Li Yanjun

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Born into a family of craftsmen, he learned wood carving and Daoist folk culture from his grandfather and father from an early age, and after the age of eighteen also studied stone carving. Within the regional tradition and school record of Wood Carving in Ruicheng, Shanxi: The technique is centered on Yongle Town in Ruicheng County and is transmitted around Daoist temples such as the Yongle Palace and Chunyang Temple. It has long been carried on within the Li family of Yongle Town; makers must observe fasting and purification and choose an auspicious time to begin work. Today transmission and training rely on the local Peach Wood Culture Research Institute and the wood carving training and employment base. Yongle peach wood carving arose on the basis of the Daoist atmosphere of Yongle Town, which is traditionally said to be the hometown of Lü Dongbin; the belief that peach wood exorcises evil and secures the dwelling provided it with a foundation in faith. The carving technique was already highly mature by the Tang dynasty, developing methods such as carving, openwork, engraving, incising, inlaying, setting, paring, and rolling. After the Yongle Palace was completed in the Yuan dynasty, the construction of temples and religious ceremonies spurred the production of peach wood ritual objects and auspicious items.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1976 in Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province. In 2000 he became a disciple of Master Xu Yu, known as Xuyang Daoren, a Daoist priest at the Yongle Chunyang Temple, and was given the religious name Li Litian; under Master Xu's direction he took charge of the Yongle Chunyang Temple Peach Wood Culture Research Institute. Continuing the family trade, he personally attends to every stage, from selecting the material, designing and setting the form to cutting the blanks, carving, grinding and polishing, and on the basis of traditional types he has developed more than ten peach-wood product lines, among which peach-wood swords and peach-wood auspicious figurines are the most popular. Within the documented technical tradition of Wood Carving in Ruicheng, Shanxi: Yongle peach wood carving is a traditional wood carving technique passed down in Yongle Town, Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province. Yongle peach wood carving expresses Daoist culture and folk beliefs and customs. Its area of circulation and source of raw material, Yongle Town, is famous as the legendary hometown of Lü Dongbin, and peach wood carving flourished thanks to the existence of the Yongle Palace, a famous Daoist sacred site. In traditional belief, peach wood has the power to exorcise evil and secure the dwelling, and it was often used as an object to ward off evil. Peach wood is fine-grained and smooth, not prone to cracking, and becomes ever more polished with use. At first, peach wood swords had a blade but no scabbard, and the blade was also "plain" — without patterns or designs. Later the blade gradually gained incised patterns or bas-relief images such as dragons and snakes, and the blade came to be paired with a scabbard. The carving technique was already highly mature by the Tang dynasty, developing methods such as carving, openwork, engraving, incising, inlaying, setting, paring, and rolling, and giving rise to the wheel, conch, umbrella, canopy, lotus, vase, fish, and intestine motifs of peach wood carving — the "Eight Treasures" or "Eight Auspicious Symbols" — and other auspicious objects. Yongle peach wood carving follows strict ritual regulations: makers must observe fasting and purification, conduct the prescribed ceremonies, choose an auspicious time to begin work, and carve according to Daoist auspicious numbers and fixed proportions. Decorative patterns are mostly composed of traditional auspicious designs such as the eight trigrams and the taiji symbol; the azure dragon, white tiger, vermilion bird, and black tortoise; and dragons, phoenixes, joined heart clouds, concentric ruyi scepters, the Eight Treasures, and the hidden Eight Immortals. The method of production uses carving, openwork, engraving, and incising, supplemented by inlay and paring-rolling decorative techniques. Yongle peach wood carving is transmitted around the Li family of Yongle Town. There are professional peach wood carving institutions locally, which also serve as training and employment bases for persons with disabilities, playing a positive role in transmitting and promoting Yongle peach wood carving and advancing local employment for persons with disabilities. The craft skillfully exploits the properties of peach wood and combines them with traditional auspicious imagery; its decorative techniques are diverse, its content rich, and its workmanship exquisite. It expresses Chinese folk belief and aspirations and has high artistic and folkloric value. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The “eight treasures” of peach wood": Peach-wood work developed the eight auspicious emblems — wheel, conch, parasol, canopy, lotus, jar, fish and knot — alongside bagua and four-symbol motifs. "The evolution of the peach-wood sword": At first the peach-wood sword had no scabbard and a plain undecorated blade; later intaglio patterns or low-relief dragon-and-snake forms were added, along with a scabbard. "Ritual observance and auspicious “fixed” proportions": Makers observe fasts, ritual rules and chosen start times, cutting to auspicious Daoist numbers and proportions, then adding inlay and carved decoration. "Li Yanjun and the Chunyang Shrine peach-wood institute": The national inheritor Li Yanjun, ordained as Li Litian in 2000, runs the Chunyang Shrine's peach-wood institute and has developed over a dozen product lines.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Wood Carving (Yongle Peach Wood Carving), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In recent years, drawing on the research institute, he has established a wood-carving training and employment base and run practical wood-carving skills courses for people with disabilities, training several dozen apprentices in all and widening the scope for transmitting and safeguarding Yongle peach wood 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. Li Yanjun · National Representative Bearer Archive