Ma Maoting

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1974, after graduating from senior high school, he began learning silverwork from his father. In 1977 he followed his father into a commune- and brigade-run silver-processing factory, where he worked at silver processing. Within the regional tradition and school record of Miao Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship in Fenghuang, Hunan: Silver ornaments are the traditional adornment most favored by the Miao, used mainly to decorate women. They come in many varieties, divided into head ornaments, face ornaments, neck ornaments, shoulder ornaments, chest ornaments, waist ornaments, arm ornaments, foot ornaments, hand ornaments, and so on. Coordinated with one another, they achieve a perfectly integrated decorative effect. Miao silver ornament craftsmanship has long been passed down within families from master to apprentice. As the amount of silver used for festivals, weddings and funerals kept growing, the various processes—forging, chasing (engraving), and knotting—were driven to ever finer refinement.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Miao ethnicity, he was born in June 1953 in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province. He is a representative bearer of Miao Silver Ornament Forging Craftsmanship, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He is a Miao silver ornament forging technician. From 1980 to 2018 he ran a silver ornament workshop at his home for thirty-eight years. He has taken on more than twenty apprentices and collected over a hundred antique silver ornaments as samples for exhibition and study. He has forged a great many silver ornaments, sold to households far and wide. In 2005 his works the silver flower hat, the silver phoenix coronet and a silver ornament shawl were collected by the Miao Museum. In 2015 a silver flower hat, a silver phoenix coronet, a silver susan ornament and a needle case were collected by the Jishou University Museum. Within the documented technical tradition of Miao Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship in Fenghuang, Hunan: The silver phoenix crown and silver flower hat are the principal ornaments of the headpiece and the very head of the entire silver-adornment series, long praised as "dragon head and phoenix tail." Their construction is quite complex, employing no fewer than 150 and as many as over 200 small components, and they are extremely valuable. Miao silver ornaments are exquisite and beautiful, with the work of Leishan County in Guizhou Province and Fenghuang County in Hunan Province regarded as representative. In Leishan, the silversmiths are concentrated mainly in Kongbai, Maliao, and Wugao of Xijiang Town. The forging of silver ornaments is a craft unique to the Miao people; every piece is made entirely by hand. The designs and structures of the silver ornaments are the result of the artisans' careful planning. From drafting through carving and manufacturing, there are thirty process steps, including smelting and casting, hammering, soldering, knotting, and washing—all executed at an exceedingly high level of craftsmanship. The craft of making Miao silver ornaments has a long history. It passed successively through stages of evolution—from primitive ornaments to decorations of rock and shell, and from botanical and floral ornaments to gold and silver ornaments. Handed down through the generations, it gave rise to silver ornaments whose patterns and forms became essentially fixed, yet whose varieties and styles continue to be renewed to this day. The resulting chain of ornaments has become one of the symbols of the Miao society's evolution. Miao silver ornaments carry rich and varied cultural meaning; from their varieties and pattern designs to the construction of their motifs and their assembly, they display a very high cultural refinement. In their interactions with the outside world, the Miao people present silver ornaments as gifts to friends, treasuring them as much as the Tibetan khata and the Han people's jewelry. The creative craft of Miao silver ornaments fully embodies the Miao people's intelligent, capable, ingenious, kind, and friendly national character. Silver ornaments are pure white and lovely, flawless and untainted, and hard in substance—precisely a manifestation of the Miao people's spiritual qualities. For a long time Miao silver ornaments circulated only within Miao regions, but since the Reform and Opening-up their prospects for development have looked promising. However, the forging craft is generally transmitted within the family, so the best pupils cannot be chosen to receive it. Most of the original artisans are now aged, and few can truly inherit this exquisite craft of silver forging. The prospects for this distinctive skill are therefore less than optimistic, and it is necessary to strengthen protective efforts. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Documented Process Steps": The designs and structures of the silver ornaments are the result of the artisans' careful planning. From drafting through carving and manufacturing, there are thirty process steps, including smelting and casting, hammering, soldering, knotting, and washing—all executed at an exceedingly high level of craftsmanship.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2010 he took part in the First China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, organized by the Ministry of Culture and others, and received an award for his silverwork in the Dream of Fenghuang category.

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. Ma Maoting · National Representative Bearer Archive