Duan Inkstone Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
According to records, Duan inkstones first rose in the early Tang dynasty and were already popular throughout the country by the mid-Tang period. Renowned for their virtues - grinding ink swiftly as wind, yielding ink as smooth as oil, consuming no water, not freezing, not decaying, and protecting the brush hairs - they are called the finest of all inkstones. Before the 1970s, these tools were mostly made by the quarrymen or inkstone craftsmen themselves.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The two villages of Baishi and Binri are adjacent; 80 percent of their villagers have no farmland to till and have made their living from quarrying stone and making inkstones for generations. Today this area remains the core region of Duan inkstone production. The raw material of Duan inkstones, Duanxi stone, is produced in the area of Fukeshi Mountain in Lingyang Gorge and the Beiling Mountains, east of the suburbs of Zhaoqing City. In its development history of more than 1,300 years, Duan inkstone artists have continuously summed up experience and adapted to local conditions, forming a complete set of scientific and rigorous production techniques. The production process of Duan inkstones is very complex, with main steps including quarrying the stone, selecting and preparing the rough stone, designing, carving, fitting the case, polishing, and waxing. Duanxi stone is mostly not shock-resistant, so every stage of Duan inkstone production has always been carried out by hand. Quarrying the stone is crucial in Duan inkstone making. In ancient times, inkstone quarry caves were only about 80 centimeters high, so quarry workers could only squat, sit, or recline to extract the stone. The quarrying tools used were often made to suit the environment in which the stone lay, and the carving tools were made to suit the hardness of the inkstone stone and the demands of the carving technique and subject matter. Quarrying tools mainly include pointed iron chisels of varying coarseness, iron pens, iron hammers, blasting chisels, and lamps; carving tools mainly include hammers, chisels, chisel holders, wooden drills, saws, talc, and worktables. Like many traditional handicrafts, Duan inkstone making also has its own trade worship and guild organization. Duan inkstone artists venerate Wu Ding, and every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month they hold grand ceremonies of worship. The Duan Inkstone Guild is the guild organization of the Duan inkstone trade; only by entering the guild does an artist have the qualification to make Duan inkstones.
Archival Record of Process Steps
The production process of Duan inkstones is very complex, with main steps including quarrying the stone, selecting and preparing the rough stone, designing, carving, fitting the case, polishing, and waxing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The birthplace of Duan inkstones is the area of Baishi Village and Binri Village in Huanggang Town, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Duan inkstones have very high artistic, collection, and humanistic value. Under new historical conditions, mechanized production is impacting handmade Duan inkstone making, and the traditional way of transmitting from memory has led to a shortage of successors among craftsmen. Only by seriously solving these problems can the traditional Duan inkstone making craft be genuinely protected and continued. Cheng Wen (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1950, from Zhaoqing, Guangdong. Representative inheritor of the Duan inkstone making craft, a first-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project, and a renowned inkstone master of Zhaoqing City. The Cheng family's Duan inkstone making has been transmitted for fifteen generations; Cheng Wen is the thirteenth-generation transmitter of the Cheng family's Duan inkstone making, and he inherited the inkstone making technique of Cheng Si, the twelfth-generation transmitter of the Cheng family and a great master of his era. Building on the foundation of the traditional style, he boldly innovated and developed in many directions, fully comprehending the art; he broke the previous situation in which masters each guarded a single style, and became a versatile expert in inkstone making. Cheng Wen makes inkstones with full passion; he often works according to the shape and material of the inkstone stone, suiting his technique to the material, with bold and decisive execution. Even when carving small square inkstones, he can bring out his grand style. His works include flowers, birds, fish, and insects; dragons, phoenixes, turtles, and snakes; pavilions and towers; landscapes and figures; and stone-inscription-style calligraphy. His carving is fluid and his basic skills solid. Representative works include "Sunrise on the Sea - One Wave," "Morning Light," and "Ancient Duanzhou Prefecture," among others. From 2000 to the present, many of Cheng Wen's inkstones have won national special gold awards and national gold awards. He has also written up his experience in inkstone making and his insights into how to appreciate Duan inkstones as papers, offering them to the broad community of Duan inkstone enthusiasts and learners. Yang Zhuozhong (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1964, from Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province. Representative inheritor of the Duan inkstone making craft, a fifth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. Duan inkstone making technician. He began learning Duan inkstone carving from his father Yang Donghua in middle school, and later studied under Cheng Wen, a national-level inheritor of the Duan inkstone making craft, learning the Cheng family's Duan inkstone making technique. He has a thorough mastery of the overall production process of traditional inkstone making, including assessing the stone, composition, and carving. His works have long possessed both traditional flavor and modern interest, and have won important national, provincial, and municipal awards on many occasions. For many years he has actively devoted himself to work related to the transmission and dissemination of Duan inkstone culture: not only continuing the bloodline transmission within the family, but also generously passing his technique on to society, training numerous successors, several of whom have become provincial-level masters.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Cheng Wen 01-0188
- Yang Chaozhong 05-2772
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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