Chen Yanglong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Chen Yanglong, Male, Han, from Liling, Hunan, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Liling Youxiawucai Firing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-95). The tradition is documented in Liling, Hunan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Liling Youxiawucaici Firing Craftsmanship in Liling, Hunan: The Liling underglaze five-color porcelain firing craft is centered on Liling City, Hunan Province, extending to the eastern Hunan region. Liling has been a center of porcelain production since the Tang and Song dynasties; in the late Qing and early Republic the Hunan Porcelain Industry School was established in Liling, and local porcelain clay and glazes could be obtained on the spot, so the underglaze five-color technique took shape here in modern times. The Liling City Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center is the protecting unit of the item. In the Tang dynasty, the Tongguan kilns near Changsha already had underglaze green and brown floral-and-bird patterns. In 1909 it won a first-class gold medal at the 'Wuhan Industrial Encouragement and Award Exhibition'; in 1910 it participated in the 'Nanyang Industrial Exhibition' and won a first-class gold award; in 1912 it won the top award at the 'Turin Exposition' in Italy; and in 1915 it won a gold medal at the 'Panama–Pacific International Exposition' held in San Francisco, USA.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

He is a national representative bearer of Liling underglaze polychrome porcelain firing craftsmanship, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He was a master of Chinese arts and crafts. He began learning underglaze polychrome techniques at the age of fifteen and excelled in fine-line flower painting. He long engaged in craft research, artistic design and teaching in underglaze polychrome porcelain, and on the basis of his predecessors' work carried out technical innovations that substituted printing and spraying for painting. Building on the traditional single-line flat-fill and water-separation technique, he explored and summed up the "thin application, light dyeing" process, which preserves the character of traditional outlining and filling while forming a personal style that is moist and translucent, calm and quietly elegant; his works present the mood of "Zen within flowers and grasses". The artistic realm he opened up has become the mainstream artistic direction of underglaze polychrome porcelain today. He took part in the making of porcelain for the state's three major halls and of porcelain for Mao Zedong's daily use, and repeatedly undertook the design of state gift porcelain, display porcelain and banquet porcelain. In 2017 the National Museum of China presented "Thin Application, Light Dyeing: Chen Yanglong's Liling Underglaze Polychrome Porcelain Technique Inheritance Exhibition", which systematically displayed his artistic achievements. Forty fine works and more than forty manuscripts, in single pieces and sets, have been collected by the National Museum of China. During his career he trained more than three hundred apprentices, most of whom have become rising figures in the field. His eldest daughter Chen Li and his daughter-in-law Shen Bin are, respectively, a provincial-level representative bearer in Hunan and a municipal-level representative bearer in Zhuzhou of underglaze polychrome porcelain firing craftsmanship. Within the documented technical tradition of Liling Youxiawucaici Firing Craftsmanship in Liling, Hunan: Underglaze five-color porcelain is a skill unique to Liling, Hunan, with a long history. Liling underglaze five-color porcelain passes through nearly one hundred process steps from raw material to finished product, all completed entirely by hand. The porcelain fillers, glazes, and pigments are all made from high-quality local raw materials. Its painted designs use self-made underglaze colorants, applying techniques such as double-outline and water-division filling to dissolve the picture beneath the glaze, making it smooth and lustrous with a full sense of moisture. The glaze covering the decoration, after being fired at a high temperature, forms a glassy layer, appearing even more lustrous, sleek, and clean. The pigments used in underglaze five-color porcelain use metal oxides as coloring agents; their fluxes contain no toxic substances such as lead or cadmium, and they resist acid and alkali. After the body is formed, it must undergo bisque-firing at 800°C to increase its strength. After the body is painted, it is covered with sprayed glaze, then fired at a high temperature of 1350°C–1410°C into a finished product, bringing the colorful picture out from within the glaze layer. Its process of using underglaze cobalt oxide for coloring was widely adopted by later blue-and-white porcelain. Since modern times, Liling underglaze five-color porcelain has repeatedly won awards domestically and internationally for its unique craft and excellent quality. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liling underglaze five-color porcelain won gold and silver awards many times, was selected as the special-use porcelain for important sites such as Zhongnanhai and the Great Hall of the People, and was multiple times presented as a national gift to foreign heads of state. The Liling underglaze five-color porcelain firing craft is a major invention in China's porcelain, has greatly influenced the world's ceramic decoration methods, and holds high scientific and historical-cultural value. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Account of Craft Procedures": Liling underglaze five-color porcelain passes through nearly one hundred process steps from raw material to finished product, all completed entirely by hand.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Born in May 1941 in Liling, Hunan Province, he was a man of the Han ethnic group and died in June 2013. Chen Li's works deeply capture the essence of the "thin application, light dyeing" process of Liling underglaze polychrome porcelain; she won the gold award at the 2016 Hundred Flowers Cup China Arts and Crafts Fine Works Awards and was named an advanced individual in national intangible cultural heritage protection work.

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. Chen Yanglong · National Representative Bearer Archive