Nie Yuanzheng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He began learning to make wheat-straw pictures from his father, Nie Shaoyin, at the age of eight. Within the regional tradition and school record of Wheat-straw Collage in Qingfeng, Henan: The ironing and boiling techniques handed down in the Nie family formed a distinctive Nie-family routine, promoting the development of local wheat stalk painting. According to documented records, during the Xuande reign of the Ming dynasty, the Nie family of Yangshao Township, Qingfeng County, began engaging in the making of wheat stalk paintings.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1959 in Qingfeng county, Henan Province. Raised in a family of craftspeople, he was devoted to art from early childhood. By the age of sixteen he had largely mastered the flat-pasting technique of the traditional Nie family wheat-straw picture and could independently complete the entire process, from preparing the raw material by splitting, scraping, fumigating and steaming to designing the pattern and cutting and engraving it. While inheriting the traditional craft, he has improved the production process, the pattern design and the methods of mounting and packaging in keeping with modern aesthetic needs, enhancing the artistic effect without losing the antique charm and the strong local character; his works are acclaimed at home and abroad. In 2009 his work Yi Pin Qing Lian (A Noble Lotus) received a national design patent. Within the documented technical tradition of Wheat-straw Collage in Qingfeng, Henan: Qingfeng Nie-family wheat stalk appliqué is a local expression of traditional Chinese wheat stalk appliqué, distributed in Qingfeng County, Henan, and elsewhere. Qingfeng County is located in the northeast of Henan Province and is an important production area of quality wheat in China, providing abundant material resources for wheat stalk painting. In the mid-Qing period, more than ten wheat stalk painting families vied in brilliance, among which the Nie family's wheat stalk painting was one of the typical representatives. In the late Qing, Nie family successors were already able to use wheat stalks skillfully, designing and producing figures, auspicious animals, flowers, birds, and landscapes through process steps such as smoking and steaming, splitting, winding, cutting, and engraving, forming the distinctive Nie-family wheat stalk painting. According to the Nie family genealogy, during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing, the multi-layer pasting technique developed by Nie Wanjuan enriched and elevated the local wheat stalk painting technique. The subject categories of Nie-family wheat stalk painting include gods and Buddhas, auspicious flowers and birds, stories and operas, historical allusions, mountains and rivers, ancient figures, animals, and poultry. Traditional representative works include Five Tigers Welcoming Spring and the Four Beauties. The techniques and process flow mainly consist of two sets. First, the flat pasting technique, which comprises seventeen process steps including material selection, stalk cutting, smoking and steaming, and picture pasting. Second, the multi-layer pasting technique: wheat stalks are selected and sorted by color and shade, after which the stalks are bundled and soaked in a liquid of Chinese medicinal herbs, and the soaked stalks are split open, ironed flat, and dried. According to creative needs, the wheat stalks undergo technical treatments such as shaving, cutting, and scraping; raised parts are joined together; and steps such as shaping and finalizing the form are carried out. Light and dark stalks are set off against one another and pasted in layers from the inside outward. Nie-family wheat stalk painting uses black as its ground color and is simple and weighty; its characteristic lies in the mutual integration and development of the flat pasting, multi-layer pasting, and three-dimensional pasting techniques. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Archival Record of Process Steps": In the late Qing, Nie family successors were already able to use wheat stalks skillfully, designing and producing figures, auspicious animals, flowers, birds, and landscapes through process steps such as smoking and steaming, splitting, winding, cutting, and engraving, forming the distinctive Nie-family wheat stalk painting.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Wheat-straw Collage, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

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. Nie Yuanzheng · National Representative Bearer Archive