Zepei

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At the age of twelve he began learning woodblock carving under his father Sangpei in Baizhuo Village, Jiangda County, and has remained with the craft since. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tibetan Engraved Block Printing Technique in Jiangda, Tibet: Tibetan block-printing craft is most concentrated at Boluo Guze in Jiangda County, Tibet Autonomous Region. At that time Dêgê and Baiyu County in Sichuan and Jiangda in Tibet were all under the jurisdiction of the Dêgê tusi; because Buddhism flourished, the woodblock carving craft serving the printing of Buddhist scriptures and patterns developed as never before, which in turn promoted the prosperity of the Boluo Guze block-engraving craft. Throughout the Qing dynasty, Tibetan tusi and dzongpon expended enormous manpower and resources to collect historical documents and sectarian canonical texts from various disciplines, printing them by relatively primitive plate-making and block-carving methods. The emergence of the Boluo Guze block-engraving craft is closely related to this religious culture; it originated in the fifteenth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing (1676), initiated by the twelfth Dêgê tusi (native chieftain) and sixth Dharma King, Qoji·Dembaciren, and is mainly transmitted in Boluo Township, Jiangda County, Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Tibetan ethnicity, born in April 1963 in Jiangda County, Tibet Autonomous Region. He is a national representative bearer of Tibetan Engraved Block Printing Technique (Boluo Guze block making), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He is a Tibetan engraved block printing technician. In 1978 he studied woodblock engraving at the Dege Printing House, where he remained for five years. From 1983 he carved scripture blocks in Anduo County of Nagqu, Tibet, in Dege, Sichuan, and in other places. He now carves scripture blocks each winter in Chongsang Village, Boluo Township, in his own county, and teaches young people the woodblock craft. He has been engaged in block making for more than forty years and is capable of working independently. He has taught more than two hundred apprentices, many of whom have become outstanding among block-making technicians. Around 1992 he joined other carvers in the restoration and carving of the scripture blocks of the Dege Printing House, work that earned recognition and high praise from the local people. Within the documented technical tradition of Tibetan Engraved Block Printing Technique in Jiangda, Tibet: Tibetan religious culture and art have a long and distant history. At that time Dêgê and Baiyu County in Sichuan and Jiangda in Tibet were all under the jurisdiction of the Dêgê tusi; because Buddhism flourished, the woodblock carving craft serving the printing of Buddhist scriptures and patterns developed as never before, which in turn promoted the prosperity of the Boluo Guze block-engraving craft. Throughout the Qing dynasty, Tibetan tusi and dzongpon (district heads) expended enormous manpower and resources to collect historical documents and sectarian canonical texts from various disciplines, printing them by relatively primitive plate-making and block-carving methods, and produced tens of thousands of woodblock carvings in monasteries. More than 80% of the printing blocks in the famous Dêgê Printing House (Parkhang) of Sichuan were made in Boluo Township. The Boluo Guze block-engraving craft is extremely superb. In making a block, a famous Tibetan calligrapher first writes the block's text, which is then strictly proofread by two or more people. After proofreading, a special liquid is used to print the text onto the wooden board, which is then dried in sunlight. A carving artisan then copies and engraves it following the original; once carved, it must pass twelve strict proofreadings to ensure no errors, after which butter broth is brushed on and it is aired to dry, then cinnabar pigment is applied after drying, and finally a decoction made from an anti-insect plant is used to soak and wash the block before it is handed to workers for printing. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Carving within the Dege domains": Buddhism's spread across the Degelords' territory made the carving of texts and images a growth industry, and Boruguzai led it. "Printing by the chieftains and abbots": Throughout the Qing, chieftains and abbots pooled labour and materials to print the classics of every school of thought. "Tibetan paper and ink": The paper, made from Daphne and agarwood, is tough enough for repeated printing, and ink is adjusted at the press as the sheet absorbs.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2018, Zepei was announced in the fifth batch of national representative bearers for Tibetan Engraved Block Printing Technique, with Jiangda, Tibet as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Tibetan Engraved Block Printing Technique in Jiangda, Tibet: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Jiangda, Tibet as its declared area, and Jiangda County Culture and Tourism Bureau 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. Zepei · National Representative Bearer Archive