Hu Miao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

After graduating from junior middle school in 1982 he took his father Hu Yongde as his master to learn the building of covered bridges and large-scale timberwork. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Design and Practices for Building Chinese Wooden Arch Bridges in Qingyuan, Zhejiang: Qingyuan is in the southwest of Zhejiang, with deep valleys and secluded ravines, a single stream flanked by two mountains; historically it suffered from impassable waterways, and crossing ravines by bridge became routine for its villages. According to the Guangxu-era "Qingyuan County Gazetteer," since the Song dynasty the county has built more than 230 various wooden-arch covered bridges, and the over 90 that survive today rank first in the nation—a density that is itself the product of generations of craftsmen dividing labor and collaborating. The branching of bridge styles is roughly divided by era and bridge site: the old-style method, represented by the Xidong Bridge from the Longqing reign of the Ming dynasty, shows the most archaic relationship between layered beam frames and diagonal braces; the Qingyuan Houkeng tied-beam wooden-arch covered bridge, which received the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation, Award of Excellence (first class) in September 2005, belongs to the most completely preserved among recently built examples, and comparing the two bridges reveals how the arch's taper and joints shifted over a thousand years. In terms of inheritance organization, the locality gathered the formerly scattered folk construction teams, founded the Covered Bridge Ancient Architecture Co., Ltd., and equipped it with a standing crew, subsequently listing it as a municipal-level intangible cultural heritage inheritance base and a provincial-level productive protection base; moreover, each stage of bridge construction is accompanied by its own set of folk rituals, with masters and apprentices following the rites at such junctures as commencement and closure—etiquette and craft being of one and the same origin. The tied-beam wooden-arch covered bridge (bianliang mugong langqiao) originates from the special type of wooden-arch bridge known as the "Three-Beam Bridge" (San Tiao Qiao) of the Tang dynasty, possessing special historical research value and occupying an important place in the history of Chinese bridge-building. According to the Guangxu-era "Qingyuan County Gazetteer," since the Song dynasty more than 230 various wooden-arch covered bridges have been constructed within Qingyuan County, of which over 90 still survive—the most of any county in the nation. In September 2005, the Qingyuan Houkeng tied-beam wooden-arch covered bridge received the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation, Award of Excellence (first class). Among these wooden-arch covered bridges, the Xidong Bridge from the Longqing reign period of the Ming dynasty has the longest history.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1967 in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang Province. He is a representative bearer of the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects in the traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges. He is a technician of traditional wooden arch bridge construction. While transmitting the traditional building technique of wooden arch bridges, he has explored their form, appearance and durability; over more than ten years he has directed, as master carpenter, the construction of more than thirty wooden arch bridges and covered bridges of various kinds. He has completely inherited the traditional bridge-building customs, in which every stage of construction has its corresponding folk ritual, embodying a covered-bridge culture handed down over a thousand years. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Design and Practices for Building Chinese Wooden Arch Bridges in Qingyuan, Zhejiang: Chinese bridge-building craftsmanship has a history of several thousand years. The laboring people of antiquity, relying on their own ingenuity and wisdom, created excellent bridge-building techniques. The craft of constructing tied-beam wooden-arch covered bridges is one such technique, now mainly transmitted in Zhejiang, Fujian, and other places. The Zhejiang–Fujian tied-beam wooden-arch covered bridges have a long history, rich forms, and great numbers, standing unrivaled among comparable covered-bridge structures in the country. Qingyuan County lies in the southwest of Zhejiang Province, with deep valleys and secluded ravines; its people long suffered from "impassable waterways," sighing at the chasms. Under these circumstances, the wooden-arch covered bridge arose in response to the need, becoming an indispensable transportation facility in the mountainous area. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The old lapped-beam work of Xidong Bridge": Dating from the Longqing reign of the Ming, Xidong Bridge is the oldest surviving example and a specimen of the local lapped-beam method. "Houkeng Bridge and its Asia-Pacific heritage award": Houkeng Bridge received the UNESCO Asia-Pacific heritage conservation award in September 2005 and now serves as a reference for newer construction. "Rites attached to each stage of bridge building": Hu Miao inherited the full cycle of bridge-building rites, each stage with its own observance; the rituals served as an unwritten manual for organising the work. "Hu Miao's bridge campaigns": Born in Qingyuan in 1967 and a fifth-batch national inheritor, Hu Miao has led the construction of more than thirty timber arch and covered bridges over ten-odd years.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He organized scattered folk construction teams into the Langqiao Ancient Architecture Co., Ltd., which maintains a standing bridge-building workforce and has been successively listed as a municipal intangible cultural heritage transmission base and a provincial productive protection base, enabling the craft to be protected and transmitted in a living form.

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. Hu Miao · National Representative Bearer Archive