Beiyejing Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
It first originated in ancient India, was introduced to Sri Lanka around the 7th century CE, and then spread via Myanmar and Thailand into the southwestern border regions of China's Yunnan Province.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The palm-leaf scripture is called "Tanlan" in the Dai language; it is Buddhist scripture engraved with an iron stylus onto pattra leaves (leaves of the borassus or talipot palm). Surveys show that the areas of Xishuangbanna, Simao, Lincang, and Dehong in Yunnan Province are regions that have relatively completely inherited the palm-leaf scripture making craft. Besides Dai-script palm-leaf scriptures, here palm-leaf scriptures engraved in Lao, Burmese, and Thai scripts have also been found. The palm-leaf scriptures discovered in Xishuangbanna come in two textual types, Pali and Dai, and their formats include four kinds: four-line, five-line, six-line, and eight-line per page. Besides using processed palm leaves to engrave Buddhist scripture, the Dai people have also recorded a great deal on them—their astronomy and calendar, social history, laws and regulations, folk customs, medicine, production, daily life, ethics and morality, literature and art, and more. The Dai people treasure the Dai-script palm-leaf scriptures all the more, regarding them as a treasure handed down through generations, and praising them as "the divine vessel carrying Dai history and culture." The palm-leaf scripture is also the Dai people's "encyclopedia"; many Buddhist temples and ordinary households in Xishuangbanna reverently treasure it.
Selecting and trimming the palm leaves
The palm-leaf strips, called tanlan in Tai, are selected and trimmed first; their thickness, moisture and intact edges decide how the iron stylus will take.
Steaming and pressing the leaves
The inheritor Bo Konglun commands the whole sequence over fifty years; steaming and pressing leave the leaf flat and tough so that the line does not split as it is cut.
Cutting the script with an iron stylus
Cutting the script is the heart of the craft and rests entirely on a steady hand; texts are Pali or Tai, set out in four-, five-, six- or eight-line formats, and even spacing shows the cutter's level.
Binding the leaves into books
The final stage pierces and binds the written leaves in order; the finished books resist warping and insects, and are treasured by the local Tai as a vessel carrying their history.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of the palm-leaf scripture making craft in Yunnan centers on Xishuangbanna and radiates outward. As for its state of preservation, the Xishuangbanna, Simao, Lincang, and Dehong areas are regions where the craft has been relatively completely preserved; besides the common Dai-script palm-leaf scriptures, investigators also found here scriptures engraved in Lao, Burmese, and Thai, indicating that the craft's spread is broader than a single language would suggest. Its concrete locus lies in Dai villages and Buddhist temples around Jinghong. Representative inheritor Bokonglun entered the Manjiang Buddhist temple in his own village as a monk at age 12 to study the Dai script; at 13 he studied palm-leaf scripture making under the Venerable Bola-jiao; at 14 he mastered the craft; and at 17 he returned to lay life. This path shows that the palm-leaf scripture craft long depended on temple education, with learning the Dai script and learning scripture making almost simultaneous. The palm-leaf scriptures discovered in Xishuangbanna come in two textual types, Pali and Dai, and their formats include four kinds: four-, five-, six-, and eight-line per page. Today, besides China, countries where palm-leaf scripture remains have been found include India, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Sri Lanka, showing that its origins lie far beyond national borders.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Today, besides China, countries where palm-leaf scripture remains have been found include India, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Sri Lanka. The palm-leaf scripture is an important vehicle of Dai traditional culture, with significant value for historical and ethnological research. Bokonglun (per official archive records of the associated inheritor): Male, Dai ethnicity, born in January 1948, a native of Jinghong City, Yunnan Province. Representative inheritor of the Palm-Leaf Scripture Making Craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project, in its fourth batch. A technician of palm-leaf scripture making. At age 12 he entered the Manjiang Buddhist temple in his own village as a monk to study the Dai script. At 13 he studied palm-leaf scripture making under the Venerable Bola-jiao; at 14 he mastered the craft; at 17 he returned to lay life. Over more than fifty years in the trade, he has fully and proficiently mastered both old and new Dai scripts and all the processes of palm-leaf scripture making—material selection, trimming, steaming, sun-pressing, engraving, and binding. His palm-leaf scriptures are made with superb skill, fine material selection, and exquisite workmanship; they do not easily deform or suffer insect damage, and the engraved scripture characters are neat, beautiful, and graceful, winning the affection of local Dai people and earning him a high local reputation. In 2009 he participated in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Skills Exhibition. He actively takes on apprentices and teaches the craft; his current apprentices are Yan Han, Yan Hong, and Yan Konglun.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Bokonglun 04-1902
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。