Wood Carving
01 · Historical Records
Later, one branch of the Liu family migrated to Donggu, bringing the family's carving technique to this place as well. The Danqing master's spiritual power comes from two sources: one is the patron deity of the trade belonging to the Way of the Celestial Masters lineage, and the other is the founding master of the Thunder Altar to which his Danqing master belongs. The craft originated in the carved-lacquer (diaoluan) craftsmanship of the Ming dynasty, is rooted in the production, way of life, and folk beliefs of the local people, and has been innovated and developed amid social change, witnessing the course of regional social and cultural development in the Ji'an area, including family continuity, the Way of the Celestial Masters, and folk belief.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Donggu traditional statue making is a traditional carving technique that combines wood carving with folk religious imagery and folk belief rituals. It is distributed in Donggu Town and Zhixia Town of Qingyuan District, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, and in Donggu Town it is concentrated in Dongxi Liujia of Dongxi Village Committee. In the early and mid-Ming dynasty, members of the Liu family, who were "jiajiang" (registered artisan) carved-lacquer craftsmen of the Ministry of Works in Nanjing, brought the carving technique they had learned in Nanjing back to their ancestral home of Ji'an, where it merged with local carving techniques. Donggu traditional statue making consists of two parts: the making of deity statues and the consecration ceremony. A Danqing master must first master skilled wood carving and be able to draw and carve the various deity statues of Buddhism, Daoism, and folk religion. After a deity statue is carved, the Danqing master also presides over the consecration ceremony, and only then is the statue complete. The Danqing master is at once a master carver, a householder Taoist priest, and an expert in folk belief rituals. Donggu traditional statue making has a full, decorative composition and is generalizing, exaggerating, plastic, and composite in character. Donggu traditional statue making depends on a specific cultural ecological environment, namely the worship of supernatural deities. The consecration ceremony is a grand gathering of the local community, giving the community's people cohesion, a sense of security, and an educative power toward goodness; it has social and cultural value.
The three roles of the “Danqing master”
The craftsmen, honoured as “Danqing masters”, are at once carvers, householder Daoist priests and experts in folk ritual.
The consecration rite
After carving, the master conducts the eye-opening consecration; the rite is a community gathering that gives cohesion and moral teaching.
The Ming-era imperially registered carving artisans
In the early and mid-Ming, members of the Liu family registered as imperial carving artisans brought Nanjing techniques home to Ji'an and merged them with local practice.
Tianshi Dao guild deities and Thunder Altar patriarchs
The master's ritual power derives from the guild deity of the Tianshi Dao lineage and from the patriarchs of his own Thunder Altar.
Liu Jieming and the twentieth generation
Liu Jieming, twentieth in the family line, learned carving from his grandfather Liu Fazhao from 1975 and has headed a carving workshop since 1993.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
People engaged in Donggu traditional statue making are respectfully called "Danqing masters" by the local people. Donggu traditional statue making is centered on Liujia in Dongxi Village, Donggu Town, Qingyuan District, Ji'an City, and is also distributed in Zhixia Town and the areas of Qingyuan Mountain and the Meiping ancient village. The statue carving and restoration at the Meiping ancient village and the Yangming Academy on Qingyuan Mountain are mostly directed by Liu family artists; the lineage can be traced back to the Liu family of carved-lacquer craftsmen registered under the Ministry of Works in Nanjing in the Ming dynasty.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The technique is transmitted mainly through oral instruction and personal example, while the ritual texts have been passed down in written form. The combination of statue-making technique and ritual helps people understand the social history and culture of central Jiangxi, embodies the collective aesthetic taste found in religious and folk belief, and reflects the local customs that have continually evolved and changed in the course of historical development; it has value for historical research and aesthetics. Liu Jieming (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1965, a native of Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province. He comes from a family of deity statue carvers and is the twentieth-generation inheritor of the deity statue carving technique of the Liu family registered under the Ministry of Works in Nanjing in the Ming dynasty. From 1975 he studied carving with his grandfather Liu Fazhao; from 1981 he worked in carving at the Donggu Wood Industry Cooperative, and from 1993 he served as director of the Dongjinggang Huayi Craft Carving Factory. Since the reform and opening up, he has participated in and directed the carving and restoration of statues at the Meiping ancient village, the Yangming Academy on Qingyuan Mountain, and other sites. He is a representative inheritor of wood carving (Donggu traditional statue making), a fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. Since 1993, using the carving factory as a platform, he has trained his younger brother Liu Jiewang, his son Liu Xianglin, and more than ten other deity statue carving artists.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yan Jingxin 03-1277
- Long Congfa 03-1278
- Tu Jie 04-1803
- Fang Wentao 04-1804
- She Guoping 04-1805
- Cengdeheng 04-1806
- Li Yanjun 05-2665
- Liu Jieming 05-2666
- Xiong Yinghua 05-2667
- Xu Rilong 05-2668
- Duan Sixing 05-2669
- Baimazhandui
- Zhang Hongping
- Zheng Chunhui
- Zheng Yinpin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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