Xu Quanxi

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Xu Quanxi, Male, Han, from Huangzhong, Qinghai, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Huangzhong Appliqué Embroidery (Ⅶ-72). The tradition is documented in Huangzhong, Qinghai. Within the regional tradition and school record of Huangzhong Appliqué Embroidery in Huangzhong, Qinghai: Huangzhong pile embroidery is a folk embroidery art popular in the Huangzhong County area of Qinghai Province, distributed mainly in the townships of Tianjiazhai, Duoba, and several others. Huangzhong pile embroidery is a product of the fusion of Han and Tibetan cultures, its history traceable to the period when Princess Wencheng entered Tibet in the Tang dynasty. During the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, Huangzhong pile embroidery entered its peak period; by the mid-to-late Qing dynasty it began to decline. In the early years of the Republic, the second Jiaya Khenpo, Lobsang Dargye, vigorously promoted the art of pile embroidery, reviving its fortunes; it has been transmitted to this day among monastery monks and folk artists.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1946 in Huangzhong county, Qinghai Province. A first-class folk craft artist of Qinghai Province. He is skilled in Tibetan-style murals, gilded thangkas, peasant paintings, folk polychrome painting and the design of ancient architecture. In 1967 he studied painting under the local folk painter Li Yuzhen; in 1987 he took the monk-artist Zhaxi Nima of Kumbum Monastery as his teacher and mastered the appliqué technique practised there. For more than thirty years he has produced appliqué and polychrome painting in monasteries in Qinghai, Tibet and Gansu. His works Jia Hua Chuan Ri Yue (Fine Tales Through Sun and Moon), Cai Bi Hui Ying Wang (Painting the Heroic King in Colour) and Xue Shan Shi Zi Wu (Snow Mountain Lion Dance) were exhibited and collected at the National Art Museum of China, and Wei Tuo Pu Sa (Skanda) was collected by the Ministry of Culture; he has held solo exhibitions in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and in Huangzhong, Qinghai, and created Yun Jing Tu (Transporting the Sutras) and Gu Gan Zhou Fu Yuan Tu (Reconstruction of Ancient Ganzhou) at the Great Buddha Temple in Zhangye. Within the documented technical tradition of Huangzhong Appliqué Embroidery in Huangzhong, Qinghai: At that time Princess Wencheng brought silk and embroidery from the Central Plains to Tubo, after which various weaving and embroidery techniques gradually spread to the Qinghai-Tibet region; Huangzhong pile embroidery took shape and developed against this background. In the Huangzhong area there is a saying that “anyone who can do needlework can do pile embroidery,” which shows that the art has a broad popular base locally. Huangzhong pile embroidery mainly depicts Tibetan Buddhist subjects, using cutting, piling, and other techniques to build up images, and is mostly used in making thangka. The pile embroideries preserved in Kumbum Monastery in Huangzhong County are treasures of Tibetan Buddhist art and are acclaimed as one of the “three excellences” of Kumbum Monastery art. Huangzhong pile embroidery perfectly combines embroidery with the art of relief, showing delicacy within boldness and splendor within simplicity, presenting moving ethnic character and powerful artistic appeal. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "One of the three wonders of Kumbum monastery": The silk appliqué kept at Kumbum monastery in Huangzhong is a treasure of Tibetan Buddhist art and one of the monastery's three wonders. "Cutting and stacking for thangka making": Devoted to Buddhist subjects, the craft shapes images by cutting and stacking, mainly for thangkas, uniting embroidery with relief. "Princess Wencheng and the westward spread of needlework": A fusion of Han and Tibetan culture, the craft traces back to Princess Wencheng, who carried Central Plains silk and embroidery into Tibet. "The second Gayya Khenpo and the revival of appliqué": Flourishing in the Jiajing era and declining in the late Qing, the art was revived in the early Republic when the second Gayya Khenpo promoted it among monks and lay craftsmen.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Huangzhong Appliqué Embroidery, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. For many years he has taught the appliqué technique and trained thirty-eight disciples, and through instruction and guidance he has helped rural women and laid-off workers start businesses and increase their incomes, enhancing the social and economic benefits of the Huangzhong appliqué craft.

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 Quanxi · National Representative Bearer Archive