Huang Suming

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He began learning to make qilin at the age of seven from his father Huang You, and is the fourth-generation bearer of the Gaohua qilin tradition of Qingxi town. Within the regional tradition and school record of Paper Effigy Craftsmanship in Dongguan, Guangdong: According to differences in the partial shapes and materials of the kylin head, kylin can be divided into round-horned kylin, pointed-horned kylin, right-angle-horned kylin, hard-eared kylin (with both ears fixed), and soft-eared kylin (with both ears able to move). The kylin dance was brought to Qingxi Town by Hakka people during the Ming dynasty.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1951 in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. National representative bearer of Paper Effigy Craftsmanship (qilin making), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Having practised the craft for more than fifty years, he preserves the traditional forms of his qilin while sensibly adding movable features, so that the structures are sturdier and more durable, the forms livelier and more lifelike, and the workmanship more refined and accomplished. His works are sold overseas and are especially admired by qilin enthusiasts in Southeast Asia. To transmit the qilin-making craft more effectively, he actively trains successors, steadily expanding the ranks of practitioners and forming a stable core of tradition bearers. Within the documented technical tradition of Paper Effigy Craftsmanship in Dongguan, Guangdong: Kylin making is a traditional paper-framing (caizha) art form in which the kylin head and the kylin covering used as props in the kylin dance are framed; it is distributed in Dali Village, Tiesong Village, Songgang Village, and other places in Qingxi Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. Qingxi Town has a strong Hakka cultural atmosphere, and kylin making and the kylin dance are folk arts embodying traditional Hakka culture. Kylin dance performances require paper-framed kylin as props, and the history of their making extends back more than a hundred years. Qingxi kylin making maintains the craft characteristics of the Hakka kylin, integrating handicraft, paper-cutting, painting, and other art forms in one; its composition stresses formal beauties such as symmetry and balance, and the works are tough and durable, finely painted, brightly colored, and vivid in form. The making can be divided into two parts: the kylin head and the kylin covering. The Xuantong-era Dongguan County Gazetteer of the Qing dynasty records: "A kylin head is pasted with paper and painted in five colors, and a brocade covering is sewn as the kylin body." The form of the Qingxi kylin head follows the traditional iconic features of the kylin, taking the dragon head, wolf forehead, single horn, short spines, scales, and whiskers and hair as its basic elements. Its traditional dimensions are approximately 75 cm in height, 53 cm in width, and 65 cm in depth. Kylin making places its emphasis on the paper framing of the kylin head; using raw bamboo strips, yellow rattan, quality gauze paper, and other materials, it is handcrafted through many process steps including splitting the bamboo, lashing a frame of bamboo strips, pasting the gauze paper, painting the patterns, applying gloss oil, and attaching ornaments. The painting of the kylin head chiefly employs the colors red, yellow, green, white, and black, which represent the five elements, with colored painting applied on top; rich floral patterns such as peonies, peach blossoms, chrysanthemums, and butterflies convey auspiciousness and good fortune, and decorative fabric balls of various kinds are attached. The kylin covering is made of homespun cloth by traditional methods; it is 450 cm long and 150 cm wide, composed mainly of cloth in the five colors of red, yellow, green, white, and black joined together. The kylin tail is about 20 cm long and is made of rabbit fur. In addition, Qingxi kylin and the kylin dance are deeply loved by people at home and abroad, which is conducive to the spread of local culture and the promotion of cultural exchange. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Process Steps": Kylin making places its emphasis on the paper framing of the kylin head; using raw bamboo strips, yellow rattan, quality gauze paper, and other materials, it is handcrafted through many process steps including splitting the bamboo, lashing a frame of bamboo strips, pasting the gauze paper, painting the patterns, applying gloss oil, and attaching ornaments.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2018, Huang Suming was announced in the fifth batch of national representative bearers for Paper Effigy Craftsmanship, with Dongguan, Guangdong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Paper Effigy Craftsmanship in Dongguan, Guangdong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Dongguan, Guangdong as its declared area, and Dongguan Qingxi Town Culture Service Center (Dongguan Qingxi Town Sports Management Service Center) as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

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. Huang Suming · National Representative Bearer Archive