Yuping Xiaodi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
According to records, the pingsheng (flat-pitched) xiao among them was created by Zheng Weifan during the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty (1573–1619), while the yudi (jade flute) was first made in the fifth year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty (1727). The Zheng family, who loved music, regarded the craft of making xiao and di flutes as a family heirloom and kept to the trade generation after generation; Zheng-made flutes were consequently once listed as tribute articles during the Ming dynasty. During the Xianfeng reign of the Qing dynasty, Zheng descendants, their family in reduced circumstances, were forced to sell flutes to make a living, and from then on specialised in making pingsheng flutes, which they offered for sale over a shop sign. After 1949, the xiao and di making technique received protection. The 1980s to the early 1990s were the heyday of development for Yuping flutes, with products winning provincial and ministerial quality awards year after year, peak annual output of more than five hundred thousand instruments and an output value of over eight hundred thousand yuan.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yuping xiao and di flutes are made from bamboo produced in Yuping Dong Autonomous County, Guizhou, from which they take their name. Yuping xiao and di are famous traditional Chinese bamboo wind instruments, celebrated for their clear, beautiful tone and exquisite carving. They are the crystallisation of the cultural development of the Dong, Han, Miao, Tujia and other peoples of Yuping, and have considerable historical, cultural and craft value. Yuping flutes are also called “pingxiao yudi” (flat xiao and jade di), and because dragon and phoenix patterns are often finely carved on them they are also known as “dragon xiao and phoenix di”. Pingxiao and yudi are often given as gifts or collected, and are listed along with Moutai liquor and others as the “Three Treasures of Guizhou”. Making Yuping flutes involves process steps such as material selection, blank making, pattern carving and polishing. The finished instruments are elegant in form and made in male-and-female pairs. Later, because demand outstripped supply, the rule of direct lineal transmission was broken for the first time and apprentices were recruited from outside to expand the scale of production. By the War of Resistance against Japan, production of Yuping flutes had developed considerably: in the town centre alone there were more than thirty flute shops and more than eighty people working in the trade. With the acceleration of modernisation, ethnic musical instruments have come under great pressure, and the situation for protecting and developing the xiao and di making technique is severe. At present the Yuping xiao and di making technique faces the extinction of its practitioners and the loss of its craft, with no one to carry it on. The flute factory has only seven people left, including its director and management staff, and fewer than ten veteran craftspeople are still making flutes in the town centre.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Making Yuping flutes involves process steps such as material selection, blank making, pattern carving and polishing. The finished instruments are elegant in form and made in male-and-female pairs.
Choosing bamboo and fixing the pitch
Bamboo of three years or more with even nodes is chosen, and one stalk yields several instruments, each node bored to its own pitch.
Pingxiao and yudi
Also called dragon flutes and phoenix flutes for their carved decoration, the long pingxiao and the bright yudi are commonly made in pairs.
Where several cultures meet
Clear in tone and finely carved, the flute embodies the meeting of Dong, Han, Miao and Tujia cultures in the county.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yuping xiao and di flutes are made from bamboo produced in Yuping Dong Autonomous County, Guizhou, from which they take their name; they are the crystallisation of the cultural development of the Dong, Han, Miao, Tujia and other peoples of Yuping. Flute making has mostly been passed down from generation to generation by local craftspeople. Pingxiao and yudi are generally made as sets, with dragon, phoenix, flower, bird and landscape patterns carved on the body; the node eyes must be filed through section by section and sealed with wax. The Yuping Dong Autonomous County Culture Centre (Ethnic) is the protecting unit for the project.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
If the Yuping xiao and di making technique is not rescued and protected, this distinctive handicraft will soon vanish from the world. Liu Zesong (as recorded in the official inheritor archive): Male, Dong ethnicity, born in 1946, from Yuping, Guizhou. Representative inheritor of the Yuping xiao and di making technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item from the first national batch. In 1982 he joined the Guizhou Provincial Light Industry Society and was elected a director. In October of the same year he joined the Musical Instruments Association of the China National Light Industry Society. Liu Zesong worked in xiao and di making for decades, devoting enormous effort to the production of Yuping flutes. He inherited and developed the making and carving technique of the “dragon-and-phoenix flat xiao”, executing its micro-carving and relief patterns with fine delicacy, making it one of the representative works of the Liu Kunshan xiao and di. Yao Maolu (as recorded in the official inheritor archive): Male, Dong ethnicity, born in 1946, from Yuping, Guizhou. Representative inheritor of the Yuping xiao and di making technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item from the first national batch. Yao Maolu entered the Yuping County Flute Factory in 1961, where he learned the flute-making craft and worked on lettering, carving and tuning. In 1972 he moved to the flute-making workshop to undertake research. In 1982 he was sent to Suzhou to study the technique of making two-section flutes; on completing his studies he returned to the factory to take charge of the reform and innovation of flute making. In 1988 he became deputy director of the Yuping Flute Factory, in charge of business and production, and in 1997 he served as factory director and Party branch secretary. He actively recruited and trained flute-making personnel. Driven by the flute factory, the county came to have about two hundred people working in the flute trade, with annual output reaching more than five hundred thousand instruments. In 2006 he was named one of the “Ten Great Folk Craft Masters of Guizhou Province”.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Zesong 01-0153
- Yao Maolu 01-0154
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。