Wood Carving

Ⅶ-58Traditional Fine ArtsWuhanshiqiaokou, HubeiBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Wood-carved boat models are a traditional sculptural art passed down in Wuhan, Hubei Province. They were founded in the late Qing dynasty and have a history of roughly one hundred years to this day.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Yichang artisan Long Qisheng originally ran a small workshop making boat models; through the transmission and development of five generations, a distinctive boat-model technique gradually took shape and spread through the Wuhan area. Wuhan wood-carved boat models simulate various kinds of wooden boats to scale, with exquisite and refined workmanship, meticulous detail, and vivid, lifelike modeling. The whole process includes such main technical steps as design, selection of material, lofting, construction of the hull, making of parts and components, lacquering, and assembly. "Openwork precision weaving" and "precision modeling" are the essence of the full set of techniques: the former develops the traditional single-sided shuttle into double-sided and multi-sided shuttles, requiring the openwork patterns to be clear and even with their width controlled to within one millimeter, an exceptionally fine standard; the latter requires the model's form to be regular and square, its joints seamless, and its moving parts to start freely.

Fine openwork shuttle work

One of the core skills, developing the single-sided shuttle into double- and multi-sided forms with openwork kept under one millimetre wide.

Precision model making

The other core skill: the model must be strictly proportioned, seamlessly joined, with moving parts that work freely.

The dragon-phoenix barge, tower ship and wheel ship

Representative works by Long Congfa; the dragon-phoenix barge appeared in the National Museum's masters exhibition, while others entered the Jiaxing ship museum.

Five generations of the Long family

Founded by the Yichang craftsman Long Qisheng, the craft passed through five generations; the fifth, Long Yong, was named a “new-generation craftsman star” at the Chengdu festival.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Wuhan wood-carved boat models are mainly distributed in Qiaokou District. The technique originated from the boat-model workshop opened in the late Qing dynasty by the Yichang artisan Long Qisheng, and later settled in the Hanzheng Street and Qiaokou area when the Long family moved to Wuhan. Today it is continued by Long Yong, the family's fifth-generation inheritor, and by the transmission base; most works are custom-commissioned and collected by museums and memorial halls. The boat models cover successive dynasties' vessel types such as dragon-and-phoenix pleasure boats, large cypress-wood drum boats, Dragon Boat Festival dragon boats, tower ships, wheel boats, and "five-tooth" warships. Among them, the reconstructed ancient warship "Five-Tooth Warship" is collected by the Military Museum of China, while the "Large Cypress-Wood Drum Boat" and "Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat" are displayed in the Hubei Hall of the Great Hall of the People.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Wuhan wood-carved boat models are not only of ornamental value but also allow people to understand the construction techniques and structural styles of Chinese boats and ships, giving them a certain value for scientific research. Long Congfa (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1938, a native of Wuhan, Hubei Province. Master of Chinese arts and crafts. For more than seventy years he has inherited the ancestral technique without being bound by it, innovating the art of wood-carved boat models. His works are of classical simplicity and elegance, grand and vigorous, and of exquisite workmanship that seems to surpass nature. His representative work "Dragon-and-Phoenix Pleasure Boat" was shown at the fifth exhibition of outstanding works by masters of Chinese arts and crafts held at the National Museum of China; "Large Cypress-Wood Drum Boat" and "Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat" are displayed in the Hubei Hall of the Great Hall of the People; the reconstructed ancient warship "Five-Tooth Warship" is collected by the Military Museum of China; and works such as "Tower Ship," "Wheel Boat," and "Five-Tooth Warship" are collected by the Jiaxing Boat Culture Museum. He is a representative inheritor of wood carving (Wuhan wood-carved boat models), a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. He actively trains inheritors; his son Long Yong (the family's fifth-generation inheritor) received the title of "New Generation Craftsman Star" at the sixth China Chengdu International Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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