Engraved Block Printing Technique
01 · Historical Records
The Tongren engraved-block printing craft arose in the Yuan dynasty; as early as the late 13th century, a lama master named Sandan Rinchen developed the Tibetan-scripture block-printing technique. Tongren County in southeastern Qinghai Province still preserves the traditional Tongren engraved-block printing craft; in the form of family traditional workshops, the manual craft of block printing is transmitted to this day in Zhuolong Village and Guomari Village of Nianduhu Township.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The difficulty of carving Tibetan-scripture blocks lies not in the characters but in the mirror-image characters: the strokes must be carved deeply and accurately so that the front-facing form shows on the back of the paper. Xia Wuta's fineness of line and depth of incision are where this craft most shows its mettle. The printed pictorial subjects center on lungta (prayer flags), human–animal harmony pictures, bagua (eight-trigrams) diagrams, and various Buddha images; scenes of sacrificing to mountain gods, to heaven, to earth, and of farming and cultivation occupy a considerable proportion.
Writing the sample and cutting it in reverse
The scripture is written out and cut in reverse onto the block; with dense Tibetan strokes a single slip spoils the whole block.
Cutting lines and depth
Fine lines and accurate cut depth are the marks of the craft; the knife must follow the pressure of the brush for tone to come out in print.
Cutting dragon and Buddha plates
Dragon symbols, harmony-of-beasts diagrams, bagua diagrams and Buddha images each need their own plate, and their varied line weights demand a different grip from cutting scripture.
Bagua and sacrificial plates
Scenes of mountain, heaven and earth worship and of ploughing and seasonal custom form the bulk of the plates, recording both local farming life and Tibetan Buddhist practice.
Printing and binding
After printing, leaves are dried, folded and bound into volumes for the monasteries, where printed scriptures remain everyday religious objects.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Tongren block carving is based in two family workshops in Zhuolong Village and Guomari Village of Nianduhu Township; the workshops are not inside monasteries — the carving is done in the village, and the scriptures are then supplied to temples such as Ta'er Monastery. Xia Wuta began taking apprentices in 1984, accepting trainees both from his own village and from other townships; by the end of 2016 he had trained over a hundred. Long scriptural collections such as the sixteen-volume "Complete Works of the Jamyang Living Buddha" of Ta'er Monastery and the twelve-volume "Collected Works of Lobsang Tsenle" of Gede Monastery in Sichuan were precisely accomplished through such a hand-trained echelon of apprentices.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Engraved Block Printing Technique · Engraved Block Printing Technique · Engraved Block Printing Technique.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Tongren engraved-block printing craft is mainly used to print scriptures, books, and painted patterns (lungta, human–animal harmony pictures, bagua diagrams, various Buddha images), and so on. Its subjects are mainly sacrificing to mountain gods, to heaven, to earth, farming cultivation, and seasonal customs, in pursuit of spiritual-life aims such as favorable weather, bumper harvests, attracting wealth and treasure, and auspiciousness as one wishes. It is a microcosm of the local agrarian social life, folk life, and Tibetan Buddhist culture; it is a bearer and transmitter of Tibetan traditional culture and exquisite manual craft, and has important reference value for studying Tibetan history, religion, culture, science and technology, and the civilizational process of Tibetan anthropology. Xia Wuta (per the official archive of the associated inheritor): male, Tibetan, born March 1962, a native of Tongren County, Qinghai Province. He is a representative inheritor of the carved-block printing craft (Tongren engraved-block printing), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the fifth batch. Over a thirty-five-year carving career, his main carved works include the sixteen-volume "Complete Works of the Jamyang Living Buddha" of Ta'er Monastery and the twelve-volume "Collected Works of Lobsang Tsenle" of Gede Monastery in Sichuan, among others, and he has also carved many Buddhist scriptures in numerous monasteries inside and outside the province. The lines and grain of his carved blocks are fine and the incisions deep and accurate; his outstanding skill has won consistent social recognition, and he was awarded the title of "Qinghai Provincial Second-Class Folk Craftsman" by the Qinghai Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. Since 1984 he has taken apprentices and taught the craft, recruiting not only villagers but widely accepting trainees from other townships to impart the carving art; by the end of 2016 his apprentices numbered over a hundred.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chen Yishi 01-0191
- Huang Xiaojian 05-2774
- Xiawuta 05-2775
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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