He Junming

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He Junming, Male, Han, from Xinjiang, Shanxi, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Lacquerware Decoration Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-127). The tradition is documented in Xinjiang, Shanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Lacquerware Decoration Craftsmanship in Xinjiang, Shanxi: Jiangzhou tixi formed its own school around Xinjiang. Its approach runs opposite to carved lacquer elsewhere: rather than raised relief, it builds two or three colored lacquers—vermilion, black, yellow—layer by layer to a thickness of three to five millimeters, then works the patterns with a V-shaped blade, the cut opening out into layered cross-sections like rhino hide, with motifs mostly meanders and cloud-hooks. Time is also spent in lacquering: generally some eighty coats, dozens of which consume over a month, and the lacquering room must be a damp, unventilated basement. Carved lacquer (diaoqi) began in the Tang dynasty, and tixi (a carved-lacquer technique) was formalized in the Song dynasty; its name appears in historical texts such as Cheng Dachang's Yanfanlu. The only specialized treatise on lacquerwork in Ming-dynasty China, the Xiushilu (Record of Lacquer Decoration), also mentions tixi.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1964 in Wenxi County, Shanxi Province. A representative bearer of the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects in lacquerware decoration craftsmanship (Jiangzhou tixi carved lacquer craftsmanship). A Jiangzhou tixi technician. At the age of sixteen he entered the Xinjiang County Arts and Crafts Factory and studied under Wang Buguang, concentrating on the yundiao carved lacquer production technique; through diligent study he mastered the entire production process of tixi. In 1992 he founded the Xinjiang County Yellow River Yundiao Crafts Factory, engaged a number of veteran craftsmen and cooperated with art academies within and outside the province to innovate and develop the traditional tixi making craft. He persists in boiling raw lacquer by traditional methods and in using natural lacquer, while integrating modern concepts into the design of the ancient craft. By studying ancient Chinese artworks such as totems, auspicious patterns and murals, he has created a large number of entirely new designs, and by improving his tools and carving techniques he has enhanced the expressive power of his works. Within the documented technical tradition of Lacquerware Decoration Craftsmanship in Xinjiang, Shanxi: Tixi is one of the carved-lacquer techniques. Prominent Chinese scholar Wang Shixiang and others hold that tixi is principally produced in Xinjiang County, Shanxi Province. Tixi involves building up, in a regular pattern, layers of two or three colored lacquers—vermilion, black, yellow—on the surface of an object; once a certain thickness (about 0.3–0.5 mm) is reached, patterns are carved with a V-shaped blade, and the cut reveals the different colored layers, which sharply distinguishes it from other carved lacquers and lacquerware. It is called "tixi" because the carved pattern's cut edge shows layered cross-sections resembling the grain of cut rhino hide. At the same time, because the patterns are mostly meander (huiwen) and cloud-hook (yun'gou) motifs that flow and spiral vividly, since modern times it has also been called "yun diao" (cloud carving). Tixi is among the more intricate lacquering crafts in China's lacquerware production. From timber selection through body-lining, ground-body preparation, lacquering, pattern drafting, carving, and polishing, every process stage must be strictly controlled and handled by artisans with years of experience; in particular, lacquering must be done in a damp, unventilated, clean, and pollution-free basement. Generally some eighty coats are applied; one coat is laid, allowed to dry in the shade, then another is applied, and each colored lacquer requires several coats per layer—dozens of coats taking over a month. After the whole piece is shade-dried and rested for a period, the patterns can be drawn and carved; each pattern must be carved and retouched again and again until its depth, width, and thickness all meet the required standards before it is accepted, after which the remaining processes follow. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archived Process Record": From timber selection through body-lining, ground-body preparation, lacquering, pattern drafting, carving, and polishing, every process stage must be strictly controlled and handled by artisans with years of experience; in particular, lacquering must be done in a damp, unventilated, clean, and pollution-free basement.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

For more than twenty years he has taught apprentices and passed on the craft, training more than two hundred technicians and providing internship placements for more than ten thousand college graduates in total.

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. He Junming · National Representative Bearer Archive