Zhuzhi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The environment of Jiajiang is suited to bamboo growth, and the area began handmade papermaking with bamboo materials as early as the Tang dynasty; the bamboo papermaking technique rose in the Ming dynasty and flourished in the Qing. Since the Tang dynasty, Jiajiang has enjoyed the reputation of "home of Shu paper". Jiajiang paper is famed for its excellent quality, wide variety, large scale of production, and refined technique, and was once designated as tribute paper by the Kangxi Emperor. Fuyang in Zhejiang has long been known as the "home of local paper"; its bamboo papermaking technique began in the Southern Song and has been handed down from generation to generation for more than a thousand years. Among these, Changshan paper received the highest special-product title from the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce in 1915 and a second prize at the Panama Pacific International Exposition, and a third prize at the 1926 Beijing National Products Exhibition; Jingfang paper received a second prize at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition and a third prize at the 1926 Beijing National Products Exhibition; Yuanshu paper and Wujin paper received special prizes at the 1929 Hangzhou West Lake Exposition; and Shuhuang paper and Wuqian Yuanshu paper received first prizes at the 1929 West Lake Exposition.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Papermaking is one of the four great inventions of ancient China; Jiajiang County in Sichuan Province and Fuyang City in Zhejiang Province are important producing areas of bamboo paper. Jiajiang bamboo paper is made by the manual paper-scooping technique; from the selection of materials to the finished sheet there are 15 stages and 72 process steps, matching the account in the "Shaqing" chapter of the Ming-dynasty work Tiangong Kaiwu. Made primarily from tender bamboo, Jiajiang handmade calligraphy and painting paper is pure white and soft, absorbs and holds ink evenly, has fine fibers, and is resilient and even; it is as renowned as Anhui xuan paper and was praised by the master of Chinese painting Zhang Daqian as one of the "two treasures of the nation". Although more than a thousand papermaking workshops remain throughout Jiajiang County, production of traditional handmade paper in the strict sense is now rarely seen. Fuchun bamboo paper is characterized by its soft texture; even after being rolled and unrolled for a long time the ink does not smudge, and it is not easily bored by insects. Historically, renowned Fuchun bamboo papers emerged in succession, sold throughout the country and exported to Japan, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, and other countries. On the basis of inheriting China's traditional papermaking craft, Fuchun bamboo paper has formed a complete set of distinctive production techniques, such as the "human urine fermentation method" in pulping and the "screen-swaying, wave-beating" (danglan dalang) method in sheet forming; these are unique skills of Fuyang bamboo paper production, found in no other bamboo paper producing area. The Fuchun bamboo papermaking technique is a crystallization of the wisdom of Fuyang papermaking artisans formed through long production practice, and an important case study in inheriting and carrying forward the great ancient Chinese invention of papermaking. Alongside the transmission of the Fuchun papermaking craft, the Fuyang area has also given rise to folk-cultural content such as the annual sacrifice to Cai Lun, paper workers' proverbs, mountain songs, and the long folk narrative ballad "Zhu San and Liu Erjie", showing that Fuyang's papermaking craft contains profound historical and cultural connotations.
Archival record of process steps
Jiajiang bamboo paper is made by the manual paper-scooping technique; from the selection of materials to the finished sheet there are 15 stages and 72 process steps, matching the account in the "Shaqing" chapter of the Ming-dynasty work Tiangong Kaiwu.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The bamboo papermaking technique is most concentrated in Jiajiang County, Sichuan Province, and Fuyang City, Zhejiang Province; both areas use tender bamboo as material and scoop the sheets by hand. Fuyang backs onto mountains with extensive bamboo groves; the villages have many paper vats, and papermaking households set up workshops along the streams, the paper being mainly for calligraphy and painting. The Fuyang Bamboo Paper Culture Protection, Inheritance and Development Promotion Center of Fuyang District, Hangzhou, is the project protection unit.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Zhuzhi Making Craftsmanship · Zhuzhi Making Craftsmanship · Zhuzhi Making Craftsmanship · Zhuzhi Making Craftsmanship · Zhuzhi Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
With the changing times, Jiajiang handmade paper production faces crisis: raw material supply is difficult, and there are few successors. It is therefore necessary to protect, rescue, and excavate the Jiajiang bamboo papermaking technique, an intangible cultural heritage of historical, cultural, and scientific value. Today Fuchun bamboo paper is produced mainly in the mountainous areas on the south bank of the Fuchun River and in Qingyun, Longyang, Xindeng, and other places. Although some people still produce bamboo paper following the traditional technique, production is in difficulties for various reasons; moreover, as most papermaking artisans are advanced in years, the traditional Fuchun bamboo papermaking technique lacks successors, is on the verge of dying out, and urgently awaits rescue and protection. Zhuang Fuquan (official archival record of an associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born 1955, from Fuyang, Zhejiang. Representative inheritor of the bamboo papermaking technique, a first national-level batch intangible cultural heritage project; director and chairman of Hangzhou Fuchunjiang Xuan Paper Co., Ltd. Zhuang Fuquan is the fifth-generation successor of a papermaking family; his family has handed down a complete set of mature production techniques, and in 1972 he began working in bamboo paper production under his father, coming to skillfully master and operate the full set of bamboo papermaking techniques. Some of these special papermaking techniques are found in no other bamboo paper producing area, such as the "human urine fermentation method" in pulping and the "screen-swaying, wave-beating" (danglan dalang) method in sheet forming; they are unique skills of Fuyang bamboo paper production. Zhuang Fuquan excels at making Yuanshu paper (so named because it was used to write sacrificial texts at the imperial New Year temple sacrifice); he owns 15 production vat workshops making Yuanshu paper, whose finished sheets are pure white and resilient, faintly fragrant with bamboo, dissolve easily in water, and do not let ink bleed. Building on traditional papermaking, he has also developed and researched products such as painting-core paper and handmade xuan paper. His bamboo paper has won gold awards in provincial and municipal evaluations on many occasions; at present Zhuang Fuquan relies on running paper mills to train a group of apprentices. Li Fa'er (official archival record of an associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born August 1950, from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Representative inheritor of the bamboo papermaking technique, a fourth national-level batch intangible cultural heritage project. Bamboo paper production technician. Born into a farming family, he once served as head of a village-run Yuanshu paper mill. Beginning in the 1990s he researched the traditional bamboo papermaking process, excavating and transmitting the traditional Yuanshu paper making technique, and collected and preserved a complete set of production tools for bamboo papermaking. Through years of accumulated experience, he carried out technical improvements to traditional Yuanshu paper production, not only saving bamboo fiber raw material but also solving the technical problem of making large sheets, improving paper quality, and avoiding problems such as bamboo paper turning gray and dilute ink washing out; through these advances he produces high-grade Yuanshu paper in various specifications. He actively takes on apprentices and transmits the craft, emphasizing the training of inheritors, and has promoted the transmission and development of the bamboo papermaking technique.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Zhanyao 01-0183
- Zhuang Fuquan 01-0184
- Li Faer 04-1858
- Lin Zhiwen 05-2766
- Liu Yanggen 05-2767
- Li Zhijun 05-2768
- Chen Xiujun
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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