Zhang Shuqi

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In the 1950s he began learning paper crafting from his father Zhang Jinpei, and from 2004 he studied the making of thousand-corner lanterns with him. Within the regional tradition and school record of Lantern Art in Dongguan, Guangdong: The Thousand-Angle Lantern has always been the exclusive possession of the Zhao family of Guancheng, Dongguan. The Zhaos lived in Jieyuan Lane, Guancheng, and their ancestral hall, the Pufan Ancestral Hall, long displayed this lantern. The lantern is made once every ten years, with twenty-four decorative ribbons; its making and exhibition were both presided over by the family. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the making of the Thousand-Angle Lantern was interrupted for more than forty years; today it has been remade with the support of the Guancheng District government, and its making and teaching activities are concentrated in the Guancheng area. Although the lantern itself was repeatedly remade, its ribbons were still objects from the Song dynasty, always treasured by the Zhao family; they were destroyed in the 1960s.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in September 1946 in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. He has a thorough command of the production process and related techniques of the Dongguan thousand-corner lantern and, through dedicated study, has improved some of its craft processes. To transmit a craft on the verge of being lost, he has thrown himself into activities for its transmission and dissemination; besides teaching his two sons, he actively brings the thousand-corner lantern into schools and has held many training courses in its making, influencing a group of enthusiasts. Within the documented technical tradition of Lantern Art in Dongguan, Guangdong: The Thousand-Angle Lantern is a treasure of the folk craft of Dongguan, Guangdong, originally the exclusive possession of the Zhao family of Dongguan. The Dongguan Zhaos are descendants of the Song imperial family; legend has it that the Zhao family began making the Thousand-Angle Lantern in the early Yuan dynasty, with twenty-four decorative ribbons attached. The Thousand-Angle Lantern is made once every ten years; before the founding of the People's Republic of China it was exhibited at the Pufan Ancestral Hall (the Zhao family ancestral temple in Jieyuan Lane). After an interruption of forty years, the making of the Thousand-Angle Lantern has revived; the current principal inheritor, with the support of the Guancheng District government, spent eight months completing a Thousand-Angle Lantern, but as he is now advanced in years and lacks successors, there is an urgent need to pass on the making technique. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The twenty-four Song-dynasty lamp bands": Named for its twenty-four decorative bands, kept by the Zhao family and said to be Song relics destroyed in the 1960s. "From oil lamps to electric bulbs": Zhang Jinpei replaced the old wick-burning oil cups of its thousand small lamps first with kerosene lamps, then with electric bulbs. "A giant lantern taught mouth to ear": Uniting paper craft, painting and palace-lantern work, it has no drawings or models and is passed on only by word of mouth. "Zhang Shuqi teaching in schools": Born in 1946, Zhang Shuqi trains his two sons, runs school programmes and workshops, and has refined parts of the craft.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Lantern Art (Dongguan Thousand-Corner Lanterns), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His thousand-corner lanterns have been shown at lantern festivals in various places and have won awards.

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. Zhang Shuqi · National Representative Bearer Archive