Liu Jieming

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From childhood he helped his grandfather carve statues of deities for the renowned mountain temples of the four counties of Ji'an, Jishui, Taihe and Xingguo on the upper reaches of the Fushui River, and supplied deity figures and ritual vessels for village ancestral halls and folk observances. Within the regional tradition and school record of Wood Carving in Jianshiqingyuan, Jiangxi: People engaged in Donggu traditional statue making are respectfully called "Danqing masters" by the local people. Donggu traditional statue making is centered on Liujia in Dongxi Village, Donggu Town, Qingyuan District, Ji'an City, and is also distributed in Zhixia Town and the areas of Qingyuan Mountain and the Meiping ancient village. The statue carving and restoration at the Meiping ancient village and the Yangming Academy on Qingyuan Mountain are mostly directed by Liu family artists; the lineage can be traced back to the Liu family of carved-lacquer craftsmen registered under the Ministry of Works in Nanjing in the Ming dynasty. Later, one branch of the Liu family migrated to Donggu, bringing the family's carving technique to this place as well. The Danqing master's spiritual power comes from two sources: one is the patron deity of the trade belonging to the Way of the Celestial Masters lineage, and the other is the founding master of the Thunder Altar to which his Danqing master belongs. The craft originated in the carved-lacquer (diaoluan) craftsmanship of the Ming dynasty, is rooted in the production, way of life, and folk beliefs of the local people, and has been innovated and developed amid social change, witnessing the course of regional social and cultural development in the Ji'an area, including family continuity, the Way of the Celestial Masters, and folk belief.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1965 in Ji'an, Jiangxi Province. He was born into a family of religious-statue carvers and is the twentieth-generation transmitter of the statue-carving technique of the Liu family, whose forebears were registered with the Ministry of Works at Nanjing in the Ming dynasty. From 1975 he studied carving under his grandfather Liu Fazhao, began carving at the Donggu Woodworking Cooperative in 1981, and from 1993 served as director of the Dongjinggang Huayi Craft Carving Factory. Since the beginning of reform and opening up he has taken part in and directed the carving and restoration of statues at the Meibei ancient village, the Yangming Academy on Qingyuan Mountain and other sites. Within the documented technical tradition of Wood Carving in Jianshiqingyuan, Jiangxi: Donggu traditional statue making is a traditional carving technique that combines wood carving with folk religious imagery and folk belief rituals. It is distributed in Donggu Town and Zhixia Town of Qingyuan District, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, and in Donggu Town it is concentrated in Dongxi Liujia of Dongxi Village Committee. In the early and mid-Ming dynasty, members of the Liu family, who were "jiajiang" (registered artisan) carved-lacquer craftsmen of the Ministry of Works in Nanjing, brought the carving technique they had learned in Nanjing back to their ancestral home of Ji'an, where it merged with local carving techniques. Donggu traditional statue making consists of two parts: the making of deity statues and the consecration ceremony. A Danqing master must first master skilled wood carving and be able to draw and carve the various deity statues of Buddhism, Daoism, and folk religion. After a deity statue is carved, the Danqing master also presides over the consecration ceremony, and only then is the statue complete. The Danqing master is at once a master carver, a householder Taoist priest, and an expert in folk belief rituals. Donggu traditional statue making has a full, decorative composition and is generalizing, exaggerating, plastic, and composite in character. Donggu traditional statue making depends on a specific cultural ecological environment, namely the worship of supernatural deities. The consecration ceremony is a grand gathering of the local community, giving the community's people cohesion, a sense of security, and an educative power toward goodness; it has social and cultural value. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The three roles of the “Danqing master”": The craftsmen, honoured as “Danqing masters”, are at once carvers, householder Daoist priests and experts in folk ritual. "The consecration rite": After carving, the master conducts the eye-opening consecration; the rite is a community gathering that gives cohesion and moral teaching. "The Ming-era imperially registered carving artisans": In the early and mid-Ming, members of the Liu family registered as imperial carving artisans brought Nanjing techniques home to Ji'an and merged them with local practice. "Tianshi Dao guild deities and Thunder Altar patriarchs": The master's ritual power derives from the guild deity of the Tianshi Dao lineage and from the patriarchs of his own Thunder Altar.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Wood Carving (Donggu Traditional Statue Making), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Since 1993, using the carving factory as a platform, he has trained his younger brother Liu Jiewang, his son Liu Xianglin and more than ten other carvers of deity figures.

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. Liu Jieming · National Representative Bearer Archive