Handan, Hebei, is mounted directly with various colored fabrics. Color decoration also takes on different characteristics from region to region. Legend has it that this technique was brought to the local area by migrants from Shanxi during the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty; it was first used by prominent clans in the Jinan (southern Hebei) region to build funeral canopies, and was later creatively adapted by the people of Dayinbao Village, giving rise to a much-loved caizhai art. Legend has it that the technique of the colorful cloth platform craft (caibu ningtai) was brought to the Handan area of Hebei by migrants from Shanxi during the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty. It was first used by prominent and powerful clans in southern Hebei (Jinan) to build funeral canopies; only later was it creatively adapted by the people of Dayinbao Village, who turned the mourning-rite canopy into a festival caizhai platform, giving rise to the much-loved art of the colorful cloth platform.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

In 1980 he studied the craft of ningtai, the twisted colored-cloth platform, with Chen Dengpan. After Chen Dengpan's death he became the sole chief director and craftsman of the colored-cloth ningtai craft in his village. Through long practice in building ningtai he kept advancing and gradually formed a style of his own. The ningtai he builds are vivid in form and exact in pattern, deeply loved by local people, and he is often invited to build them in other villages. In 2008 he organized the activity Welcome the Olympics, Celebrate the Harvest, Promote Harmony: A New Year Offering of Colored-Cloth Ningtai. The Natives programme of the military and agricultural channel of China Central Television made a documentary about him, Xinling Shouqiao de Laohan (The Dexterous Old Man), and People's Daily Overseas Edition and other media carried features on his artistic career and distinctive skills. Within the documented technical tradition of Paper Effigy Craftsmanship in Handan, Hebei: Caizhai (colored paper-and-bamboo mounting) is a traditional folk craft widely practiced throughout northern and southern China. It is inseparable from folk activities such as sacrificial rites, festivals, and entertainments, and through continuous development it has exerted enormous influence among the people. The caizhai technique is based primarily on a bamboo-spline armature covered with paper, supplemented by painted decoration on the surface. Because customs and local products differ from place to place, the specific materials used also vary. In general, northern caizhai is bold and unrestrained with strong contrasts, while southern caizhai is refined and delicate, lively and lovable. Caizhai products take a rich variety of forms, including festival lanterns, lion heads, opera stages, and models of historic architecture. When crafts such as lion heads are made, they are usually modeled on the opera facial makeup of their place of origin; once completed, they are fitted with cloth, hemp, silk flowers, and other ornaments, often achieving a remarkably lifelike and vividly expressive effect. The colorful cloth platform craft is a distinctive folk caizhai art practiced in Dayinbao Village, Handan City, Hebei Province. Its main technical means is to twist and bind colorful floral fabrics over a wooden opera-stage framework, creating imitation ancient-style theater buildings and performance scenes. At harvest-year celebrations, the villagers of Dayinbao make colorful cloth platforms; the practice has been passed down as a custom ever since and continues unabated. A colorful cloth platform is generally 10 meters high, 13 meters wide, and 10 meters deep. Its ridge, tile courses, small eaves, water channels (zoushui), screens, round columns, square lattice windows, bracket sets (dougong), and inscribed plaques are all twisted and bound from colorful cloth, in a rigorous and meticulous manner of great beauty. The opera figures, historical stories, flowers, birds, fish, and insects, and other motifs on the platform are likewise twisted and bound from colorful cloth — true to life, vivid in posture, and full of spirit. On the front of a colorful cloth platform a "three-view plaque" (sankan bei) is usually hung; viewed from different angles, people can see three different images — a dragon, a tiger, and the plaque inscription "Yule Ting" (Pavilion of Amusement). The design and execution are highly ingenious. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "From mourning canopy to festival stand": Brought by Shanxi migrants in the Yongle era for aristocratic funeral canopies, the villagers of Dayinbao turned it into festival decoration. "Appliquéd directly in coloured cloth": Rather than paper, Dayinbao work is surfaced in coloured cloth, giving controllable, weather-fast colour typical of northern coloured craft. "Zhou Tingyi and the master weaver": Zhou Tingyi apprenticed to Chen Dengpan in 1980 and became the village's sole master after his death, now invited to build stands in neighbouring villages. "A New Year presentation": In 2008 Zhou organised an Olympic, harvest and harmony New Year presentation, carrying the craft into public cultural events and national broadcast.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in February 1942, died in May 2016, a native of Handan, Hebei Province. National representative bearer of paper effigy craftsmanship (colored-cloth ningtai), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

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. Zhou Tingyi · National Representative Bearer Archive