Sun Yunhao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Sun Yunhao, Male, Han, from Ziboshiboshan, Shandong, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-90). The tradition is documented in Ziboshiboshan, Shandong. Within the regional tradition and school record of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Ziboshiboshan, Shandong: The Boshan glaze kiln industry is concentrated in the Boshan District of Zibo City; the mayashi, zishi, and lingzishi used all come from the local hills, and the niter and coal are also locally sourced. In the Hongwu reign of the Ming the Palace Domestic Service set up an outer factory in Boshan to fire tribute goods such as qinglian for the court, and in the Qing the raw materials and glass rods used by the Imperial Workshop were also supplied by Boshan. The closeness of kiln sites and material sources remains unchanged to this day, and production is now carried on by enterprises such as Zibo Aimei Glaze Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The Boshan glaze-firing craft already had a considerable scale in the Yuan dynasty. The Qing court established the Imperial Workshop (Zaobanchu) within the palace, among which was a workshop specialized in producing glaze tribute goods; the raw materials and glass rods it used were supplied by Boshan, and Boshan glaze entered a flourishing period, its products sold far to all parts of the world.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Sun Yunhao is anchored in the documented technical standards of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Ziboshiboshan, Shandong. Within the documented technical tradition of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Ziboshiboshan, Shandong: The Boshan glaze-firing craft is a craft distributed in Boshan District, Zibo City, Shandong Province, using the locally abundant mayashi (horse-tooth stone), zishi (purple stone), lingzishi, niter, and coal as raw materials, to produce glaze ware by traditional techniques. The main Boshan glaze products include glaze vases, decorative flower balls, Shandong-school inside-painted snuff bottles, jigan shi (chicken-liver stone), jiyou huang (chicken-fat yellow), jinhong (golden red), turquoise, overlaid-color carved ware, glass-bead ornaments, jade and agate imitations, and lampwork glaze. Glaze making involves complex procedures, represented by blowing technique and modeling technique. Blowing makes use of the plasticity of glaze within a certain temperature range: using a hollow iron rod to draw glass material from the furnace, one keeps turning the rod in hand as it cools, blowing the shape of the glaze. Modeling requires the craftsman to hold a long iron rod with a small hook, hook the material and send it into a furnace at a temperature as high as 1200 degrees Celsius; once the material melts, it is quickly drawn out and placed on an iron anvil, one hand pulling the high-temperature material with a tool while the other hand pulls out the form with pincers, making various glaze artworks. In addition, the Boshan glaze-firing craft includes painting inside glaze snuff-bottle blanks to make exquisite inside-painted snuff bottles; making multi-colored, multi-layered overlaid-color carved glaze artworks by overlaying colors on the glaze blank; making lampwork glaze products from glaze rods; and making pusi (silk-laying) artworks from fine glaze filaments. The characteristic of this craft lies in its skillful use of such superb techniques as blowing, pulling, turning, and pressing, together with precious color materials such as jiyou huang (chicken-fat yellow), jigan shi (chicken-liver stone), bright red, and foreign blue, to manifest the value of the work. In the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, the Palace Domestic Service (Neigongjian) set up an 'outer factory' in Boshan to produce glaze tribute goods such as 'qinglian' (blue curtains) for the court. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a hundred glaze households gathered in Boshan, renewing the youthful vigor of glaze art. Boshan glaze making through the ages has mostly been master–apprentice; under the cultivation of old craftsmen, a new generation of glaze artisans has gradually mastered the traditional craft. The Boshan glaze craft upholds the essence of traditional Chinese plastic arts; with supple curves, gorgeous colors, and subtly varying forms, it endows glaze works with an never-fading artistic life. Among these, inside-painting, carving, and silk-laying employ traditional Chinese patterns and the painting techniques of Chinese brush painting, displaying the distinctive charm of Chinese culture. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Process Steps": Glaze making involves complex procedures, represented by blowing technique and modeling technique.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Sun Yunhao was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship, with Ziboshiboshan, Shandong as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Colored Glass Firing Craftsmanship in Ziboshiboshan, Shandong: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Ziboshiboshan, Shandong as its declared area, and Zibo Aimeiliulizhizao 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. Sunyunhao (Ziboshiboshan, Shandong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Sunyunhao · China ICH Official Archive