Paper Effigy Craftsmanship

01 · Historical Records

Legend has it that the technique of the colorful cloth platform craft (caibu ningtai) was brought to the Handan area of Hebei by migrants from Shanxi during the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty. It was first used by prominent and powerful clans in southern Hebei (Jinan) to build funeral canopies; only later was it creatively adapted by the people of Dayinbao Village, who turned the mourning-rite canopy into a festival caizhai platform, giving rise to the much-loved art of the colorful cloth platform.

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. The colorful cloth platform craft is a distinctive folk caizhai art practiced in Dayinbao Village, Handan City, Hebei Province. Its main technical means is to twist and bind colorful floral fabrics over a wooden opera-stage framework, creating imitation ancient-style theater buildings and performance scenes. At harvest-year celebrations, the villagers of Dayinbao make colorful cloth platforms; the practice has been passed down as a custom ever since and continues unabated. A colorful cloth platform is generally 10 meters high, 13 meters wide, and 10 meters deep. Its ridge, tile courses, small eaves, water channels (zoushui), screens, round columns, square lattice windows, bracket sets (dougong), and inscribed plaques are all twisted and bound from colorful cloth, in a rigorous and meticulous manner of great beauty. The opera figures, historical stories, flowers, birds, fish, and insects, and other motifs on the platform are likewise twisted and bound from colorful cloth — true to life, vivid in posture, and full of spirit. On the front of a colorful cloth platform a "three-view plaque" (sankan bei) is usually hung; viewed from different angles, people can see three different images — a dragon, a tiger, and the plaque inscription "Yule Ting" (Pavilion of Amusement). The design and execution are highly ingenious.

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. Legend has it that this technique was brought to the local area by migrants from Shanxi during the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty; it was first used by prominent clans in the Jinan (southern Hebei) region to build funeral canopies, and was later creatively adapted by the people of Dayinbao Village, giving rise to a much-loved caizhai art.

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

The colorful cloth platform art of Dayinbao Village contains rich folk cultural information and has research value in folklore studies, local history and culture, and arts and crafts. Zhou Tingyi (related inheritor, official archive record): in 1980 he learned the platform-twisting technique from Chen Dengpan. After Chen Dengpan's death, he became the village's sole chief director and master craftsman for making colorful cloth platforms. Through long practice in twisting and making platforms, he constantly strove to improve and gradually formed his own style. The platform works he made, with lively forms and strikingly true-to-life patterns, are deeply loved by people, and he was often invited to neighboring villages to twist platforms. In 2008 he organized the activity "Welcoming the Olympics, Celebrating the Harvest, Promoting Harmony: A Colorful Cloth Platform New Year Offering." The "Xiangtu" (Native Soil) program of CCTV's Military and Agriculture Channel produced and aired a documentary about him titled The Clever and Skilful Old Man, and media such as People's Daily Overseas Edition have specially covered his artistic career and unique technique. Male, Han ethnicity, born in February 1942, died in May 2016, native of Handan City, Hebei Province. Representative inheritor of caizhai (colorful cloth platform craft), a third-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage item.

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

1. Paper Effigy Craftsmanship (Handan, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhou Tingyi · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗