Xie Xinjian
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Xie Xinjian, Male, Han, from Juancheng, Shandong, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Zhuansu (Ⅶ-86). The tradition is documented in Juancheng, Shandong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Zhuansu in Juancheng, Shandong: Juancheng brick sculpture has been passed down from generation to generation by the Xie family. Its works are mostly decorative elements such as ridge ornaments, chitou (gable heads) and gate towers on temples, ancestral halls and dwellings, and are sold in the countryside along the border between Shandong and Henan provinces. The Juancheng County Cultural Relics Management Office (the Lujin Museum of China) is the protecting unit, and remnants of the Xie family's brick sculpture can still be seen on old temples and ancestral halls within the county. Juancheng brick sculpture is a traditional sculptural art founded and handed down by the Xie family of Juancheng County in Shandong Province. During the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, Xie Guangfang of Juancheng, through repeated practice, created a distinctive brick-sculpture technique.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Xie Xinjian is anchored in the documented technical standards of Zhuansu in Juancheng, Shandong. Within the documented technical tradition of Zhuansu in Juancheng, Shandong: The distinctive brick sculpture of the Xie family of Juancheng retains the characteristics of traditional folk modelling and earthenware craft: ingenious and complete in conception, plain and forthright in technique, clearly ordered in layering, crisp and fluent in line, and vivid and true to life in form, suffused with a strong rustic air and a popular spirit. Decorative elements made with the Xie family's brick-sculpture technique for temples and ancestral halls are widely distributed in eastern Shandong and western Henan, and the family's fame extends for a thousand li in all directions. Brick sculpture uses local clay as its material and is moulded before firing, the finished pieces being blue-grey earthenware. The Xie family's craftsmen mostly combine high relief with low relief; human figures and animals are modelled through distortion, exaggeration and simplification, while drapery and feathers are distinguished by incised lines. Piled up layer upon layer, the pieces show clear contours from a distance and crisp lines at close range, combining an archaic simplicity with a forthright rustic quality. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Xie family craft founded by Xie Guangfang": Xie Guangfang devised the technique in the Guangxu reign and it has since passed through three generations of his family. "Opera brickwork and bird-and-flower brickwork": The craft divides into opera scenes, the larger part, and bird-and-flower panels, the former moralising through familiar stage stories. "High and low relief combined": Xie Xueyun combined high and low relief, shaping figures by distortion and generalisation in the manner of the stage. "Grey pottery fired after modelling": The pieces are grey earthenware fired after modelling, their thickness carefully managed so they do not crack in the kiln.
The Xie family craft founded by Xie Guangfang
Xie Guangfang devised the technique in the Guangxu reign and it has since passed through three generations of his family.
Opera brickwork and bird-and-flower brickwork
The craft divides into opera scenes, the larger part, and bird-and-flower panels, the former moralising through familiar stage stories.
High and low relief combined
Xie Xueyun combined high and low relief, shaping figures by distortion and generalisation in the manner of the stage.
Grey pottery fired after modelling
The pieces are grey earthenware fired after modelling, their thickness carefully managed so they do not crack in the kiln.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Xie Xinjian was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Zhuansu, with Juancheng, Shandong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Zhuansu in Juancheng, Shandong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Juancheng, Shandong as its declared area, and Juancheng County Cultural Relics Management Office (Zhongguolujin Museum) 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
Historical origin
Juancheng brick sculpture is a traditional sculptural art founded and handed down by the Xie family of Juancheng County in Shandong Province. During the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, Xie Guangfang of Juancheng, through repeated practice, created a distinctive brick-sculpture technique.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xie Xueyun | Juancheng, Shandong | 03-1296 | Same declared area |
| Xie Xinjian | Juancheng, Shandong | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。