Jade Carving
01 · Historical Records
Since the 1980s, under the influence of commercial conditions in the jade market, traditional jade-carving technique has gradually declined, practitioners have dropped sharply, and a break in the line of talent has emerged within the industry, making strengthened protection urgent.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Guangzhou jade carving is a folk carving craft passed down in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and its history is very long. Jade rings already existed at the Feie'ling Neolithic site in Guangzhou, and the more than 130 “rare treasures of Han jade” — jade bi discs, jade boxes, jade seals, jade rhyton cups and the like — excavated in 1983 from the tomb of the King of Nanyue show that Guangzhou jade-carving technique had already reached a considerably high level in the Western Han. During the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, Guangzhou jade carving had already formed organized trades and markets, and guild organizations appeared. Guangzhou jade carving mostly uses southern jade produced in Xinyi in western Guangdong as raw material. Grass-green in color, semi-transparent and marked with natural mottling, it becomes sparkling and clear after polishing, and can be made into jewelry such as jade bracelets, rings, earrings and pendants, as well as decorative objects including flowers, figures, birds and beasts, jade balls, flower boats, pagodas, and vases and pots. Guangzhou jade carving draws widely on the strengths of others and also absorbs the techniques of Guangzhou ivory carving, having formed its own distinctive style in variety, technique and material use. The openwork jade ball is a creative achievement of Guangzhou jade-carving artisans in overcoming the high hardness of jade: a large ball encloses smaller balls, with more than twenty layers inside and out, each turning freely. Compared with the solemn and simple northern school of jade carving, Guangzhou jade carving is elegant and beautiful, light and graceful, exquisitely transparent, displaying the character of Lingnan culture.
The pierced jade ball
The pierced jade ball, a creative solution to the stone's hardness, nests ball within ball for more than twenty freely turning layers.
Han jades from the Nanyue king's tomb
The 1983 excavation yielded more than 130 kinds of rare Han jades, showing that Guangzhou jade work already reached a high level in the Western Han.
Southern jade
Most Guangzhou work uses southern jade from Xinyi in western Guangdong — grass-green, translucent and naturally mottled, turning clear and bright when polished.
Elegant, light and graceful
Against the grave northern school, Guangzhou jade carving is elegant, light and translucent, absorbing techniques from local ivory carving.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Guangzhou jade carving was centered on the jade market streets around Changshou Road and Daihe Road in Liwan District; in the mid-20th century it was concentrated mainly in enterprises such as the Guangzhou Jade Factory and the Southern Jade Carving Factory, with practitioners mostly residents of Xiguan and the surrounding area. The technique absorbed the openwork methods of local ivory carving, forming a workshop network with divided labor of design, grinding, polishing and inlay; products were sold through the Guangzhou port and the Hong Kong market to Southeast Asia, Europe and America. Guangzhou jade carving mostly uses southern jade produced in Xinyi in western Guangdong as raw material: grass-green, semi-transparent and naturally mottled, it becomes sparkling and clear after polishing, and is suited to making jewelry such as jade bracelets, rings, earrings and pendants, as well as decorative objects including flowers, figures, birds and beasts, jade balls, flower boats, pagodas, and vases and pots.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving · Jade Carving.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Gao Zhaohua (recorded in the official archive of associated inheritors): Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1949; a native of Guangzhou, Guangdong. Engaged in jade-carving design and creation for more than fifty years, he is familiar with techniques such as three-dimensional carving, relief and openwork carving; his technical range is comprehensive and his skill consummate. He particularly overcame lathe-turning technique and successfully solved the problem of joining large inlaid components, injecting new elements into modern jade-carving craft. He emphasizes the transmission of technique and has taught or technically trained more than a hundred people. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the jade carving (Guangzhou jade carving) intangible cultural heritage project.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Song Shiyi 03-1274
- Wuhaizhou 03-1275
- Gao Zhaohua 03-1276
- Liu Chaoguo 04-1797
- Li Bosheng 04-1798
- Yuan Yao 04-1799
- Hong Xinhua 04-1800
- Dinianwei 04-1801
- Yang Xi 04-1802
- Cui Lei 05-2663
- Hong Ronghui 05-2664
- Guo Shilin
- Yang Genlian
- Zhang Tiecheng
- Jiang Xi
- Yin Zhiqiang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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