Tanyangpirouzhigongyi
01 · Historical Records
The tanning of Tan-sheep pelts originated in the mid-Ming dynasty and ceased production in 1937 when the Japanese invasion of North China destroyed it, spanning more than four hundred years in all. In the 1980s, the Jiaocheng Fur Factory went bankrupt.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Jiaocheng Tan-sheep fur is a precious fur variety processed and tanned in Jiaocheng County, Shanxi Province, named for its use of Tan-sheep pelts from the Gobi grasslands of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai. The tanning craft of Jiaocheng Tan-sheep fur is fairly complex, relying entirely on manual operation, with some twenty process steps including washing, soaking, sunning, scraping, nailing, tanning, hanging, pressing, cutting, and sewing; the tanning process requires the addition of auxiliary materials such as yellow millet (a grain related to broomcorn millet), hide saltpeter (sodium sulfate), and Chinese honey locust (soap pod). The finished products are exquisitely beautiful and command high prices. Jiaocheng Tan-sheep fur is fine, supple, and light; as white as snow, as lustrous as jade, its tufts naturally curve, some curving as many as nine times. Winter garments for men and women made from it are light, warm, elegant, and attractive, with excellent decorative effect. The Tan sheep's wool fibers are long, fine, and even; its down is light, fluffy, and elastic, also serving as a high-grade raw material for blankets, shawls, mufflers, and wool sweaters. Renowned worldwide for its fine quality and distinctive style, Jiaocheng Tan-sheep fur is often used in Europe and America for women's winter clothing, lending an appearance of majestic elegance that is both fashionable and becoming.
Process Records
The tanning craft of Jiaocheng Tan-sheep fur is fairly complex, relying entirely on manual operation, with some twenty process steps including washing, soaking, sunning, scraping, nailing, tanning, hanging, pressing, cutting, and sewing; the tanning process requires the addition of auxiliary materials such as yellow millet (a grain related to broomcorn millet), hide saltpeter, and Chinese honey locust.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jiaocheng's Tan-sheep fur tanning is a classic case of imported pelts with local craftsmanship: the hides come from the Gobi grasslands of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai, yet the process is firmly in the hands of artisans in the Fen River valley. All twenty steps — washing, soaking, sunning, scraping, nailing, tanning, hanging, pressing, cutting, and sewing — are done entirely by hand, with only yellow millet, hide saltpeter, and Chinese honey locust as adjuncts. When the craft ceased during the wartime turmoil of 1937, the Zhang family kept its flame alive through the Yiquantai tannery, and Zhang Xiaochun took up this knife craft from his father Zhang Lasheng at the age of seventeen.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tanyangpirouzhigongyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Now in Jiaocheng County, the youngest of the veteran artisans still practicing Tan-sheep fur tanning is nearly seventy years old; the craft has few successors and is on the verge of being lost, so its rescue and protection have become an urgent priority. Zhang Xiaochun (per the official inheritor archival record): Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1968, a native of Jiaocheng County, Shanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the Tan-sheep Fur Tanning Craft, an item of intangible cultural heritage. Born into a family of craftsmen. At seventeen he learned the traditional fur-tanning craft from his father Zhang Lasheng; after more than ten years of diligent study he mastered the twenty process steps of Tan-sheep fur work — cleaning, washing and soaking, sun-drying, scraping and nailing, hanging-tanning, and cutting-and-sewing. Since the 1990s, the traditional hand-tanning of Tan-sheep fur has faced severe challenges. He diligently studied and introduced new craft techniques, overcoming the traditional process's drawbacks of environmental pollution and products prone to insect damage. After the transition he focused on artistic fur craft and aquaculture; in recent years he has also developed a new product — framed fur craft paintings — with representative works including "Mao Zedong's Calligraphy," "Great Visions," "The Three Friends of Winter," "Xu Beihong's Ink Horses," "Longevity Like the Southern Mountains," and "Rising at the Cock's Crow." The fourth-generation inheritor of the Yiquantai tannery.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhang Xiaochun 05-2808
- Ding Heping 05-2809
- Ding Yuecheng 05-2810
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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