Lai Mingde

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Born into a family of Nuo mask makers, he is the seventy-fourth-generation bearer of Pingxiang Xiangdong Nuo masks. Within the regional tradition and school record of Pingxiangxiangdongnuomianju in Pingxiang, Jiangxi: Xiangdong Nuo mask carving is concentrated in the Nuo temples and artisans' workshops of the Xiangdong District area of Pingxiang City, with the Lai Mingde family lineage as its main thread. According to his account, the carving methods divide into Tang-style and Song-style branches; the Tang style is relatively crude, and the Song style relatively refined. The extant techniques are mostly Song-dynasty human-form carving methods transmitted from Hunan during the Qing dynasty; the masks have a simple, archaic bearing, the technique is exaggerated, and they have a distinct regional style. The extant carving techniques of Xiangdong Nuo masks were transmitted from Hunan during the Qing dynasty and have been passed down through three generations in Xiangdong; they are mainly Song-dynasty Nuo-mask carving techniques.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1956 in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. Through years of study and practice he inherited the ancestral Song-dynasty Nuo mask making technique and mastered all its stages, including carving and polychrome painting; the Nuo masks he produces account for the largest share in the Nuo temples of Pingxiang and are also sold widely at home and abroad. Following the records in the ancestral Nuo Mask Divine Register, he and his sons and disciples Lai Guanghua and Lai Taiping completed reproductions of four hundred and forty Song-dynasty human-form Nuo masks, a feat still unique in the field of Nuo mask carving in China. He actively transmits the craft and has already taken more than forty apprentices. Within the documented technical tradition of Pingxiangxiangdongnuomianju in Pingxiang, Jiangxi: Xiangdong Nuo masks are an outstanding traditional folk carving with a long history. Xiangdong is administered by Pingxiang, the 'coal capital of Jiangnan', and is the western gateway of Jiangxi. According to the account of the scholar-hermit Lai Mingde, the carving techniques of Xiangdong Nuo masks are divided into Tang-style and Song-style methods; the Tang style is relatively crude, and the Song style relatively refined. Masks carved with this method are of a simple yet refined style, with complex and exacting workmanship; the current inheritor is able to carve 440 complete Song-dynasty human-form Nuo masks. There are many varieties of Xiangdong Nuo masks, and from raw-material processing to finished product more than ten sets of procedures are required. The expressions of the masks and their headdresses carry specific cultural connotations and meanings; the carving is exquisite, the masks have a simple, archaic bearing, the technique is exaggerated, and they have a distinct regional style. Because hand-carved Nuo masks are technically difficult and time-consuming, and most young people are unwilling to learn, Xiangdong Nuo mask carving now lacks successors. At present, modern mechanized production methods are entering the Nuo-mask making industry, pushing Xiangdong Nuo masks further toward marketization and causing many distinctive handcraft techniques to move toward extinction. In addition, most traditional Nuo-mask pattern books were destroyed in various historical upheavals; only one complete Nuo-mask pattern book survives, and because of its age it too is severely damaged. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The hereditary spirit register of Nuo masks": Working from the family's register of Nuo mask deities, Lai Mingde and his sons reproduced 440 Song-style human masks, a feat unique in Chinese mask carving. "The 440 Song-style Nuo masks": Song-style carving yields delicate, archaic masks; the inheritors can now complete 440 of them, and their output dominates the Nuo temples of Pingxiang. "Over a dozen stages from timber to mask": Xiangdong Nuo masks pass through more than a dozen stages from raw material to finished face, all executed by hand and demanding long hours. "Headdresses and expression as local style": The expressions and headdresses of Xiangdong masks carry fixed meanings and, together with archaic modelling and exaggeration, define the region's style.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Pingxiang Xiangdong Nuo Masks, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Works such as Lei Gong (the Thunder God) have won awards or been collected by the Hubei Provincial Mass Art Museum.

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. Lai Mingde · National Representative Bearer Archive