Pizhi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
According to the Historical Materials of Southern Shanxi and the Historical Materials of Papermaking, papermaking in Shanxi began in the Yongchu reign of the Eastern Han; it is said that the making of Pingyang hemp paper (ma jian) has continued to the present by carrying on this traditional craft. In the Song, Jin and Yuan periods, the "Pingshui edition" books printed at Pingyang, and ancient documents such as the Zhaocheng Golden Canon (Zhaocheng Jinzang), the Illustrious Beauty of the Sui Court Presenting the Charm of a Toppling Kingdom, and the Four Beauties picture, were preserved and handed down precisely thanks to Pingyang hemp paper. In the Ming and Qing eras, hemp-paper production around Dengzhuang in Linfen became Shanxi's principal hemp-paper producing area and the main supplier of paper for imperial use, and the craft reached its peak.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper is a traditional handicraft that uses the local fine-quality field hemp (tian ma) as raw material and alkaline groundwater, going through twelve steps—soaking the hemp, hoeing the goods, sorting the hemp, chopping the hemp, steaming the hemp, rinsing the hemp, crushing the hemp, stirring the pond (hai, a dialect word for the water pool), sheet-forming, drying the paper, lifting the paper and finishing the paper—to make hemp paper. It now mainly spreads through southern, southeastern and northern Shanxi, with its core area in Dengzhuang Town, Xiangfen County, Linfen City. Pingyang hemp paper is also called "Pingyang hemp paper" (Pingyang ma zhi); it is used not only as everyday paper but also for various kinds of special book printing and as the ideal medium for calligraphers' and painters' creative work. The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper follows the papermaking of the Han dynasty onward, using the strongly alkaline groundwater of Xiangfen County and selecting the locally distinctive fine-quality "field hemp" as its main raw material; its craftsmanship is exacting, with twelve steps—soaking the goods, sorting the goods, chopping the hemp, drying the hemp, steaming the hemp, crushing the hemp, stirring the pond, sheet-forming, drying the paper and finishing the paper—each step strict in its tools and operation, a manual craft integrating scientific, empirical and technical character. The characteristic of this craft lies in requiring the artisan to possess rich experience and exquisite skill, as well as strictly controlling the quality of every link; the product has long fibres, strong pliability, an even and fine texture, good ink-absorption, resistance to insects, and the property of being preservable for a thousand years. The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper has a long and distant source. Xu Shen wrote in the Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen Jiezi): "Paper is fibres on a mat," meaning that through a water-draining screen the fibres are evenly dispersed on the screen and settle to form paper. Pingyang hemp-paper products are of fine quality and are praised as "paper that outlasts a thousand years." This craft has deep cultural connotations; it contains the complete craft of northern traditional papermaking, displays the papermaking wisdom of the ancient working people, and holds high historical and cultural value. Protecting and transmitting this traditional handicraft is of extraordinary significance.
Documented production process
The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper is a traditional handicraft that uses the local fine-quality field hemp as raw material and alkaline groundwater, going through twelve steps—soaking the hemp, hoeing the goods, sorting the hemp, chopping the hemp, steaming the hemp, rinsing the hemp, crushing the hemp, stirring the pond (hai, a dialect word for the water pool), sheet-forming, drying the paper, lifting the paper and finishing the paper—to make hemp paper.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The craft of making Pingyang hemp paper now mainly spreads through southern, southeastern and northern Shanxi, with its core area in Dengzhuang Town, Xiangfen County, Linfen City. Pingyang hemp paper is also called "Pingyang hemp paper" (Pingyang ma zhi); it is used not only as everyday paper but also for writing, sacrifice and packaging. The Dengzhuang Dingtao Hemp-Paper Society of Xiangfen County is the protecting unit of the item.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Pizhi Making Craftsmanship · Pizhi Making Craftsmanship · Pizhi Making Craftsmanship · Pizhi Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zhang Shifeng (from the official archival record of the associated inheritor): male, Han, born in July 1975, a native of Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item, the bark-paper craft (Pingyang hemp-paper craft) (fifth batch). Pingyang hemp-paper-making technician. Influenced by his elders from childhood, he came into contact with hemp-paper making in his early teens; after graduation he used his spare time to collect and sort the relevant materials and objects of Pingyang hemp paper, and successively studied under Jia Junwen, Deng Yusheng, Li Weihai and Bao Xinlin, a papermaking artisan from Jing County, Anhui, learning hemp chopping, hemp steaming, sheet-forming and water-printing techniques. Through years of exploration and study he has mastered the traditional production flow and core skills, and by combining them with the traditional Anhui-paper craft has raised the quality of Pingyang hemp paper to the requirements of calligraphy, painting and printing, reviving the traditional hemp paper. Over the years he has constantly carried out technical innovation and exploration, trained six disciples, and actively taken part in various national exhibitions and demonstrations, vigorously publicising Pingyang hemp paper, so that this endangered traditional craft has been effectively transmitted and developed.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Luo Shouquan 01-0179
- Liu Shiyang 01-0180
- Wang Xingwu 03-1330
- Wan Aizhu 04-1855
- Zhang Shifeng 05-2764
- Pan Yuhua 05-2765
- Hu Zongliang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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