Nut Carving
01 · Historical Records
In the mid-Qing dynasty, Wang Qingxi made a living by carving peach pits and gradually became well known locally.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dalian pit carving is distributed in Xigang District of Dalian City, Liaoning Province. It is a pit carving art practiced on locally grown peach pits, reflecting the folk customs of southern Liaoning and its marine culture. Dalian is located at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula and is noted for a great variety of peach cultivars. Among them, the pit of the pineapple honey peach is fine and dense with a large carvable area, making it the main raw material for large-scale series works; the yellow honey peach pit has a coarser grain and a small carvable area, and is used mainly for single pendants. The carving requires careful thinking, precise knife work, and a balance of substance and conception. According to records, Wang Qingxi, the first-generation inheritor of Dalian pit carving, learned to carve peach pits from his ancestors from childhood. His descendants continued the transmission and engaged in peach pit carving, carving immortal figures and auspicious boat charms for seafaring workers. Dalian pit carving has been passed down and survives within the Wang family; besides family members learning pit carving, apprentices are also taken in for transmission and training. Dalian pit carving works according to the material, skillfully exploiting the natural shape and grain of the peach pit, devising aesthetic contrast, and determining the subject of the carving. The main carving tools are chisels, files, and hand drills, in three types. The techniques are divided into round carving, relief carving, and openwork carving. Among them, openwork is most representative for its techniques of transparent chains, movable rings, and multi-layered rolling balls. First the pit is roughly worked with a flat file to make the basic form, after which an awl-knife is used to carve the fine details. Carving requires eye, hand, and mind to act as one; even a slight error may undo all the work. Finally, polishing and grinding are carried out at a specific angle, rotational speed, and pressure; after being soaked and wiped with oil, a warm, lustrous, and lifelike peach pit carving is complete. Dalian pit carving embodies the characteristics of marine culture and reflects folk customs. Carving on the ever-changing, irregularly sectioned surface of a peach pit, figures, objects, vessels, and poems are carved into the tiny pit, turning it into a refined work of craft art. Peach pit micro-carving draws inspiration from paper cutting, calligraphy, painting, seal cutting, and other art forms, and is inclusive and comprehensive in character. Dalian pit carving reflects the life interests of the people of southern Liaoning and their social practice in relation to humanity and nature, and embodies their longing and pursuit of peace, auspiciousness, and a contented, happy life. On a tiny peach pit, ingenious conception and superb carving demonstrate the creator's wisdom of mind and hand in union, condensing their aesthetic and artistic insight. It is an important component of China's folk pit carving art and has high historical-cultural and artistic-aesthetic value.
Wang Qingxi and the first generation
The first recorded inheritor Wang Qingxi trained with his grandfather and, in the mid-Qing, made a living carving peach stones for boatmen's talismans.
Chisel, file and bow drill
Three tools suffice — chisel, file and bow drill; shaping is filed first, detail chiseled, then polished at a set angle and speed and finished with oil.
Openwork chains, running rings and rolling balls
Of round, relief and openwork carving, openwork is the signature: linked chains, moving rings and multi-layered rolling balls all achieved on a nut.
A Panorama of Core Boats
Han Zhiyao's Panorama of Core Boats and his Along the River During Qingming series each won a China Folk Literature and Art Mountain Flower Prize.
Ships, sailors and auspicious motifs
Carved on stones of irregular cross-section, its ships, sailors and fishing gear express the southern Liaoning ashore longing for peace and ease.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Dalian pit carving is distributed in Xigang District of Dalian City, Liaoning Province. It is a pit carving art practiced on locally grown peach pits, reflecting the folk customs of southern Liaoning and its marine culture. Dalian is located at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula and is noted for a great variety of peach cultivars: the pineapple honey peach pit is fine and dense with a large carvable area, making it the main raw material for large-scale series works; the yellow honey peach pit has a coarser grain and a small carvable area, and is used mainly for single pendants.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Nut Carving · Nut Carving · Nut Carving.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In technique, it varies from creator to creator and across generations of transmission, which gives the works additional charm. Han Zhiyao (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1956, a native of Dalian City, Liaoning Province. Through long practice, he achieved breakthroughs on pit carving with such special techniques as movable chains, movable rings, and multi-layered transparent-core rolling balls, enhancing the expressive power of pit carving art. His pit carving works cover a wide range of subjects, including figures, animals, and landscapes; he is especially good at carving pendants, ornamental objects, and long serial compositions. His representative works include "Grand View of the Pit Boat"; he twice won the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Shanhua Award, jointly organized by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Folk Literature and Art Association, for recreating the pit boat from "Notes on the Pit Boat" and for a series of pit carvings based on "Along the River During the Qingming Festival." In recent years he established the Dalian Pit Carving Transmission Institute in the Xigang District Cultural Center of Dalian City, devoting himself to the transmission of pit carving technique. He is a representative inheritor of pit carving (Dalian pit carving), a fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Song Shuiguan 03-1279
- Wang Xude 03-1280
- Huang Xuewen 03-1281
- Han Zhiyao 05-2670
- Zhou Jianming 05-2671
- Cengzhaohong 05-2672
- Liu Bin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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