Wang Shubao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wang Shubao, Male, Han, from Qufu, Shandong, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-90). The tradition is documented in Qufu, Shandong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Qufu, Shandong: First, local white earth, black earth, and pink-colored shale are selected, crushed fine with a stone roller in proportion, passed through an 80-mesh silk sieve, and soaked and settled into a smooth, greasy clay paste. This craft originated in Dazhuang Community, Lucheng Subdistrict, Qufu City, Jining City, Shandong Province. It has been passed down through the generations by the Zhu family, and in the course of its survival and development it spread continually to the surrounding areas of Yanzhou, Zoucheng, Sishui, and Tengzhou. During the Dazhong Xiangfu era of the Song dynasty (1008), the imperial court ordered that a number of Shanxi Zhu-family kiln households be relocated to the border between Qufu and Yanzhou, where a kiln yard was established to fire yellow glazed tiles to meet the need for expanding the Confucius Temple. In the third year of Hongwu of the Ming dynasty (1370), the Confucius Temple was expanded and renovated twice, and the court ordered the Zhu-family kiln households to move to Dazhuang Village on the outskirts of Qufu City. In the seventh year of Zhengde of the Ming dynasty (1512), the Zhengde Emperor specially conferred upon the Zhu-family kiln households the name 'Yushenggong Kiln Yard,' and the Zhu family's craft of making glazed tiles was thus passed down through the generations. In 1949, the 'Yushenggong Kiln Yard' was restructured and established as the 'Qufu Glazed Tile Factory,' which continues to the present day.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Wang Shubao is anchored in the documented technical standards of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Qufu, Shandong. Within the documented technical tradition of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Qufu, Shandong: The Qufu glazed-tile craft is a traditional hand-made craft of producing glazed tile-ends (wadang) and their architectural ornaments that has survived for over 600 years. The main products of the Qufu glazed-tile craft include finials (baoding), large roof beasts (da wen), roof-animal figures, ridge tiles (fangji), eave-trough drip tiles (goutou dishui), connecting bricks, dragon ornaments (chilong), and wangjungui (a type of rooftop figure), as well as garden and architectural ornaments such as flowers, grasses, pines, and bamboos. The craft has fully preserved the traditional hand-firing process. Its technological process includes selecting earth and preparing clay, forming the body and shaping it, making the glaze, bisque-firing and glazing, and color-firing, among other steps. It then shapes the body according to requirements. The wheel-tile method is used, based on the kiln-building method set out in Volume 15 of the Yingzao Fashi (Treatise on Architectural Methods), which can shape tile pieces of the second through ninth grades; the mold method is used, shaping, mold-making, and forming according to the dimensions of the ridge beasts and animal ornaments. It then blends and mixes uniformly the ingredients for different colors to make the glaze in proportion, places the shaped body into the kiln for bisque-firing at a temperature as high as 1200°C. After cooling, the fired and shaped tiles are glazed. Finally comes the color-firing: the glazed tiles are placed into a color-firing kiln and reheated to induce kiln transmutation, requiring a color-firing temperature of 1000°C. The distinctive feature of this craft lies in its strict procedures, precise ingredient ratios, and meticulous firing; it is a typical representative of China's ancient architectural art, embodying the ingenuity of its bearers and representing the collective wisdom of the working people. The Qufu glazed-tile craft has fully preserved the traditional hand-made process, and it holds strong reference value for the research and utilization of ancient architectural decorative materials, providing technical parameters that can be drawn upon for the conservation of cultural relics. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Account of Craft Procedures": Its craft process comprises selecting earth and preparing clay, forming the body and shaping it, making the glaze, bisque-firing and glazing, and color-firing, among other steps.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Wang Shubao was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship, with Qufu, Shandong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Qufu, Shandong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Qufu, Shandong as its declared area, and Qufu Liuliwa Factory Co., Ltd. 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. Wangshubao (Qufu, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wangshubao · China ICH Official Archive