Yang Xi

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Yang Xi, Male, Han, from Suzhou, Jiangsu, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Jade Carving (Ⅶ-57). The tradition is documented in Suzhou, Jiangsu. Within the regional tradition and school record of Jade Carving in Suzhou, Jiangsu: According to historical records, in those days the sound of jade carving could be heard everywhere in the Zhuanzhu Lane district of Suzhou; it is for this reason that the Ming author Song Yingxing, in his work Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), wrote that "fine jade may be gathered in the capital, but exquisite workmanship belongs to Suzhou." During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Suzhou jade carving was famous throughout the country and was regarded as the leader of the trade. During the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, the imperial court established a dedicated jade-carving workshop within the Imperial Workshops (Zaobanchu) and on several occasions summoned Suzhou jade artisans to Beijing to make jade objects.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1964 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. A research-professor-level senior arts and crafts artist. He graduated in 1983 from the Suzhou School of Arts and Crafts and then joined the Suzhou Jade Carving Factory, working in design and carving. He can handle every branch of jade carving in full, including figure and shanzi landscape pieces, flowers, birds, insects and fish, and animals, and he commands full-round, relief and openwork carving with ease. In 2002 he opened up a new genre of jade carving, combining planar design with a method of expressing the solid and the void, thereby enriching the expressive techniques of the craft; his 'combination of solid and void' method is especially suited to representing immortals and Buddhas, spirits and ghosts. His representative works include Zhu (Bamboo), Gu Yun (Ancient Charm), Fo Zai Xin Zhong (Buddha in the Heart), Jing Si (Quiet Contemplation) and Nü Ren Yu Ge Zi (Woman and Dove). Within the documented technical tradition of Jade Carving in Suzhou, Jiangsu: Archaeological excavations have shown that jade carvings already appeared in the Suzhou region six or seven thousand years ago. In the Spring and Autumn period, jade artisans of the state of Wu produced parrot-head arched jade ornaments and double-looped arched ridge-backed jade ornaments, demonstrating a high level of skill. Later these jade artisans settled in Beijing, and from then on the jade-making techniques of the "Suzhou school" (Subang) began to spread in the capital. In this period Suzhou produced jade artisans in quick succession: He Si, Liu Shen, Wang Xiaoxi and Lu Zigang, among others, all won fame in the capital and renown throughout the land through their jade-carving skill. Suzhou jade carving is dominated by small and medium-sized pieces, mostly table ornaments such as censers, vases, birds and animals, and hanging ornaments such as pendants, drops, rings, hairpins and bracelets. Production generally employs precious materials such as white jade and jadeite; the workmanship is exquisite, the technique practiced and economical, and the subject matter extremely rich. The making of jade carving generally passes through many process steps — selecting the material, cutting it open, designing, carving and polishing — with emphasis on shaping the design to suit the material, carving proceeding alongside design; the "clever carving" that takes ingenious advantage of the material's natural colors in particular depends entirely on the artisan's originality. The final polishing preserves the full flavor of the carving, makes the jade warmer and more pleasing, and renders the detail more refined and delicate. Suzhou jade carving has three stylistic qualities summed up as openness, flowing grace and fine detail. "Openness" means that void and solid are properly balanced and density and sparseness well judged, so that the piece feels not cumbersome but airy; "flowing grace" means the forms are vivid and the lines fluent, so that the piece feels not stiff but free and elegant; "fine detail" means the polishing and carving are meticulous and the conception ingenious, so that the piece feels not crude but a triumph of workmanship over nature. Modern Suzhou jade carving inherits the artistic style of the "Suzhou school" tradition: its patterns and lines are smooth and richly decorative, with careful attention to accents, density, transitions and line weight; on the whole it avoids excessive delicacy, and within fullness it shows a sense of solidity and plain substance. The conception of the hanging and pendant ornaments is especially distinctive: the jade artisans naturally embody in them rich perceptions of life and modern aesthetic sensibilities, so that ancient charm and present-day style combine to reveal their mastery all the more. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Process Steps": The making of jade carving generally passes through many process steps — selecting the material, cutting it open, designing, carving and polishing — with emphasis on shaping the design to suit the material, carving proceeding alongside design; the "clever carving" that takes ingenious advantage of the material's natural colors in particular depends entirely on the artisan's originality.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a national representative bearer of jade carving (Suzhou jade carving), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He is committed to research on jade-carving technique and to training successors, teaching mainly the younger generation with a grounding in fine art.

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. Yang Xi · National Representative Bearer Archive