Miao Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Miao silver ornament craftsmanship has long been passed down within families from master to apprentice. As the amount of silver used for festivals, weddings and funerals kept growing, the various processes—forging, chasing (engraving), and knotting—were driven to ever finer refinement.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The silver phoenix crown and silver flower hat are the principal ornaments of the headpiece and the very head of the entire silver-adornment series, long praised as "dragon head and phoenix tail." Their construction is quite complex, employing no fewer than 150 and as many as over 200 small components, and they are extremely valuable. Miao silver ornaments are exquisite and beautiful, with the work of Leishan County in Guizhou Province and Fenghuang County in Hunan Province regarded as representative. In Leishan, the silversmiths are concentrated mainly in Kongbai, Maliao, and Wugao of Xijiang Town. The forging of silver ornaments is a craft unique to the Miao people; every piece is made entirely by hand. The designs and structures of the silver ornaments are the result of the artisans' careful planning. From drafting through carving and manufacturing, there are thirty process steps, including smelting and casting, hammering, soldering, knotting, and washing—all executed at an exceedingly high level of craftsmanship. The craft of making Miao silver ornaments has a long history. It passed successively through stages of evolution—from primitive ornaments to decorations of rock and shell, and from botanical and floral ornaments to gold and silver ornaments. Handed down through the generations, it gave rise to silver ornaments whose patterns and forms became essentially fixed, yet whose varieties and styles continue to be renewed to this day. The resulting chain of ornaments has become one of the symbols of the Miao society's evolution. Miao silver ornaments carry rich and varied cultural meaning; from their varieties and pattern designs to the construction of their motifs and their assembly, they display a very high cultural refinement. In their interactions with the outside world, the Miao people present silver ornaments as gifts to friends, treasuring them as much as the Tibetan khata and the Han people's jewelry. The creative craft of Miao silver ornaments fully embodies the Miao people's intelligent, capable, ingenious, kind, and friendly national character. Silver ornaments are pure white and lovely, flawless and untainted, and hard in substance—precisely a manifestation of the Miao people's spiritual qualities. For a long time Miao silver ornaments circulated only within Miao regions, but since the Reform and Opening-up their prospects for development have looked promising. However, the forging craft is generally transmitted within the family, so the best pupils cannot be chosen to receive it. Most of the original artisans are now aged, and few can truly inherit this exquisite craft of silver forging. The prospects for this distinctive skill are therefore less than optimistic, and it is necessary to strengthen protective efforts.
Documented Process Steps
The designs and structures of the silver ornaments are the result of the artisans' careful planning. From drafting through carving and manufacturing, there are thirty process steps, including smelting and casting, hammering, soldering, knotting, and washing—all executed at an exceedingly high level of craftsmanship.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Silver ornaments are the traditional adornment most favored by the Miao, used mainly to decorate women. They come in many varieties, divided into head ornaments, face ornaments, neck ornaments, shoulder ornaments, chest ornaments, waist ornaments, arm ornaments, foot ornaments, hand ornaments, and so on. Coordinated with one another, they achieve a perfectly integrated decorative effect.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Making Craftsmanship · Yinshi Making Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Long Migu (from the official archives of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the Miao silver ornament forging craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the third batch. A Miao silver-forging technician and the fourth-generation inheritor of Miao silver-ornament making. Having practiced the craft for over fifty years, he has produced tens of thousands of works, refined in workmanship, distinctive in composition, original in creativity, and diverse in style and pattern, with a pronounced ethnic character. Most of his pieces draw on natural plant and animal forms, preserving the original, archaic traditional craft of Miao silver ornaments while boldly innovating upon it, with a strong local flavor and ethnic character. Male, Miao, born October 1948, died February 2015, a native of Fenghuang County, Hunan Province. Ma Maoting (from the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Miao, born June 1953, a native of Fenghuang County, Hunan Province. Representative inheritor of the Miao silver ornament forging craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the third batch. A Miao silver-forging technician. From 1980 to 2018 he ran a silver-ornament processing and manufacturing business at home for thirty-eight years. He took on more than twenty apprentices and collected over a hundred ancient silver-ornament works to serve as samples for exhibition and study. He forged a great quantity of silver-ornament works that found their way into countless households. In 2005, his works the silver flower hat, silver phoenix crown, and silver-adorned shawl were collected by the Miao Museum. In 2015, his silver flower hat, silver phoenix crown, silver susan, and needle case were collected by the museum of Jishou University. In 2010, he took part in the first China Intangible Cultural Heritage Exposition, organized by the Ministry of Culture and others, and won the "Dream of Fenghuang" silver-ornament work award.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Guangbin 01-0160
- Long Migu 03-1316
- Ma Maoting 03-1317
- Lin Shiyuan 04-1842
- Leigushari 04-1843
- Wu Shuigen 04-1844
- Lin Lingxiang 05-2748
- Yang Zhenggui 05-2749
- Tai Yinyan 05-2750
- Mubinglin 05-2751
- Cunfabiao 05-2752
- Li Zhengyun
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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