Xu Shaoxiong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Xu Shaoxiong, Male, Han, from Shantou, Guangdong, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Xiangqian (Ⅶ-91). The tradition is documented in Shantou, Guangdong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Xiangqian in Shantou, Guangdong: Daliao porcelain inlay is primarily Chaoshan in style with some southern Fujian characteristics, and is found in the Daliao area of Chengtian Town, Chaonan District, Shantou City; the Daliao Porcelain Inlay Craft Cooperative of Chengtian Town, Chaonan District, Shantou City is the protecting unit. Local craftsmen mostly move with construction projects for ancestral halls and temples; the gable heads, ridge blocks, and screen walls on roof ridges are the main places where porcelain inlay artisans exercise their craft. Daliao porcelain inlay and Puning porcelain inlay are outstanding representatives of Chaoshan porcelain inlay. Daliao porcelain inlay has a history of more than a century to this day; it is primarily Chaoshan in style, with some southern Fujian characteristics as well. The history of Puning porcelain inlay is longer still, traceable to the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Xu Shaoxiong is anchored in the documented technical standards of Xiangqian in Shantou, Guangdong. Within the documented technical tradition of Xiangqian in Shantou, Guangdong: Chinese inlay art has a long history and a distinctive style. As early as the Yin-Shang period, decorative patterns of gold inlay and jade setting already appeared in bronze casting. As craftsmanship continually improved, natural colored stones, pebbles, shells, mother-of-pearl, gems, jade, and man-made glass, ceramics, and wood all became materials for inlay. Over the course of its long development, inlay art has accumulated many important technical methods, mainly including direct inlay, the prefabrication method, the reverse-paste reverse-set method, and the obverse-paste obverse-set method. Besides flat inlay, inlay can also be carried out on relief surfaces, a method that can further enhance the three-dimensional effect of the inlaid object. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the relief inlay method came to be widely used in decorating various crafts; in the mid-to-late Qing dynasty there further appeared a relief inlay method that inlays opera figures and stories on different grounds, to which porcelain inlay and bone-and-wood inlay belong. Inlay crafts have the advantages of sturdiness, resistance to sunlight and damp, and freedom from discoloration; the texture of the materials and the resulting effects of form, color, and luster lend inlay crafts added artistic charm, fully displaying a bold, vigorous, and richly splendid beauty. Porcelain inlay, also known as 'jurao,' 'nianrao,' and 'kourao,' is a folk architectural decorative art popular in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong Province. Based on painting and sculpture, it uses specially fired glazed porcelain pieces that are adhered and inlaid to create artistic forms of figures, flowers, and birds and beasts, decorating the roofs, walls, and other parts of temples and buildings. The technique of Chaoshan porcelain inlay is distinctive, mostly adopting semi-relief or round-carving styles; its images are vivid, its colors brilliant, and its texture solid and stable, able to withstand sun and rain without fading. In the Chaoshan region, porcelain workshops often work in close cooperation with porcelain inlay artisans to fire low-temperature porcelain in various colors. The artisans then carefully cut and snip this porcelain into the pieces needed for inlay, assemble the pieces with adhesive into partial components, and finally combine the components into patterns or sculptures expressing folk customs, folk tales, or auspicious and festive themes. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Chaoshan and Minnan strands in Daliao inlay": Over a century old, Daliao inlay is mainly Chaoshan in style while carrying Minnan traits in figure modelling and colour. "Low-fired bowls cut into shards": Potteries fire coloured low-temperature bowls to the inlayer's order, and the craftsman shears them into the shards he needs. "Half-relief and full round": The technique favours half-relief or fully round figures, vividly coloured and stable enough to resist sun and rain. "Placement on ridge and screen wall": Figures, flowers and beasts are built from glazed shards to decorate roofs and walls, then assembled into scenes of legend and good omen.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Xu Shaoxiong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Xiangqian, with Shantou, Guangdong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Xiangqian in Shantou, Guangdong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Shantou, Guangdong as its declared area, and Shantou Chaonanquchengtianzhendaliaoqiancigongyi 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. Xushaoxiong (Shantou, Guangdong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Xushaoxiong · China ICH Official Archive