Xu Rilong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He is the twenty-second-generation transmitter of Chengmai huagui art and a member of the China Sculpture Institute. In the 1970s he studied painting under the teacher Xian Liqiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Wood Carving in Chengmai, Hainan: Huagui art is mainly transmitted in Chengmai County, with temples and artisan workshops relatively concentrated in the county seat Jinjiang Town and the townships of Ruixi, Yongfa, and Bailian. The early Daoist temple on Baishi Ridge in the Song dynasty worshipped the Great King of Ten Thousand Heavens and the Thunder God, and the earliest carved deity statues are said to have appeared there; thereafter temples in various places and the Junpo Festival activities became the main source of demand for deity statues. Similar artisans are also scattered in other counties and cities of Hainan such as Haikou, Ding'an, Tunchang, and Danzhou. Huagui art has a long history, and its origins are related to the flourishing of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism in the Song dynasty. In the Ming dynasty, the Junpo Festival began to rise in Chengmai County, also known as the "Parading the Lords Festival," in which people carried the various folk protective deities out in procession for worship. In the Qing dynasty, Buddhist and Daoist activities became even more prevalent, with temples of all kinds spread throughout urban and rural areas. After the Republican period, temple fair activities waxed and waned, which also had a certain influence on the development of Huagui art.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1952 in Chengmai County, Hainan Province. He was born into a family long devoted to huagui art and has loved carving since childhood. His command of the craft is comprehensive, and he is especially skilled at carving deity figures; his works Chulun (Emerging), Qi (Rest) and Wuzi (Dancing Pose) were selected for the art exhibition organized by the Guangdong Artists Association and received awards. While producing thousands of works he has also founded a transmission workshop and trained twenty-eight successors. Within the documented technical tradition of Wood Carving in Chengmai, Hainan: Huagui art is the common Hainan folk term for wooden deity statues, idols, and figures. In Hainan, the Huagui art of Chengmai County is the most representative. In the past, all the deity statues of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism had to be made by veteran Huagui artisans. In the Song dynasty, at the early Daoist temple on Baishi Ridge in Chengmai County, where the Great King of Ten Thousand Heavens and the Thunder God were worshipped, the earliest carved deity statues are said to have appeared. From the beginning to the end of the year, almost every month had "zuozhai" (temple fair activities). A great many deities were worshipped, and this was the period when Huagui art was most flourishing. Huagui art mostly uses ebony, tree roots, and fossilized wood as materials, carving deity statues, wooden idols, figures, images of natural things, abstract images, and decorative images. These carry much information about history, religion, and folk belief, and have rich cultural connotations and artistic appreciation value. They play an indispensable social role in local religious worship, puppet entertainment, home decoration, and beautifying the environment. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Junpo or “god-parading” festival": From the Ming the Junpo festival arose in Chengmai, when images of protective deities made by huagui carvers were paraded for worship. "The Baishiling shrine and the first carved images": Early Daoist shrines on Baishiling venerated the Great Heaven King and the Thunder God; temple fairs were held almost every month in the craft's most flourishing period. "Sunken timber, roots and petrified wood": Working sunken logs, roots and petrified wood, carvers make deities, wooden idols, figures and decorative images bearing religious and folk meanings. "Xu Rilong's training centre and twenty-eight inheritors": The national inheritor Xu Rilong, from a carving family, excels in deity figures and founded a training centre that has raised twenty-eight inheritors.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Wood Carving (Huagui Art), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. After Hainan became a province, eighteen of his works were selected for national exhibitions and twenty-one for provincial exhibitions, more than ten of them winning awards. In 2018 the Ministry of Culture and Tourism named him an advanced individual in national intangible cultural heritage safeguarding work.

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. Xu Rilong · National Representative Bearer Archive