Lantern Art
01 · Historical Records
Jiang Huai's Qihai Suotan of the Ming dynasty records that at that time Yueqing widely circulated the practice of “villagers pasting paper to form a dragon's head and tail, cutting boards for its body, with a windlass mechanism turning it and lanterns set on top, accompanied by gongs and drums, going from door to door to solicit rewards — this was called the dragon-boat lantern.”
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Yueqing shoushi dragon is a folk lantern art spread across Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, found in such places as Beibaixiang Town, Liushi Town, and Wengyang Subdistrict. Yueqing's ancient Wu-Yue folk heritage, its strong maritime cultural atmosphere, and the character of its merchant culture, together with its special geographical position and cultural background, are the foundation on which this project was born. The craft of making the Yueqing shoushi dragon has a history of more than 400 years. Its production process is complex, combining the techniques of woodworking, oil painting, papier-mâché (paper modeling), dragon-lantern making, and paper carving. In the production process several different techniques are interwoven; it is a comprehensive traditional handicraft. Making a single shoushi dragon takes at least half a year to complete. A shoushi dragon is generally 5 meters long, 3 meters high, and 2 meters wide; the dragon's body is divided into four tiers, and its four sides are mounted with the exquisite Yueqing fine-line paper carvings known as “dragon-boat flowers.” On the dragon's body are more than 80 pavilions and terraces, condensing more than 80 plays such as Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West, with nearly 300 figures ancient and modern, in different poses and from all walks of life. Gear-driven mechanisms are hidden inside the whole dragon lantern; when the handle is turned, all the figures come vividly to life. The detailed modeling inside the shoushi dragon includes scenes of 36 old trades such as flour milling, blacksmithing, and fortune-telling — full of delightful charm, like one living picture of folk customs after another, embodying a broad popular character and rich cultural depth. The Yueqing shoushi dragon contains rich folk and regional cultural connotations and is renowned along the coast of southern Zhejiang for its ingenious form and superb production craft. As a lantern art combining sacrifice, parade, viewing, and entertainment, the Yueqing shoushi dragon plays an active role in promoting the wide circulation of folk literature, historical storytelling, and classical opera, and in meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of the people.
The Ming record of the dragon-boat lantern
Jiang Huai's Ming miscellany describes the dragon-boat lantern of Yueqing, from which the jewelled dragon evolved.
Four storeys of carved paper flowers
Typically 5 m long, 3 m high and 2 m wide in four storeys, it carries over eighty miniature pavilions and some three hundred figures.
Gear drives and the thirty-six trades
Hidden gear trains turn the figures when a handle is cranked, and thirty-six traditional trades are staged inside as miniature scenes.
The Lin family lineage
Passed on mainly within families, the Lin and Zhu being the most representative; Lin Shunkui learned carving from 1972 and works with wooden gears and bamboo.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
With its folk cultural value and strong ornamental appeal, the Yueqing shoushi dragon has long been loved by the local people. Every year around the Lantern Festival, grand shoushi dragon parades are held locally, with people hoping that the dragon will bring favorable weather and abundant harvests.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Yueqing shoushi dragon is transmitted mainly through family inheritance, with the Lin and Zhu families being the most representative. Lin Shunkui (from the official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1956, from Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province. In 1972 he began studying carving at the Yueqing boxwood carving factory. From 1985 he worked with his father Lin Bangdong at the Yueqing Special Arts Carving Factory on making shoushi dragons and fine-line paper carvings, his skill maturing year by year. He insists on making shoushi dragons with wooden gears and bamboo. Core production relies mainly on traditional techniques, comprehensively employing mechanical, electrical, neon, transmission, and artistic-decoration technologies; each year he makes six or seven shoushi dragons and more than ten ping dragons. He integrates teaching into the actual production process, passing on the craft hand in hand. He is a representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the national intangible cultural heritage project “Lanterns (Yueqing Shoushi Dragon).” A shoushi dragon he made was exhibited at the second National Exhibition of Achievements in Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and collected by the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the Chinese National Academy of Arts; his fine-line paper carvings “108 Generals of Water Margin” and “56 Ethnic Groups” are held in the collection of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. He currently has three disciples and fifteen apprentices.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Xiangman 01-0114
- Chen Weiyan 01-0115
- Li Zhuqin 01-0116
- Cai Binghan 01-0117
- Yang Zenggui 01-0118
- Zhang Jinpei 03-1260
- He Weifu 03-1261
- Chen Baihua 03-1262
- Deng Hui 03-1263
- Lin Hanbin 03-1264
- Yang Yurong 04-1793
- Ma Yuanliang 05-2631
- Wang Xiaowen 05-2632
- Wang Rulan 05-2633
- Hu Jinlong 05-2634
- Lin Shunkui 05-2635
- Xu Qianshen 05-2636
- Zhang Juntao 05-2637
- Zhang Shuqi 05-2638
- Liu Yaosheng 05-2639
- Li Banghua
- Chen Dizhen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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