Zheng Han
01 · Lineage & Regional School
During middle school he studied painting and inkstone carving under Fang Qinshu and his son Fang Jianchen, renowned masters of painting, calligraphy and inkstone carving, and in 2005 he founded the Zheng Han Inkstone Carving Art Center in Huangshan. Within the regional tradition and school record of She Inkstone Making Craftsmanship in She, Anhui: She inkstones are one of the four famous inkstones of China; their principal place of production and the place where they gained their fame is She County in ancient Huizhou, hence the name She inkstone. After the Kaiyuan era, Longwei inkstone stone was discovered, and She inkstones came to be treasured even more by the world; Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang, regarded She inkstones as "the finest under heaven" and established an inkstone office in Shezhou, promoting the inkstone craftsman Li Shaowei to serve as its director, and the standing of She inkstones rose sharply from then on. The She County Craft Factory of Anhui Province is the project protection unit. She inkstones appeared as early as the Han and Jin periods, and their fame grew steadily from the Tang dynasty onward. In the Song dynasty She inkstones developed rapidly: varieties increased and fine stones emerged continually, and their range of names, fineness of texture, and excellence of carving were unsurpassed among all inkstones. After the mid-1980s, She inkstones entered the forefront of China's inkstone industry and, for their excellent quality, received the National Quality Product award, a gold award for export earnings, and a "National Treasure" certificate from the relevant authorities.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1963 in She County, Anhui Province. He is a national representative bearer of She Inkstone Making Craftsmanship, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Building on the traditions of inkstone carving, he fuses the ancient with the contemporary. His knife work is vigorous, seasoned and concise; his carving combines deep, pierced and openwork techniques with dots, lines and planes, and his works make skilled use of the natural colouring of the stone skin, with ingenious and refined conceptions. His works Huangshan Shengji Yinhen Yan (Inkstone with Imprints of the Scenic Sites of Huangshan) and Zhongguo Long Yan (Chinese Dragon Inkstone) were presented as state gifts to Emperor Akihito of Japan and to then French President Jacques Chirac respectively. In 2008 his work Tian Yuan Di Fang Luo Pan Yan (Compass Inkstone of Heaven and Earth) was presented as a gift to Juan Antonio Samaranch, honorary life president of the International Olympic Committee. He has published monographs on She inkstone carving, including Zheng Han Yan Ji (Collected Inkstones of Zheng Han) and Yu Shi Zhi Jian (Between Jade and Stone). Within the documented technical tradition of She Inkstone Making Craftsmanship in She, Anhui: She inkstones are one of the four famous inkstones of China; their principal place of production and the place where they gained their fame is She County in ancient Huizhou, hence the name She inkstone. Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province was formerly part of Huizhou, and its products are also called She inkstones. After the Kaiyuan era, Longwei inkstone stone was discovered, and She inkstones came to be treasured even more by the world. Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang, regarded She inkstones as "the finest under heaven" and established an inkstone office (yanwu) in Shezhou, promoting the inkstone craftsman Li Shaowei to serve as its director; the standing of She inkstones rose sharply from then on. From the late Yuan to the early Qing there are no records of official quarrying of She stone, and She inkstone making was merely maintained in a diminished state. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, She inkstone production developed for a time, and gold-star (Jinxing) She inkstones reappeared. After the reform and opening-up, She County and Wuyuan County successively established She inkstone factories, craft factories, and Four Treasures of the Study companies, with a full range of operations from quarrying inkstone stone and making products to decoration, and developed new varieties such as "douban" (bean speckle), "green brushed silk", "She red", and "purple cloud". The She inkstone making technique centers on carving and consists of many process steps, including stone selection, conception, finalizing the form, pattern design, carving, polishing, and fitting the inkstone case; according to the stone's veining, She inkstones are divided into five major categories - rib (luo) pattern, eyebrow (mei) pattern, gold star, gold halo, and fish roe - with more than one hundred varieties. The stone has a fine, dense texture, combining hardness with moistness; it is slightly abrasive without holding back the brush, and smooth without repelling the ink. She inkstones are praised as "the crown of all mountains' stones" and "a famed pearl of the inkstone realm". At present, raw She inkstone stone is extremely scarce and the traditional craft lacks successors; protection efforts urgently need to be increased. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival record of process steps": The She inkstone making technique centers on carving and consists of many process steps, including stone selection, conception, finalizing the form, pattern design, carving, polishing, and fitting the inkstone case; according to the stone's veining, She inkstones are divided into five major categories - rib (luo) pattern, eyebrow (mei) pattern, gold star, gold halo, and fish roe - with more than one hundred varieties.
Archival record of process steps
The She inkstone making technique centers on carving and consists of many process steps, including stone selection, conception, finalizing the form, pattern design, carving, polishing, and fitting the inkstone case; according to the stone's veining, She inkstones are divided into five major categories - rib (luo) pattern, eyebrow (mei) pattern, gold star, gold halo, and fish roe - with more than one hundred varieties.
Core Technique I
She inkstones are one of the four famous inkstones of China;
Core Technique II
their principal place of production and the place where they gained their fame is She County in ancient Huizhou, hence the name She inkstone.
Core Technique III
Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province was formerly part of Huizhou, and its products are also called She inkstones.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2009, Zheng Han was announced in the third batch of national representative bearers for She Inkstone Making Craftsmanship, with She, Anhui as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of She Inkstone Making Craftsmanship in She, Anhui: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with She, Anhui as its declared area, and Anhui She County Gongyi Factory as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
She inkstones appeared as early as the Han and Jin periods, and their fame grew steadily from the Tang dynasty onward. In the Song dynasty She inkstones developed rapidly: varieties increased and fine stones emerged continually, and their range of names, fineness of texture, and excellence of carving were unsurpassed among all inkstones.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cao Jieming | She, Anhui | 01-0187 | Same declared area |
| Zheng Han | She, Anhui | 03-1335 | This page |
| Wang Zuwei | She, Anhui | 04-1860 | Same declared area |
| Cai Yongjiang | She, Anhui | 05-2770 | Same declared area |
| Wang Hongxin | Wuyuan, Jiangxi | 05-2771 | Other regional school |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。