Jizhuazhu
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1946, a native of Yangcheng, Shanxi. National representative bearer of Yangchengshengtieyezhujiyi (Yangcheng Pig-Iron Smelting and Casting Craftsmanship), a first-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 1964 Jizhuazhu began doing odd jobs and tending machines at the plow-furnace cooperative, learning smelting and casting from his uncle Zhang Suoming. In 1976 he formally became a plow-furnace worker, and in 1977 he served successively as furnace master in Honglu and Majia, continuing until the plow furnaces ceased production in 1984. With years of accumulated experience he became able to repair the lilu-mo and da-kou sections of the plow furnace, and to judge the heat of the fire and the color of the molten metal by eye alone. He also made continuous improvements on the basis of the traditional smelting and casting process, achieving notable results in particular in the improvement of the fengshuang and the furnace chamber. In recent years, teachers and students of the Shanxi Institute of Technology and technical personnel of the Industrial Department of the Shanxi Provincial Commune-and-Brigade Industry Administration Bureau repeatedly sought out Jizhuazhu to work with him in studying and discussing the production process of the plow mirror and the improvement of the plow furnace. At present Jizhuazhu has two apprentices, and both have already mastered the craft.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
- Yangchengshengtieyezhujiyi Ⅷ-35
- Shengtieyezhujiyi Ⅷ-35
- Shengtieyezhujiyi Ⅷ-35
Profile
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