Ma Yuanliang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Ma Yuanliang, Male, Han, from Dongcheng, Beijing, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Lantern Art (Ⅶ-50). The tradition is documented in Chongwen, Beijing. Within the regional tradition and school record of Lantern Art in Chongwen, Beijing: Beijing decorative lanterns (Chongwen District) take Beijing Meishu Hongdeng Factory Co., Ltd. as their protecting institution, with red gauze lanterns and palace lanterns being the two main varieties continued by the factory. Classified by manner of use, Beijing decorative lanterns are divided into several major categories — hanging lanterns, standing lanterns, wall lanterns, and portable lanterns; classified by materials, they include gauze lanterns, palace lanterns, trotting-horse lanterns, three-dimensional animal lanterns, metal lanterns, and liaosi lanterns. Palace lanterns mostly use hardwood frames, with glass inlaid and silk gauze pasted on four or six sides; the lantern faces are painted with landscapes, flowers, and birds or inscribed with auspicious phrases, and tassels and silk cords hang down below. Red gauze lanterns are supported by split-bamboo frames covered on the outside with red gauze; no colored painting is applied to the whole body. They are mostly hung in strings in front of shops and over gatehouses, conveying the atmosphere of prosperity and liveliness. After the 1950s, with the disappearance of the Lantern Festival, only two varieties of Beijing decorative lanterns remained — palace lanterns (gongdeng) and red gauze lanterns (hongsha deng) — while the crafting techniques of all the other patterned lantern varieties had been lost.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1942 in Beijing. Senior arts and crafts master. In 1962 he joined the Beijing Artistic Red Lantern Factory, and in 1965 began designing palace lanterns; building on traditional palace lantern forms he reformed and innovated, working with veteran craftsmen to develop many new lantern designs. He has a complete and proficient command of the key techniques and operational skills of painting coloured lanterns and copying antique paintings; his skills are refined and comprehensive, and he created a new form, the mother-and-child palace lantern. He is devoted to the study, promotion and transmission of Beijing palace lanterns. He has many times designed palace lanterns with national characteristics for the Tiananmen Rostrum and important state occasions; he designed hexagonal, octagonal, square, spherical, fan-shaped and flower-basket palace lanterns for the Beihai Fangshan Restaurant, the former residence of Soong Ching-ling and the Changpu River Theatre, and reproduced antique-style palace lanterns for the Prince Kung's Mansion. Within the documented technical tradition of Lantern Art in Chongwen, Beijing: Decorative lanterns (dengcai), also known as 'festive lanterns' (huadeng), are a decorative traditional handicraft widely popular throughout China. Historically, hanging lanterns and displaying colored silks was the principal festival custom of the Lantern Festival, and a blaze of lights and colors was the most striking spectacle of Lantern Festival night. Beijing decorative lanterns have long been popular in the Beijing area. Classified by manner of use, they fall into several major categories — hanging lanterns, standing lanterns, wall lanterns, and portable lanterns; classified by materials of production, they include gauze lanterns, palace lanterns, trotting-horse lanterns, three-dimensional animal lanterns, metal lanterns, and liaosi (glass-thread) lanterns. The craft techniques of Beijing decorative lanterns are quite rich: framework binding in colorful materials, pasting and mounting, knotting, embroidery, carving, papercutting, and calligraphy and painting are all important technical means. Beijing's traditional lantern activities were held mainly at the Lantern Festival; later, lanterns and colored silks were also hung for auspicious occasions such as grand ceremonies, weddings, birthdays, and other festivities. Decorative lanterns have become a symbol of auspiciousness and celebration, embodying people's prayers for a better life and their longing for a happy future. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Frames and pasting of gauze and palace lanterns": The red gauze lantern is bamboo-framed and pasted with red gauze, while the palace lantern has a hardwood frame glazed and painted. "Heat-driven revolving lantern": The rising heat of the candle turns a vane, so the silhouettes on the shade revolve in endless succession. "Gauze, palace and revolving lanterns": By material it includes gauze, palace, revolving, animal, metal and glass-thread lanterns; by use, hanging, pedestal, wall and hand lanterns. "The Red Lantern Factory's surviving types": Its safeguarding unit is the Beijing Art Red Lantern Factory, where red gauze and palace lanterns remain the main types made.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Lantern Art (Beijing Lantern Art), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

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. Ma Yuanliang · National Representative Bearer Archive