Zhuzhi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Tantou hand papermaking craft is a traditional handmade papermaking technique, originating from Cai Lun's papermaking technique and refined by the craftsmen of Tantou, that uses nan bamboo as its raw material. This craft originated in Tantou Town, Longhui County, in western-central Hunan Province. At present its main areas of distribution are villages such as Taolin Village and Chengshang Village, radiating to the surrounding Yankou Town, Hetian Township, Gaoping Town, and other townships. The Tantou hand papermaking craft had already reached maturity by the Ming dynasty.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Besides native paper and bark paper, the finished products of the Tantou hand papermaking craft include a colored paper series, fragrant powder paper, xuan paper, and firecracker-roll paper (paolian paper); the paper has a fine, compact, and smooth texture. The basic process of this craft is quite particular. It begins with the material preparation stage: cutting and splitting the bamboo, rinsing it in a water pit (dang), and washing the material in a retting pit. Then comes the sheet-forming stage, which is further divided into three roles: the zas hou (general hand), the chao shou (forming hand), and the shai shou (drying hand). The main tasks of the zas hou (general hand) are treading the material, preparing firewood, preparing meals, and working the tread bar; the main tasks of the chao shou (forming hand) are boiling the sizing (zhuhua), forming the sheets, shaping the pulp pile (zhengtuo), and pressing it dry; the main tasks of the shai shou (drying hand) are brushing the sheets onto the drying wall, lifting them off, baking the paper, and squaring the sheets. In addition, the process of forming bark paper is also quite elaborate. In autumn and winter, the fragrant bark trees are cut back, the bark stripped off, and the bark dried in the sun for storage. The raw material is boiled until soft and then soaked in clean water to wash away impurities in the bark. The raw material is pounded into pieces; the primitive method uses a wooden club to pound it repeatedly in a vat mortar until it becomes pulp, after which sheet forming is carried out. The distinguishing feature of the Tantou hand papermaking craft lies in its very particular choice of raw materials: the bamboo must be tender nan bamboo from around the time of Grain Full (xiaoman), and bark paper uses the locally specific three-pronged bark tree (jiexiang tree, Edgeworthia chrysantha); as a result the paper has a relatively fine texture. At its height, Tantou ancient town and several dozen surrounding villages had more than 1,100 workshops and over 2,000 skilled workers, producing several hundred thousand piculs of various paper products annually, which were sold as far as Yunnan and Guizhou and on to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Every village had vats and workshops, and the fragrance of paper was everywhere; it was once praised as the "Paper Capital of the South." The prosperity of Tantou's handmade paper industry also drove the development of many industries that used native paper, colored paper, and bark paper as raw materials or carriers, including Tantou woodblock New Year prints, Longhui firecrackers, handmade paper umbrellas, and Meishan paper-horse figures. The Tantou hand papermaking craft inherits the papermaking technique of Cai Lun, one of China's Four Great Inventions; it is a crystallization of the wisdom and sweat of the working people of western Hunan, and is not only an important component of China's traditional culture but also a precious treasure of humanity's spiritual civilization.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The main tasks of the zas hou (general hand) are treading the material, preparing firewood, preparing meals, and working the tread bar; the main tasks of the chao shou (forming hand) are boiling the sizing, forming the sheets, shaping the pulp pile, and pressing it dry; the main tasks of the shai shou (drying hand) are brushing the sheets onto the drying wall, lifting them off, baking the paper, and squaring the sheets.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tantou hand papermaking craft is centered on Tantou Town, Longhui County, Hunan Province, extending to the Dongkou and Shaoyang area. Tantou Town is located on the upper reaches of the Zi River; papermaking raw materials are drawn from local nan bamboo, and the finished paper is used mainly for local rituals, seasonal festivals, and packaging. The Longhui County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center is the project's protecting institution.
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
This craft is transmitted mainly through families and communities, and its development is in good shape; at present the custom of planting the three-pronged bark tree - the raw material for bark paper - beside vegetable gardens is still retained. This craft carries rich historical and cultural connotations, and has played a role that cannot be overlooked in the transmission of China's traditional papermaking technique and folk art. Li Zhijun (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1960, from Longhui County, Hunan Province. Representative inheritor of the bamboo paper making craft (Tantou hand papermaking craft), a fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. Tantou hand papermaking technician. In recent years, through the hand papermaking craft apprenticeship institute, he has actively cooperated with the Longhui County ICH center in holding training activities for the hand papermaking craft. While continually improving his own skill, he has also diligently taught apprentices in his own workshop; his younger brother Li Zhibing and his son Li Qiugui both study under him. In 2011, he successively developed new papers such as calligraphy and painting paper and restoration paper for ancient books and calligraphy in museum collections, promoting the productive protection of Tantou hand papermaking. At the same time, he often teaches at the local village children's palaces, guiding students to consciously participate in protection work.
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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