Bamboo Carving
01 · Historical Records
The Gazetteer of Baoqing Prefecture, compiled in the Ming Dynasty, records the circumstances of Pan Yilong, a renowned Baoqing bamboo carver of the Wanli era, and his bamboo works. During the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty, the Baoqing bamboo carver Wang Shangzhi invented the fanhuang (bamboo-veneer) technique and fanhuang bamboo carving. The craft once won a gold medal at the “Panama-Pacific International Exposition”; in 1950, the Government Administration Council specially selected eight Baoqing fanhuang bamboo-carving craftworks as gifts for Chairman Mao Zedong's visit to the Soviet Union to celebrate Stalin's birthday. Although this remarkable flower of folk art, Baoqing bamboo carving, repeatedly suffered severe damage during successive wars and in the 1960s, it survived tenaciously. But in the 1990s all nine bamboo-craft factories formerly in Shaoyang went bankrupt and closed, their technicians scattered across the country, and the twenty-odd veteran artisans still living are advanced in years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, was formerly called Baoqing Prefecture; it lies in southwestern Hunan and is the political, economic, and cultural center of the southwest of the province. Baoqing has a terrain of semi-mountainous, semi-hilly land, high in the west and low in the east; it abounds in moso bamboo (nanzhu), and its bamboo-ware industry has been highly developed since ancient times. It is one of the principal birthplaces of Chinese bamboo culture. Baoqing bamboo carving is a folk craft combining appreciation and utility that emerged from the craft of practical bamboo ware. When bamboo carving is made by this method, artisans remove the green skin and joints of the bamboo and strip out the bamboo veneer (huang); after boiling, drying, and rolling processes, they press it flat onto a wooden or bamboo body, then polish and sand it, and use different techniques to carve figures, landscapes, and flowers and birds on the surface. Bamboo-veneer carving has the color and luster of ivory and an elegant style; from the moment it appeared, it became a treasure avidly collected by officials, nobles, literati, and refined scholars, and was designated by the court as tribute and a diplomatic gift. Baoqing bamboo carving has a complete range of carving techniques, rich subjects, and distinctive methods; its knife techniques alone number more than twenty.
Archival Records of Process Steps
When bamboo carving is made by this method, artisans remove the green skin and joints of the bamboo and strip out the bamboo veneer (huang); after boiling, drying, and rolling processes, they press it flat onto a wooden or bamboo body, then polish and sand it, and use different techniques to carve figures, landscapes, and flowers and birds on the surface.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Shaoyang bamboo carving has two main branches: bamboo-green carving and fanhuang (bamboo-veneer) carving.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Bamboo Carving · Bamboo Carving · Bamboo Carving · Bamboo Carving · Bamboo Carving · Bamboo Carving · Bamboo Carving.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The great masters of Baoqing bamboo carving through the ages were adept at integrating their superb expressive techniques with literati aesthetic taste and the artistic mood of classical Chinese painting and calligraphy, creating countless exquisite bamboo-carving works of extremely high artistic value and cultural content. Baoqing bamboo carving is on the verge of extinction and urgently needs rescue and protection. Zeng Jiantan (from the official archive of associated inheritors): Zeng Jiantan excelled at bamboo-green carving and fanhuang bamboo carving, and was proficient in high relief, low relief, round carving, openwork carving, and both raised-line (yang) and incised-line (yin) techniques. He used the knife in place of the brush; his carving was seasoned, his knife work fluent and bold, and his skill extraordinary. His works are rigorously and meticulously composed, with attention to the interplay of void and solid. He was adept at figures, landscapes, and flowers and birds alike, and in his manner of expression pursued the classical flavor of ancient gongbi brushwork painting — meticulous, accurate, vivid, and lifelike. Zeng Jiantan was not only of superb skill but also actively taught apprentices, making a significant contribution to the transmission of Baoqing bamboo carving. His representative works include “Grand View of the Vast Sea,” “Eight Views of the Xiao-Xiang,” and “Yueyang Tower on Dongting Lake.” Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1932 and deceased in 2012, a native of Shaoyang, Hunan. Representative inheritor of bamboo carving (Baoqing bamboo carving), a project of the first national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. Zhang Zongfan (from the official archive of associated inheritors): Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1968, a native of Wugang City, Hunan Province. Senior Arts and Crafts Artist and Master of Arts and Crafts of Hunan Province. His works fuse painting skill with knife work; the overall composition possesses the artistic mood of classical Chinese painting — elegant and beautiful, bright and free. He has demonstrated his skills and exhibited his works at the Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival, the Shanghai World Expo, and cross-strait cultural exchange activities, among others. His fanhuang bamboo-carving works “The Charm of the Xiao-Xiang,” “Grand Prosperity,” “Riches and Honor in Bloom,” and “Flourishing Age in Bloom” have won prizes at national and provincial arts and crafts exhibitions. He has published the monograph The Techniques of Baoqing Bamboo Carving. He founded a Baoqing bamboo-carving talent training base at the Shaoyang Special Education School, combining transmission of the traditional craft with employment training for people with disabilities. Representative inheritor of bamboo carving (Baoqing bamboo carving), a project of the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He is the last direct disciple of Zeng Jiantan, national-level inheritor of Baoqing bamboo carving.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Cengjiantan 01-0107
- Qiao Jinhong 03-1248
- Xu Bingfang 03-1249
- Luo Qisong 03-1250
- Zhang Zongfan 04-1790
- Wang Wei 05-2619
- Hong Jianhua 05-2620
- He Huayi 05-2621
- Baijianren
- Gu Qiwang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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