He Shen
01 · Lineage & Regional School
He Shen, Male, Han, from Baodingshidingxing, Hebei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Shuhuazhan Making Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-256). The tradition is documented in Baodingshidingxing, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Shuhuazhan Making Craftsmanship in Baodingshidingxing, Hebei: The surface nap of the felt is evenly distributed and suitably spaced, flat yet full of elasticity and toughness, and it has the property of absorbing water and preserving ink. In addition, the few small workshops scattered through the villages around Dingxing County also transmit this craft. Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt grew out of the old local methods of making folk felt. Felt-making has a long history among the people of China, and spread goods such as tent felt and bed felt were once common throughout north and south; the felt-makers of the Dingxing area struck out along a road of their own, turning felt from a means of keeping warm to a material for calligraphy and painting: the surface had to be flat and even, able to hold ink without robbing the brush of it, and sturdy enough to withstand the repeated rise and fall of the brush without shedding. The He family ancestors made calligraphy and painting felt by these methods early on, and by the Qing dynasty He Shun set down the craft formulas and production essentials one by one, transmitting them by oral instruction and personal example from generation to generation; four generations have now passed.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for He Shen is anchored in the documented technical standards of Shuhuazhan Making Craftsmanship in Baodingshidingxing, Hebei. Within the documented technical tradition of Shuhuazhan Making Craftsmanship in Baodingshidingxing, Hebei: The Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt craft is a felt-making technique transmitted in the area of Dingxing County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, which uses wool as its raw material to produce felt that holds ink and drains water and is suited to calligraphy and painting. Dingxing County lies in the heart of the central Hebei plain, with level terrain, broad fertile fields and luxuriant vegetation, and its farming and livestock raising are well developed. The raising of flocks supplied the raw material for making calligraphy and painting felt; its superior geographical position, convenient transport and strong cultural atmosphere made it easy for the product to be sold and spread. The Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt craft uses several kinds of wool as raw material and tools including the bow, bamboo screen, rattan, stove, bellows, iron cauldron, earthenware pails and jars, porcelain cups and the wooden boards of the felt-washing gate. The wool is processed through steps such as picking out the wool, beating, scalding with boiling water, forming, rolling, washing, rubbing the edges and squaring the corners, and once the wool has been interlocked to greater density it is simply dried in the air to give the finished product; the whole process is carried out purely by hand. Its colours are mainly white, black and grey. The products include first-grade wool calligraphy and painting felt, extra-grade wool calligraphy and painting felt and printed-grid tracing felt (with printed characters and strokes), amounting to over a thousand varieties in many specifications and thicknesses that can be cut to any size, which well meets artists' needs for both wall-mounted and table-top work. Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt has been on sale for more than 30 years at Rongbaozhai in Beijing, Duoyunxuan in Shanghai and the Yangliuqing painting shop in Tianjin. The Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt craft is closely related to the folk felt-making techniques transmitted in China for a thousand years; it continues the Chinese traditional techniques of making tent felt and bed felt and is a typical representative of the craft of making felt specifically for calligraphy and painting. The He family ancestors of Dingxing County were already making calligraphy and painting felt from several kinds of wool in earlier times. The Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt craft arose alongside the art of calligraphy and painting, has witnessed and helped to advance the development of that art in China, and is an important vehicle for the study of the culture of the scholar's studio. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Documented process steps": The Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt craft uses several kinds of wool as raw material and tools including the bow, bamboo screen, rattan, stove, bellows, iron cauldron, earthenware pails and jars, porcelain cups and the wooden boards of the felt-washing gate. The wool is processed through steps such as picking out the wool, beating, scalding with boiling water, forming, rolling, washing, rubbing the edges and squaring the corners, and once the wool has been interlocked to greater density it is simply dried in the air to give the finished product; the whole process is carried out purely by hand. "Sorting and opening the fleece": The fleece is sorted of dirt and straw then beaten with a bow until the tangled fibres open into loose wool; the stroke must be even, for too little leaves a sheddy felt and too much damages the fibre and its resilience. "Hot-water fulling and moulding on a bamboo screen": The wool is laid on a bamboo screen and scalded repeatedly with boiling water so the fibres entangle, then rolled, washed, edged and squared; once the interlocked density is enough it is simply dried in the shade, entirely by hand.
Documented process steps
The Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt craft uses several kinds of wool as raw material and tools including the bow, bamboo screen, rattan, stove, bellows, iron cauldron, earthenware pails and jars, porcelain cups and the wooden boards of the felt-washing gate. The wool is processed through steps such as picking out the wool, beating, scalding with boiling water, forming, rolling, washing, rubbing the edges and squaring the corners, and once the wool has been interlocked to greater density it is simply dried in the air to give the finished product; the whole process is carried out purely by hand.
Sorting and opening the fleece
The fleece is sorted of dirt and straw then beaten with a bow until the tangled fibres open into loose wool; the stroke must be even, for too little leaves a sheddy felt and too much damages the fibre and its resilience.
Hot-water fulling and moulding on a bamboo screen
The wool is laid on a bamboo screen and scalded repeatedly with boiling water so the fibres entangle, then rolled, washed, edged and squared; once the interlocked density is enough it is simply dried in the shade, entirely by hand.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, He Shen was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Shuhuazhan Making Craftsmanship, with Baodingshidingxing, Hebei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Shuhuazhan Making Craftsmanship in Baodingshidingxing, Hebei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Baodingshidingxing, Hebei as its declared area, and Dingxing County He ZhongTang Culture Yongpinzhizao 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
Historical origin
Dingxing calligraphy and painting felt grew out of the old local methods of making folk felt. Felt-making has a long history among the people of China, and spread goods such as tent felt and bed felt were once common throughout north and south; the felt-makers of the Dingxing area struck out along a road of their own, turning felt from a means of keeping warm to a material for calligraphy and painting: the surface had to be flat and even, able to hold ink without robbing the brush of it, and sturdy enough to withstand the repeated rise and fall of the brush without shedding. The He family ancestors made calligraphy and painting felt by these methods early on, and by the Qing dynasty He Shun set down the craft formulas and production essentials one by one, transmitting them by oral instruction and personal example from generation to generation; four generations have now passed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| He Shen | Baodingshidingxing, Hebei | — | 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。