Yangzhou Jade Carving

01 · Historical Records

During the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou jade carving entered its period of full flourishing: the Lianghuai salt administration established a jade bureau at the Jianlong Temple in Yangzhou, undertaking large quantities of court jade objects and presenting annual tribute to the imperial court. After 1840, the Yangzhou jade-carving industry declined year by year; Yangzhou jade artisans flowed to Shanghai, Hong Kong and elsewhere, while those who remained locally mostly worked on flat jade pieces, and some changed professions. In the 1950s, the Yangzhou Jade Factory was established, and the Yangzhou jade carving technique was transmitted anew.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Yangzhou is a major producing area of jade objects in China, and its jade-carving craft has a long history. At the Longqiu Neolithic site in eastern Jianghuai, jade huang arcs and jade tubes have been excavated; Han Dynasty tombs in Yangzhou have also yielded many jade objects, of numerous categories and beautiful forms, already employing openwork carving, incised line carving and shallow relief techniques. The jade craft of Yangzhou reached a new peak in the Tang Dynasty; in the Song Dynasty, Yangzhou jade carving saw the emergence of openwork carving and linked-chain (liantiao) techniques, laying the foundation for the later formation of its characteristic techniques. Jade is hard, dense and fine, with a Mohs hardness of 4 to 8; hand-carving techniques are relatively complex, and its craft characteristic is polishing and carving — that is, "cutting the jade" (zhuoyu) and "grinding the jade" (nianyu). The jade materials used in Yangzhou jade carving include white jade, green jade and jasper from Xinjiang; xiuyan jade, agate and yellow jade from Liaoning; crystal from Jiangsu; lümiao jade and turquoise from Hubei; southern jade from Guangdong; and jade from Brazil, jadeite from Myanmar, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, green jade from Canada, and coral from Japan. Its production techniques, passed down over several thousand years, have preserved the traditional local cultural character of Yangzhou, fusing incised line carving, deep and shallow relief, three-dimensional circular carving and openwork carving into one, and forming characteristics of depth and substance, roundness and moistness, scholarly refinement, spirit and delicacy, with an artistic style that is elegant and exquisite, and of outstanding translucence and fineness. Yangzhou jade carvings of successive dynasties each preserved the artistic features of their period — for example, the Western Han White Jade Cicada, carved from Hotan jade using the "eight Han carvings" method, with concise and vigorous lines and consummate grinding skill; and the Qing Dynasty Yu the Great Controlling the Waters, which employed many techniques together and is a rare treasure; made from Xinjiang celadon-white jade, it stands 224 centimeters high, took six years to carve, required 150,000 workdays, and cost more than 15,000 taels of silver. Today's Yangzhou jade craftsmen have comprehensively inherited the fine traditional techniques of Yangzhou jade carving and have boldly innovated; in practice they follow the carving-and-polishing rule of "selecting material according to quantity and applying skill according to the material," and, in keeping with the demands of the times, have continually improved their ability to "read the jade" (xiangyu) and their carving techniques, producing large numbers of works with novel compositions, beautiful forms and exquisite workmanship. Their "hill carving" (shanzidiao) and "linked-chain work" (lianzihuo) techniques are distinctive in style, demonstrating the consummate skill of Yangzhou jade carving techniques. At the same time, jade carving is manual work with a long production cycle; artisans must expend arduous mental and physical labor yet cannot obtain commensurate rewards.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yangzhou jade craftsmen, on the basis of inheriting tradition, follow the carving-and-polishing rule of "selecting material according to quantity and applying skill according to the material," continually improving their ability to "read the jade." Their "hill carving" and "linked-chain work" are each distinctive in style: the former was studied by Gu Yongjun from 1978, who succeeded in restoring a technique that had been interrupted for more than two hundred years; the latter emphasizes the carving and application of chains and movable rings from a single piece of material. Together they demonstrate the consummate skill of Yangzhou jade carving techniques.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The main current inheritors of Yangzhou jade carving include Huang Yongshun, Gu Yongjun, Jiao Yiming, Liu Xiaohua, Li Xiaowei, Jiang Chunyuan, Xia Linbao and Wang Dehai. At present, enterprises engaged in jade production in Yangzhou generally face difficulties of high costs (jade prices rise year after year), high expenses and heavy taxes, and find survival extremely hard. These two causes have directly led to the large-scale loss of existing technical personnel; young people are unwilling to learn and pursue this craft, and the Yangzhou jade carving technique lacks successors, urgently needing protection and rescue. Jiang Chunyuan (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1947, a native of Yangzhou, Jiangsu. He is a representative inheritor of Yangzhou jade carving, an item of national-level intangible cultural heritage of the first batch, and a master of Chinese arts and crafts. After joining the Yangzhou Jade Factory in 1963, Jiang Chunyuan received guidance from many senior artisans; he later persisted in self-study for many years, practiced painting, drew deeply on life, gathered materials extensively, selected material according to quantity and applied skill according to the material, and developed his own distinctive insights and creative ideas particularly in the categories of flowers, censers and vases, birds, animals and landscapes. His works are handsome and dignified, with elegant forms and outstanding translucence and delicacy. Representative works include Mantis and Chinese Cabbage, Eight Steeds, and Chain Censer with Begonia Design. Jiang Chunyuan has passed on the jade carving experience he has summarized to his apprentices without reservation, and some of his students have already achieved fruitful results in this field. Gu Yongjun (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1942, a native of Yangzhou, Jiangsu. He is a representative inheritor of Yangzhou jade carving, an item of national-level intangible cultural heritage of the first batch, and a master of Chinese arts and crafts. He tempered himself in the carving workshop for more than ten years before beginning to devote himself to the creation and design of jade carving. He began studying hill carving in 1978, working through material selection, conception and carving techniques, and finally succeeded in restoring this technique, which had been interrupted for more than two hundred years, developing it further on its original basis. His works have rounded, dignified and elegant forms with ingenious compositions that are a delight to behold. Representative works include The Dai People's Harvest, A Gathering of Treasures, and Han Cypress. For decades he has taught apprentices without interruption; his disciple Xue Chunmei has been awarded the title of "Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts."

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Jiang Chunyuan 01-0090
• Gu Yongjun 01-0091
• Xue Chunmei 04-1779
• Gao Yijin 04-1780

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Yangzhou Jade Carving (Yangzhou, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Jiang Chunyuan · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Gu Yongjun · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗