Cengzhaohong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1972 he joined the Guangzhou Daxin Ivory Craft Factory, where he studied olive-pit carving under Ou Yuren, second-generation transmitter of Guangzhou olive carving. Within the regional tradition and school record of Nut Carving in Zengcheng, Guangdong: Guangzhou olive-pit carving is centered on the Zengcheng area of Guangdong Province. Zengcheng has produced black olives abundantly since ancient times, which laid the material foundation for the formation and development of olive-pit carving; since the mid-twentieth century its varieties have increased to more than fifty. Because black olive trees have been felled on a large scale and material is in short supply, large-scale production of olive-pit carving no longer exists today. Judging from the situation depicted in 'The Walnut Boat' (Hezhou Ji) by Wei Xueyi of the late Ming dynasty, pit carving had already reached a very high level in the Ming dynasty. Guangzhou olive-pit carving (landiao) is a traditional carving art popular in the Zengcheng area of Guangdong Province; its history can be traced back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Representative figures include Chen Zuzhang, a Guangzhou-born court artisan of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, and Zhan Gusheng, a folk artisan of Xintang in the Xianfeng reign.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1955 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. In 1989 he set up a studio of his own and has continued to work in olive-pit carving to this day. Over more than forty years in the craft he has mastered the traditional techniques of olive carving, including relief, full-round and openwork carving, and he has applied ivory inlay technique to olive-pit carving, creating an original olive-pit inlay method that frees the art from the limits of a single pit and gives it a more varied range of subjects. Within the documented technical tradition of Nut Carving in Zengcheng, Guangdong: Pit carving (hediao) is a traditional folk craft of carving on walnut shells and various kinds of fruit pits, long popular throughout China, north and south. As early as the Neolithic period, China's carving techniques had already achieved no small success; pit carving is a further development of that craft. Pit carving uses walnut shells, peach pits, olive pits, apricot pits, cherry pits, and other dense fruit pits as its raw material. Making use of the natural form and undulations of the shell or pit, the carver applies such techniques as carving, openwork, engraving, filing, chiseling, and drilling to cut into it figures of every kind — human beings, flowers and birds, beasts and insects, landscapes, boats, pavilions — as well as written texts. Folk pit carving is often worked over the entire surface: the composition is systematic, thoroughgoing, and rigorous; the knife work is brisk and decisive; the images are rendered in the finest detail, vivid yet bearing no trace of artificiality. Though the body is minute, the art is exquisite — the work seems divinely wrought — and the craft has thus won the acclaim of 'ghostly skill and divine technique'. The pit-carving art of Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangdong, and elsewhere has formed its own traditions in the course of long transmission, and the works created in each place have distinct characteristics, having always been treasured by people. Guangzhou olive-pit carving uses the black olive (wulan) pit as its basic material; Zengcheng has produced black olives abundantly since ancient times, which laid the material foundation for the formation and development of olive-pit carving. Carrying forward the spirit of Lingnan culture, Guangzhou olive-pit carving is fine and subtle in workmanship, small and exquisite in form, graceful in modeling, and smooth and lively in line. It falls into such categories as seated ornaments, hanging ornaments, bead strings, and pit boats, while its technical forms include relief carving, round carving, and openwork carving. The pit boat on the theme of 'Su Dongpo Visiting the Red Cliff' is a traditional form of Guangzhou olive-pit carving; renowned masters of every generation have left works of this kind to the present. Since the mid-twentieth century, Guangzhou olive-pit carving has developed further: its designs and varieties have increased to more than fifty, and new types have appeared such as multi-tiered flower barges, openwork crab cages, fishing boats casting nets, and chess sets. Because black olive trees have been felled on a large scale, carving material is in short supply; coupled with low output value, large-scale production of olive-pit carving no longer exists today. Under these circumstances the development of Guangzhou olive-pit carving has stalled and its prospects are cause for concern; measures are urgently needed to strengthen protection. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Chen Zuzhang and Zhan Gusheng": Its two anchors are the Qianlong court craftsman Chen Zuzhang, who brought palace refinement south, and Zhan Gusheng of Xintang, who set the art among the villages. "Four product classes": Its products fall into table pieces, pendants, bead strings and model boats, worked in relief, round carving and openwork; the boat of the Red Cliff excursion is its classic subject. "New forms of the twentieth century": Since the mid-twentieth century its varieties have passed fifty, adding tiered pleasure barges, openwork crab baskets, casting boats and even chess sets. "Huang Xuewen and the Xintang workshop": Huang Xuewen learned from his father at nine and in 1973 founded the Xintang carving factory, fusing relief, openwork and lettering into a single elegant hand.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Pit Carving (Guangzhou Olive-Pit Carving), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. For many years he has not only taken an active part in exhibitions and promotional events of every kind but also run olive-carving training courses and brought the craft into schools, passing his refined carving skills and creative experience to apprentices and students and fostering public interest in olive 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. Cengzhaohong · National Representative Bearer Archive