Zhang Shifeng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Zhang Shifeng, Male, Han, from Xiangfen, Shanxi, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Pizhi Making Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-67). The tradition is documented in Xiangfen, Shanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Pizhi Making Craftsmanship in Xiangfen, Shanxi: The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper now mainly spreads through southern, southeastern and northern Shanxi, with its core area in Dengzhuang Town, Xiangfen County, Linfen City. Pingyang hemp paper is also called "Pingyang hemp paper" (Pingyang ma zhi); it is used not only as everyday paper but also for writing, sacrifice and packaging. The Dengzhuang Dingtao Hemp-Paper Society of Xiangfen County is the protecting unit of the item. According to the Historical Materials of Southern Shanxi and the Historical Materials of Papermaking, papermaking in Shanxi began in the Yongchu reign of the Eastern Han; it is said that the making of Pingyang hemp paper (ma jian) has continued to the present by carrying on this traditional craft. In the Song, Jin and Yuan periods, the "Pingshui edition" books printed at Pingyang, and ancient documents such as the Zhaocheng Golden Canon (Zhaocheng Jinzang), the Illustrious Beauty of the Sui Court Presenting the Charm of a Toppling Kingdom, and the Four Beauties picture, were preserved and handed down precisely thanks to Pingyang hemp paper. In the Ming and Qing eras, hemp-paper production around Dengzhuang in Linfen became Shanxi's principal hemp-paper producing area and the main supplier of paper for imperial use, and the craft reached its peak.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in July 1975 in Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province. A representative bearer of pi paper making craftsmanship (Pingyang majian making craftsmanship), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He is a technician of Pingyang majian making. Influenced by his elders from childhood, he came into contact with majian making at the age of ten or so; after graduating he used his spare time to collect and collate material and objects relating to Pingyang majian, and studied successively under Jia Junwen, Deng Yusheng, Li Weihai and the Jing County papermaker Bao Xinlin of Anhui, learning the techniques of chopping hemp, steaming hemp, sheet-lifting and watermarking. After years of exploration and study he has become proficient in the traditional production process and its core techniques, and by combining them with the traditional techniques of Hui paper he has raised the quality of Pingyang majian to the standard required for calligraphy, painting and printing, restoring vitality to the traditional majian. Over the years he has continued to carry out technical innovation and exploration, has trained six disciples and has taken an active part in exhibitions and demonstrations throughout the country, vigorously promoting Pingyang majian and enabling this endangered traditional craft to be effectively transmitted and developed. Within the documented technical tradition of Pizhi Making Craftsmanship in Xiangfen, Shanxi: The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper is a traditional handicraft that uses the local fine-quality field hemp (tian ma) as raw material and alkaline groundwater, going through twelve steps—soaking the hemp, hoeing the goods, sorting the hemp, chopping the hemp, steaming the hemp, rinsing the hemp, crushing the hemp, stirring the pond (hai, a dialect word for the water pool), sheet-forming, drying the paper, lifting the paper and finishing the paper—to make hemp paper. It now mainly spreads through southern, southeastern and northern Shanxi, with its core area in Dengzhuang Town, Xiangfen County, Linfen City. Pingyang hemp paper is also called "Pingyang hemp paper" (Pingyang ma zhi); it is used not only as everyday paper but also for various kinds of special book printing and as the ideal medium for calligraphers' and painters' creative work. The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper follows the papermaking of the Han dynasty onward, using the strongly alkaline groundwater of Xiangfen County and selecting the locally distinctive fine-quality "field hemp" as its main raw material; its craftsmanship is exacting, with twelve steps—soaking the goods, sorting the goods, chopping the hemp, drying the hemp, steaming the hemp, crushing the hemp, stirring the pond, sheet-forming, drying the paper and finishing the paper—each step strict in its tools and operation, a manual craft integrating scientific, empirical and technical character. The characteristic of this craft lies in requiring the artisan to possess rich experience and exquisite skill, as well as strictly controlling the quality of every link; the product has long fibres, strong pliability, an even and fine texture, good ink-absorption, resistance to insects, and the property of being preservable for a thousand years. The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper has a long and distant source. Xu Shen wrote in the Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen Jiezi): "Paper is fibres on a mat," meaning that through a water-draining screen the fibres are evenly dispersed on the screen and settle to form paper. Pingyang hemp-paper products are of fine quality and are praised as "paper that outlasts a thousand years." This craft has deep cultural connotations; it contains the complete craft of northern traditional papermaking, displays the papermaking wisdom of the ancient working people, and holds high historical and cultural value. Protecting and transmitting this traditional handicraft is of extraordinary significance. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Documented production process": The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper is a traditional handicraft that uses the local fine-quality field hemp as raw material and alkaline groundwater, going through twelve steps—soaking the hemp, hoeing the goods, sorting the hemp, chopping the hemp, steaming the hemp, rinsing the hemp, crushing the hemp, stirring the pond (hai, a dialect word for the water pool), sheet-forming, drying the paper, lifting the paper and finishing the paper—to make hemp paper.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2018, Zhang Shifeng was announced in the fifth batch of national representative bearers for Pizhi Making Craftsmanship, with Xiangfen, Shanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Pizhi Making Craftsmanship in Xiangfen, Shanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Xiangfen, Shanxi as its declared area, and Xiangfen County Dengzhuangdingtaomajian Society 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. Zhang Shifeng · National Representative Bearer Archive