Huashupi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The birch-bark boat is a vessel created by the Oroqen ancestors for summer fishing and hunting, called "Aomuluqin" in the Oroqen language. The Huma River area is laced with a dense network of waterways, and in summer the main routes of travel depended on water, so a single boat sufficed. From material selection to shaping, this boat never leaves the locality: pine slats serve as the frame, white birch bark forms the hull, and wooden pegs are whittled from pine; the seams are then coated with pine resin and baked to achieve a watertight, non-leaking seal. Shaped like a willow leaf, the boat is light, fast, and easy to carry; it is borne on horseback over land and used to ferry across water, so a single boat serves both forms of transport at once.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Oroqen people have lived for generations in places such as Baiyinna Village in Huma County and Shibazhan in Tahe County, in the Greater Khingan Mountains region. Through Baiyinna Village and Shibazhan flows the Huma River, and the area is laced with a dense network of waterways, with an average annual precipitation of about 400 millimeters. The abundant water system provided ample conditions for the Oroqen people's summer fishing and hunting. In the long course of hunting, the Oroqen ancestors created a birch-bark boat convenient for water activities. The birch-bark boat is an essential means of transport for the Oroqen people's summer fishing and hunting production and daily life. Called "Aomuluqin" in the Oroqen language, it uses local materials and is simple to make: pine slats from the Greater Khingan Mountains form the frame, and bark from white birch trees growing in the cold highlands forms the hull, reinforced with wooden pegs whittled from pine—not a single iron nail is used in the whole boat. After shaping, pine resin is applied to the seams and baked, achieving a watertight, non-leaking effect. The birch-bark boat is shaped like a willow leaf, light, fast, and easy to carry; "borne on horseback over land and used to ferry across water," it is a unique production and daily-life implement passed down through Oroqen generations. The long-standing Oroqen birch-bark boat making craft is an important part of the birch-tree culture of northeastern China. Due to the changing times, this ancient traditional manual skill is declining day by day and is in urgent need of protection.
Building the pine-strip frame
Strips of aizhan pine form the frame, shaved to curve and joined in sequence so the rocker of the hull is carried by the strips themselves.
Laying the birch bark hull
The hull is laid in birch bark following its natural curve, with seams offset so that no peg falls on the weakest line of the grain.
Peering the hull
Pegs shaved from pine secure the hull, with no iron anywhere in the boat; squared pegs are driven flush so they never rust.
Caulking the seams with pine resin
After shaping, pine resin is worked into the seams and the boat baked until it is watertight, the last gate before it can stay in the water.
Shaping the willow-leaf hull
The hull is shaped like a willow leaf, narrow at both ends to cut water resistance and draught, a form tested over and over in summer fishing and hunting.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Baiyinna Village and Shibazhan are the two supporting points of this craft; both belong to the Huma River water system, with an average annual precipitation of about 400 millimeters, and the summer water volume is just enough to pole the boat and set the nets. Guo Baolin took up this craft from his father at the age of twelve and has lived and worked around the Huma'er River for over seventy years. The boats he makes are exquisite, beautiful, innovative, and durable; in 2006 he participated in the Shanghai World Expo exhibition, and in 2007 he went to Beijing for the ethnic-minority intangible cultural heritage exhibition. Though advanced in age, he still insists on passing on this craft.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Huashupi Making Craftsmanship · Huashupi Making Craftsmanship · Huashupi Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Guo Baolin (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Oroqen ethnicity, born in October 1945, a native of Tahe County, Heilongjiang Province. A representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage items, for the birch-bark craft (Oroqen birch-bark boat making craft). An Oroqen birch-bark boat making technician. He learned to make birch-bark boats through his father's personal instruction. His skill is superb; the birch-bark boats he makes are exquisite, beautiful, innovative, and durable, with ornamental value and distinctive ethnic characteristics. He has lived and worked around the Huma'er River for over seventy years, having begun learning to make birch-bark boats at age 12—more than sixty years to this day. His works took part in the 2006 Shanghai World Expo exhibition. In 2007 he participated in the ethnic-minority intangible cultural heritage exhibition held in Beijing. Though advanced in age, he still insists on passing on the birch-bark boat making craft.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Fuzhanxiang 01-0195
- Guobaolin 04-1865
- Wuxusheng 05-2778
- Ajilun
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。