Zhou Pengcheng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Zhou Pengcheng, Male, Han, from Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Writing Brush Making Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-200). The tradition is documented in Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Writing Brush Making Craftsmanship in Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi: The Wengang brush craft has its origin in Zhoufang Village, Wengang Town, Jinxian County, and spreads continuously across the town's 104 natural villages. Each village specialises differently: the artisans of the Zhoufang line make hard-hair brushes shaped by the cloaking-the-core method and finished by the san-zhuo method, while dou brushes, strip screens, and row brushes are made in separate large-material workshops; among the full 128 steps, the degreasing and down-removal of hair protection and the shape-setting and kneading of brush finishing are the hardest to pass on outside. In the mid-Ming dynasty, Wengang brushes began to serve as imperial brushes for the palace, priced at 'one tael of gold per shaft.' The development, evolution, technique transmission, and material changes of the Wengang brush-making craft embody the wisdom of artisans through the ages, reflect the social demands of different eras, and serve as a microcosm of the evolution of China's brush industry, holding important historical, cultural, and craft value.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Zhou Pengcheng is anchored in the documented technical standards of Writing Brush Making Craftsmanship in Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi. Within the documented technical tradition of Writing Brush Making Craftsmanship in Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi: The Wengang brush-making craft is one of the representatives of China's traditional brush-making craft; its area of spread includes 104 natural villages within the jurisdiction of Wengang Town, Jinxian County, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, among which Zhoufang Village is the birthplace, and its brush-making craft remains transmitted in good order to this day and keeps radiating to surrounding areas. Jinxian County lies in the Ganfu Plain, north of central Jiangxi and on the south shore of Poyang Lake; local common animals include cattle, pigs, rabbits, dogs, rats, and weasels, and the vegetation is dominated by evergreen trees such as bamboo and camphor—all excellent raw materials for Wengang brush making. Wengang brushes are diverse and complete in categories, divided into eight major classes—wolf hair, goat hair, purple hair, badger, dou brushes, eyebrow brushes, strip screens, and row brushes—with over a thousand varieties, meeting the varied needs of calligraphy, painting, and ceramics making. On the basis of inheriting the common brush-making techniques of antiquity, its craft formed a core technology unique to China's brush industry: shaping the form with the 'cloaking-the-core' method and finishing it with the 'san-zhuo' method. The craft uses natural materials, selects strictly, and works with complexity, comprising a total of 128 steps overall. Among these, the core-hair process has 26 steps; the hair-protecting process 21 steps, including degreasing, aligning, and down-removal; the grass-ash process 11 steps, including burning the pocket, beating the ash, and binding the brush; the shaft-making and core-shaft assembly process 32 steps, including straightening, stamping, notching, and inverting the mouth; the brush-finishing process 21 steps, including setting the shape, applying down, kneading the brush, and combing; and the packaging process 17 steps, including cutting material, grinding, polishing, and stamping characters. The 'Historical Relics of Eastern Jiangxi' records that the Wengang brush craft has a history of over 1,600 years. By modern times, the scale of the Wengang brush industry and its technological level rank among the top in the country. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Process-Step Record": The craft uses natural materials, selects strictly, and works with complexity, comprising a total of 128 steps overall.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Zhou Pengcheng was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Writing Brush Making Craftsmanship, with Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Writing Brush Making Craftsmanship in Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi as its declared area, and Jinxian County Wen GangWenFangSiBao Association 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. Zhoupengcheng (Nanchangshijinxian, Jiangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhoupengcheng · China ICH Official Archive