Bao Wuwen

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Bao Wuwen, Male, Han, from Suide, Shaanxi, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Stone Carving (Ⅶ-56). The tradition is documented in Suide, Shaanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Stone Carving in Suide, Shaanxi: Stone masons are concentrated mainly in Suide town proper and in townships such as Sishilipu and Yihe, and also in the loess hilly-gully region around Mizhi, Zizhou, and Wubu. The origins of Suide stone carving can be traced back to the Han dynasty; surviving artifacts excavated within the county — such as Han pictorial stones and stone beasts — can serve as evidence. From the Ming and Qing dynasties onward, the craft has continued unbroken with the construction of cave-dwelling (yaodong) houses, temples, and memorial arches.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1954 in Suide County, Shaanxi Province. At the age of thirteen he became a disciple of Guo Hanzhou, a renowned folk stone carver of Suide, and began to study the art of stone carving. Through years of practice he came to command traditional stone-carving techniques, including full-round carving, relief, openwork, and the combined use of intaglio, raised and line engraving, and he is able to design and produce large stone lions, memorial archways, classical dragon columns, relief patterns and landscape scenes. His traditional kangtou stone lions, carved for the brick bed, are finely worked, small and exquisite, and endearingly naive in spirit; the large-scale carvings he designs and executes are imposing and unified, substantial yet full of vitality. He has taken part many times in demonstrations of intangible cultural heritage skills and in exhibitions of his works. Within the documented technical tradition of Stone Carving in Suide, Shaanxi: Suide stone carving is a traditional carving art that uses stone slabs from the northern Shaanxi plateau as its raw material, which are ground and chiseled; it is both practical and artistic, and is present in the production and daily life of local residents, in architectural decoration, and in folk activities. Suide stone carving is distributed in the townships under the jurisdiction of Suide County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, and the surrounding area. Suide County lies in the central-southern part of the northern Shaanxi plateau; its terrain consists of loess hilly-gully country and the rocky mountain areas of the Yellow River gorges. Beneath the loess layer lie stone slabs as flat as a whetstone and of even thickness, providing abundant stone for Suide stone carving. Suide stone carving is a folk art closely bound up with the lives of ordinary people; stone cave-dwellings and kang-head stone lions are its representative works. In addition there are household implements such as stone rollers, millstones, and garlic mortars; production tools such as stone pestles and stone liuzhou (threshing rollers); stone-carved figures such as stone lions and stone dragons that serve protective and decorative functions; and commemorative stone carvings such as memorial arches, dragon pillars, cultural pillars, and stele tablets, as well as decorative carved panels and colonnades whose subjects are chiefly rare birds and auspicious beasts and exotic flowers and grasses, and stone-carved structures such as pavilions, platforms, corridors, and towers. Relying on inherited technique and years of accumulated experience and insight, the artisan, facing the stone, must first 'read the stone' (xiangshi) — observing the stone's form, grain, and spirit, and what it is suited to be carved into, forming an image in the mind; then, following that mental image, through rough hewing, rough carving, fine incising, and polishing, with the hand following the movement of the heart and the chisel following the movement of the hand, the piece is carved into being. Suide stone carving has distinctive carving techniques and artistic forms of expression; throughout the carving process there are certain folk protocols and folk taboos. Beyond serving practical and decorative functions, the works carry rich folk meanings. Combining freehand (xieyi) and realistic techniques, and with a bold, archaic, and vigorous artistic style, Suide stone carving has become the representative stone-carving art of northern Shaanxi and an important component of northern Shaanxi culture. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Process Steps": Relying on inherited technique and years of accumulated experience and insight, the artisan, facing the stone, must first 'read the stone' (xiangshi) — observing the stone's form, grain, and spirit, and what it is suited to be carved into, forming an image in the mind; then, following that mental image, through rough hewing, rough carving, fine incising, and polishing, with the hand following the movement of the heart and the chisel following the movement of the hand, the piece is carved into being.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Stone Carving (Suide Stone Carving), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 1982 he founded the Bao Wuwen Stone Carving Factory, later restructured as Bao Wuwen Industrial Co., Ltd., which undertook stone-carving projects for numerous parks, temples and schools; the enterprise was designated by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture as a provincial-level demonstration unit for the productive protection of intangible cultural heritage (stone carving).

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. Bao Wuwen · National Representative Bearer Archive