Achang Husadao Forging Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Husa knife is a crystallization of the wisdom of the Achang people; their ancestors had mastered the essentials of forging and casting iron implements as early as the Tang dynasty, and during the Ming dynasty's three campaigns against Luchuan (1441–1449) Husa became an arsenal. The Achang people absorbed Han Chinese weapon-making technology and formed a distinctive Husa knife forging craft; it matured in the late Ming and early Qing period, and production reached its peak during the Republican era.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Achang Husa knife forging technique is transmitted in Husa Township in the northwest of Longchuan County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and is concentrated mainly in the six villages of Panle, Huzao, Longguang, Xiangjie, Mingshe and Manbing. The making of a Husa knife must pass through ten process steps — stock cutting, rough shaping, pattern forging, trimming and grinding, blade ornamenting, quenching, polishing, handle making, sheath making and assembly — of which the quenching technique is the most outstanding; through heat treatment the hardness and toughness of the blade are brought to their optimum, so that, as historical accounts say, it is pliable enough to coil around a finger, sharp enough to cut a falling hair, and hard enough to cleave iron. Husa knives come in a great variety of types and functions, and have now developed into three major categories — production tools, household implements and decorative craft articles — totaling more than 120 kinds. Beyond serving the neighboring ethnic groups and adjacent regions and being sold as far as Tibet and Qinghai, they are exported to Southeast Asia, making a positive contribution to safeguarding the frontier and promoting the common economic and cultural development of all ethnic groups.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The making of a Husa knife must pass through ten process steps — stock cutting, rough shaping, pattern forging, trimming and grinding, blade ornamenting, quenching, polishing, handle making, sheath making and assembly — of which the quenching technique is the most outstanding; through heat treatment the hardness and toughness of the blade are brought to their optimum, so that, as historical accounts say, it is pliable enough to coil around a finger, sharp enough to cut a falling hair, and hard enough to cleave iron.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Achang Husa knife forging technique is transmitted in Husa Township in the northwest of Longchuan County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, concentrated mainly in the six villages of Panle, Huzao, Longguang, Xiangjie, Mingshe and Manbing; Husa is a basin plain where the Achang people live in concentration, historically linked to the China–Myanmar trade route, and its knifesmiths mostly also farm. The Longchuan County Cultural Center is the project's protecting institution.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
However, under pressure from outside cultures and socioeconomic transformation, the traditional techniques and equipment of Husa knife making show signs of being replaced by modern machinery and materials; with veteran artisans growing old and few successors, the Achang Husa knife technique faces the danger of dying out and urgently needs rescue and protection. Xiang Laosai (record of the associated inheritor's official archive): Male, Achang ethnicity, born 1960; native of Longchuan, Yunnan. Representative inheritor of the Achang Husa knife forging technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the first national-level batch. At the age of 14, Xiang Laosai learned knife-making from his father; with remarkable perseverance and natural aptitude, he became fully adept at the complete range of metal cutting and machining skills — turning, fitter's work, planing, scraping, heating, grinding and milling — and at 27 he set up on his own. Because of his consummate skill, he enjoys the local reputation of King of Husa Knives. He has not only inherited the traditional craft passed down by Achang ancestors but also continually innovated in knife making, selecting materials strictly and using each according to its qualities, and striving to raise both the practical and the decorative-artistic value of his products — truly achieving the standard of cutting iron like mud and slicing a falling hair. In recent years Xiang Laosai has kept three knife-making workshops at his home year-round, and the knives produced there are sold as far away as Shanghai, Beijing and Tibet. The dragon-and-phoenix knives he forged were collected by the museum of Minzu University of China. He is now leading his three sons in studying the Husa knife forging technique together.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xiang Laosai 01-0161
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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