Paper Effigy Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
In the 1960s, craftsmen of Yongqing straw-stalk carving used sorghum stalks to weave katydid cages; on this basis they developed the craft toward greater refinement, producing sorghum-stalk lanterns and models of historic architecture of high ornamental value, and achieving considerable success in craftsmanship.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Caizhai (colored paper-and-bamboo mounting) is a traditional folk craft widely practiced throughout northern and southern China. It is inseparable from folk activities such as sacrificial rites, festivals, and entertainments, and through continuous development it has exerted enormous influence among the people. The caizhai technique is based primarily on a bamboo-spline armature covered with paper, supplemented by painted decoration on the surface. Because customs and local products differ from place to place, the specific materials used also vary. In general, northern caizhai is bold and unrestrained with strong contrasts, while southern caizhai is refined and delicate, lively and lovable. Caizhai products take a rich variety of forms, including festival lanterns, lion heads, opera stages, and models of historic architecture. When crafts such as lion heads are made, they are usually modeled on the opera facial makeup of their place of origin; once completed, they are fitted with cloth, hemp, silk flowers, and other ornaments, often achieving a remarkably lifelike and vividly expressive effect. Straw-stalk carving is a folk weaving and carving art practiced in Yongqing County, Hebei Province. Yongqing produces abundant sorghum, and dexterous housewives often nailed sorghum stalks together to make lids or containers for holding food; on this basis, a highly accomplished straw-stalk carving technique gradually developed. Yongqing straw-stalk carving uses top-quality sorghum stalks as raw material and, with the aid of tools such as calipers, scissors, awls, knives, bamboo skewers, and oil lamps, assembles and carves by hand into all kinds of ornamental craft objects. The technique is exquisite and the forms finely wrought, fully displaying the aesthetic taste and artistic creativity of local folk craftsmen.
Cricket cages and straw lanterns
Beginning with high-straw cricket cages in the 1960s, the Yongqing artisans refined the craft into straw lanterns and architectural models.
Straw in place of bamboo
While most coloured craft uses bamboo ribs and paper, some regions use straw instead — in Yongqing the sorghum stalk was both abundant and cheap.
Xu Yanfeng and his straw models
Xu Yanfeng has modelled more than eighty works in sorghum stalk over sixty years, among them Tiananmen, the Bell Tower of Xi'an and a Beijing courtyard house.
Works in the National Art Museum
His Fragrant Hill Pavilion and Forbidden City tower houses entered the National Art Museum, turning farm waste into collectible architecture.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In some places, straw stalks are used in place of bamboo splints for the armature, with plain cloth, silk, or bark paper as the surface; the colorful cloth platform craft (caibu ningtai) of Handan, Hebei, is mounted directly with various colored fabrics. Color decoration also takes on different characteristics from region to region.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Paper Effigy Craftsmanship · Paper Effigy Craftsmanship · Paper Effigy Craftsmanship · Paper Effigy Craftsmanship · Paper Effigy Craftsmanship · Paper Effigy Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, the Yongqing straw-stalk carving technique is developing slowly, and it is difficult to carry it forward relying on the strength of individual craftsmen alone. This excellent folk art needs to be passed on and continued, and urgently requires protection and support from the relevant authorities. Xu Yanfeng (related inheritor, official archive record): male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1952, native of Yongqing County, Hebei Province. Influenced by his family from childhood, he developed a deep love for straw-stalk carving. For more than sixty years he has carved some eighty works, large and small, from sorghum stalks, each one exquisite and wonderfully wrought. His major works include Tiananmen, the Xi'an Bell Tower, the Wanshou Pavilion, the Guozijian Archway, the Flying Cloud Tower, and Old Beijing Siheyuan (courtyard houses). His works Buddha Incense Pavilion and Corner Tower of the Forbidden City are held in the collection of the National Art Museum of China, while Yellow Crane Tower and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven are held in the collection of the Beijing Folk Custom Museum. In 2003 he took his son Xu Jian and fellow villager Zhao Liping as apprentices, and in 2006 he took Wang Lan and Xu Ying as apprentices, teaching them the straw-stalk carving technique. Representative inheritor of caizhai (straw-stalk carving), a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item. His works have won multiple awards, including the Mountain Flower Award for Chinese Folk Literature and Art, jointly sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Folk Literature and Art Association.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Nie Fangjun 03-1284
- Xu Yanfeng 03-1285
- Zhou Tingyi 03-1286
- Shi Rongsheng 03-1287
- Li Wei 03-1288
- Huang Suming 05-2678
- Nie Dayong
- Li Wanzhen
- Zhou Heping
- Liu Yinling
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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