Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The traditional silverware making of Yingshenghao has a documented history of 147 years, handed down through several generations to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Ningde She silverware forging technique is a traditional silverware making technique of Fu'an, Ningde, Fujian Province, centered on the five core techniques of cao, zao, qi, jie and pi. This craft originated in Ningde, Fujian Province, and is mainly distributed in Jiaocheng District, Xiapu County and Zherong County of Ningde, as well as Xiamen and Quanzhou. She folk silver ornament making centers on the forging of She silver and incorporates the style of Han Chinese gold and silversmiths; its products include headdresses, hair ornaments, garments, belt ornaments, bracelets, anklets, children's assorted bells, tableware, drinking vessels, tea sets and decorative objects. The Ningde She silverware forging process is intricate: taking cast shaping and chased detailing as an example, its process steps involve melting the silver, pouring bars, shaping, cutting stock, hammering, carving, welding, boiling the silver and cleaning. Besides preserving traditional making techniques, this craft also integrates four kinds of carving — round carving, openwork carving, relief carving and flat carving — and has distinctive features in such techniques as welding, inlay, kingfisher-feather appliqué and enameling. The Ningde She silverware forging technique values delicacy and elegance, chiefly expressed in cast shaping with chased detailing; hammering and chasing as the primary methods with engraving and openwork as auxiliaries; seamless welding; fusion with filigree work and inlaid kingfisher feather or enamel; and the traditional scraping and boil-washing techniques. Jiaocheng in Ningde is one of the main settlements of the She people in eastern Fujian; its traditional She silver ornament technique can be traced back to Wang Shenzhi's entry into Fujian at the end of the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, a history of more than 1,000 years. According to the Lin Family Genealogy of Dahuo Village, Xiabaishi, Fu'an, during the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty, Lin Dajin used ancestral techniques to forge She silver and later founded Yingshenghao. Silverware is closely bound up with She life: festival activities such as the March 3rd Festival, market fairs, grand ancestral-temple ceremonies, weddings and funerals are all inseparable from silverware. Silverware is one of the symbols by which the She people display the wealth a household or lineage has accumulated over generations, and an important expression of a woman's identity, status and beauty.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The Ningde She silverware forging process is intricate: taking cast shaping and chased detailing as an example, its process steps involve melting the silver, pouring bars, shaping, cutting stock, hammering, carving, welding, boiling the silver and cleaning.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Ningde She silverware forging technique originated in Ningde, Fujian Province, and is mainly distributed in Jiaocheng District, Xiapu County and Zherong County of Ningde, as well as Xiamen and Quanzhou; the Fu'an area, known in old times as Liancun, was a settlement where the She people lived in concentration and silversmiths gathered. Fujian Yingshenghao Gold and Silver Ornaments Co., Ltd. is the project's protecting institution.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Miao Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Making Craftsmanship · Yinshi Making Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship · Yinshi Forging Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As an important component of the traditional culture of the She people, the Ningde She silverware forging technique has considerable historical, artistic and sociocultural value. Lin Lingxiang (record of the associated inheritor's official archive): Male, Han ethnicity, born August 1977; native of Fu'an, Fujian Province. Representative inheritor of the silver ornament forging technique (She silverware forging technique), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth national-level batch. She silverware forging technician. His representative work Silver-Winged Benevolent Crown won the special gold prize of the Hundred Flowers Award for Chinese Arts and Crafts, presented by the China Arts and Crafts Society and other bodies. He has focused on training inheritors of the She silverware technique, establishing a foundation to provide funding and technical support to young artisans, and setting up channels linking newcomer training with silver shops — helping apprentices to learn and find work while ensuring that silver shops have successors for their future development. Eight-Treasure Silver Plate won the gold prize at the Cross-Strait Cultural Industries Expo. Silver Chased Vase with Double Dragon Handles won the gold prize at the 7th China Straits Crafts Fair.
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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