Liu Zengyu
01 · Lineage & Regional School
In 1974 he joined the engineering team of the Palace Museum and studied ancient-architecture oil-decoration techniques under Dai Wenjin. Within the regional tradition and school record of Guanshigujianzhu Building Craftsmanship in Gugongbowuyuan: The Forbidden City in Beijing is the largest and most complete palace complex surviving in China. Its initial construction was completed in the eighteenth year of the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty (1420); thereafter it was continuously repaired and rebuilt, bringing together the finest achievements of palace architecture across the ages and becoming a paragon of ancient Chinese palatial building. In the early 1950s, the Palace Museum engaged master craftsmen from beyond its walls and re-established a team of traditional-building conservators to undertake the maintenance of the palace's historic structures.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1955 in Beijing. He is a national representative bearer of Guanshi Ancient Architecture Building Craftsmanship (the Forbidden City, Beijing), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He has worked for more than forty years in the application and management of oil decoration on historic buildings, and has a thorough command of the traditional oil-decoration techniques of Chinese ancient architecture, with distinctive technical approaches to key processes such as the ground layer (dizhang) and the oil finish (youpi). At the same time, he took part in the research project Three-Dimensional Database of Traditional Craftsmanship for Chinese Guanshi Architecture, recording the oil-work techniques of guanshi ancient buildings completely and faithfully. He has consistently trained apprentices, fostering specialists in ancient-architecture oil decoration such as Hao Yuming and Dai Haizheng. Within the documented technical tradition of Guanshigujianzhu Building Craftsmanship in Gugongbowuyuan: Over the course of constructing and conserving the Forbidden City's buildings, a complete system of palatial traditional-building craftsmanship took shape, governed by strict formal standards. It comprises the craft skills of many trades—tiling, carpentry, earthwork, stonemasonry, painting, colored-picture painting, inlay, and paperhanging. In construction, only superior materials are selected, the workmanship is rigorous, and the finish is refined; the methods and construction procedures for every part of the palace follow fixed, strictly prescribed forms. It is precisely this assurance of craft technique that has allowed Chinese palace architecture, with the Forbidden City as its exemplar, to preserve its magnificent, exquisite, and resplendent character over the course of several centuries. As a model of traditional-building craftsmanship, the official-style traditional-building technique has played an important leading role in the development of historic-architecture technology in China, especially in the northern regions. From the day the palace was founded, a relatively stable workforce has been maintained to carry out the repair and construction of the buildings within it. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Documented Process Records": It comprises the craft skills of many trades—tiling, carpentry, earthwork, stonemasonry, painting, colored-picture painting, inlay, and paperhanging. In construction, only superior materials are selected, the workmanship is rigorous, and the finish is refined; the methods and construction procedures for every part of the palace follow fixed, strictly prescribed forms.
Documented Process Records
It comprises the craft skills of many trades—tiling, carpentry, earthwork, stonemasonry, painting, colored-picture painting, inlay, and paperhanging. In construction, only superior materials are selected, the workmanship is rigorous, and the finish is refined; the methods and construction procedures for every part of the palace follow fixed, strictly prescribed forms.
Core Technique I
Over the course of constructing and conserving the Forbidden City's buildings, a complete system of palatial traditional-building craftsmanship took shape, governed by strict formal standards.
Core Technique II
It comprises the craft skills of many trades—tiling, carpentry, earthwork, stonemasonry, painting, colored-picture painting, inlay, and paperhanging.
Core Technique III
In construction, only superior materials are selected, the workmanship is rigorous, and the finish is refined;
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
He was responsible for oil-decoration work management in numerous projects at the Palace Museum, including post-scaffolding oil-decoration maintenance and polychrome painting conservation, as well as repair and reconstruction of historic buildings.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The Forbidden City in Beijing is the largest and most complete palace complex surviving in China. Its initial construction was completed in the eighteenth year of the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty (1420); thereafter it was continuously repaired and rebuilt, bringing together the finest achievements of palace architecture across the ages and becoming a paragon of ancient Chinese palatial building. In the early 1950s, the Palace Museum engaged master craftsmen from beyond its walls and re-established a team of traditional-building conservators to undertake the maintenance of the palace's historic structures.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li Yongge | Gugongbowuyuan | 04-1911 | Same declared area |
| Liu Zengyu | Gugongbowuyuan | 04-1912 | This page |
| Li Zenglin | Gugongbowuyuan | 05-2866 | Same declared area |
| Wu Shengmao | Gugongbowuyuan | 05-2867 | Same declared area |
| Li Jianguo | Gugongbowuyuan | 05-2868 | Same declared area |
| Bai Fuchun | Gugongbowuyuan | 05-2869 | Same declared area |
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。