Ethnic Instrument Making Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-124Traditional CraftsmanshipYanbianchaoxianzuzizhi, JilinBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

The Korean ethnic traditional instruments of Yanji City, Jilin Province, have a long history of nearly two thousand years. Yanji City in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin Province is the main research, development, and production base for Korean ethnic instruments.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Chinese ethnic musical instruments have a long and distant history, are closely tied to the cultural life of all ethnic groups, and are an important component of traditional Chinese culture. These instruments have a concise and graceful form, a rational structure, exquisite workmanship, and a pure tone, and have been loved by music lovers of every era. Since ancient times, ethnic musical instruments have been played at folk festivals, weddings and funerals, joyous occasions, and deity-inviting fairs, as well as at the major political, military, and religious ceremonies held by court and government. The craft of making ethnic musical instruments has become an important traditional manual skill of our country, transmitted to the present day with far-reaching influence. Chinese ethnic musical instruments come in a great variety, with superb craftsmanship, renowned at home and abroad. Among them, the making of Zhangzi resonant bronze instruments, Korean ethnic instruments, Suzhou ethnic instruments, the Caifumei drums, and Uyghur ethnic instruments are particularly distinctive. Currently in common use there are more than thirty kinds of Korean ethnic instruments, mainly bamboo-and-wood wind instruments and percussion, with string instruments as a supplement. The key process steps in their making are polishing, assembly, and tuning. The bamboo-and-wood wind instruments transmitted to the present include the horizontal flute, the dongxiao (vertical flute), the duanxiao (short flute), and others; the percussion include the long drum, the round drum, the dragon drum, the hand drum, and others—all precious material for studying China's traditional ethnic instruments. Korean ethnic instruments have a unique structure and a beautiful, gentle tone; the music they produce is known for fresh, flowing, graceful, and lively melodies and a rich variety of long-short rhythms, and is commonly used for song-and-dance accompaniment and instrumental ensemble.

Archival Records of the Production Process

The key process steps in their making are polishing, assembly, and tuning.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Korean instrument-making in Yanbian centers on Yanji City. More than thirty kinds are produced, mainly bamboo-and-wood wind and percussion, with string as a supplement; the horizontal flute and dongxiao belong to the former, the long drum, round drum, dragon drum, and hand drum to the latter, and the most demanding steps are the three of polishing, assembly, and tuning. Jin Jifeng started as an apprentice in the instrument workshop of the Yanji City Servicemen's and Martyrs' Families Service Society in 1958, became director of the Yanji City Korean Instrument Factory in 1974, and before his death trained disciples such as Zhao Jide.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Jin Jifeng (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the craft of making ethnic musical instruments (Korean ethnic instrument craft), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the third batch. Korean ethnic instrument-making technician. Influenced by his father from childhood, he came to love Korean instrument-making; in 1958 he entered the instrument workshop of the Yanji City Servicemen's and Martyrs' Families Service Society as workshop director and began learning the craft of making ethnic instruments. In 1974 he was appointed director of the Yanji City Korean Instrument Factory, and successively excavated and developed more than twenty kinds of instruments. In instrument-making practice he possesses unique skills, adept at turning the crude into the refined. Male, Korean ethnicity, born in February 1937, died in October 2016, a native of Yanji City, Jilin Province. In 2009, he received the title of "Advanced Individual in Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Work" from the Ministry of Culture. In 2014, he received the Third China Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor Xunchuan Award, conferred by the Chinese National Academy of Arts (China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center). He devoted his life to the production, research, and transmission of Korean ethnic instruments, and trained many disciples including Zhao Jide. Zhao Jide (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Korean ethnicity, born in May 1940, a native of Yanji City, Jilin Province. Representative inheritor of the craft of making ethnic musical instruments (Korean ethnic instrument craft), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the fifth batch. Korean ethnic instrument-making technician. In 1959 he began systematically studying music theory and instrument performance. By visiting folk artists and tracking down instruments scattered among the people, he mastered the methods for making more than thirty kinds of Korean instruments, and attained considerable accomplishment in gayageum decoration, string improvement, drum-body improvement, and the introduction of standardized instrument-making patterns. He rescued and excavated more than twenty kinds of traditional paulownia-wood original-barrel long drums and related series products, and developed the paulownia-wood long drum domestically for the first time, with wide application. In recent years he has mainly trained thirteen artisans, all capable of independent operation.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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