Zhongshi Garment Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Fengbang tailoring tradition from which the Hengsheng technique derives originated in the fifty-ninth year of the Qianlong reign (1794), and has a history of more than two hundred years. "Hengsheng" was founded in 1929 by the Fengbang tailor Xu Jisheng, and his eldest son Xu Yuzhang later inherited his father's trade.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In the first year of the Daoguang reign (1821), the "Fuchang" Fengbang tailor shop was born in Shanghai; thereafter, the Fengbang tailor shops "Wangrongtai" (1891), "Hechang" (1896), and "Rongchangxiang" (1910) opened one after another. To this day, Fengbang tailoring has made major contributions to the formation and flourishing of Chinese dress culture. The Xu father and sons continuously innovated, forming the distinctive character of the Fengbang style. Historically, Hengsheng became famous in Shanghai for, among other things, improving the Zhongshan suit (Sun Yat-sen suit) and creating the slim-fitting, close-sleeved, fashionably crisp Hengsheng style of the Fengbang tradition, establishing Hengsheng's leading and pillar position among Fengbang tailors and making it one of the most famous Fengbang establishments in old Shanghai. In making garments, Hengsheng emphasizes the "four skills" - dao work (cutting), che work (machine sewing), shou work (hand stitching), and tang work (pressing) - and attains the "nine postures" (xieshi, pangshi, woshi, gaishi, aoshi, qiaoshi, shengshi, yuanshi, and wanshi) and the "sixteen characters" (ping, fu, shun, zhi, yuan, deng, ting, man, bo, song, yun, ruan, huo, qing, wo, and gai). Its works are both practical garments and worthy of being called works of craft.
The four skills: knife, machine, hand and ironing
Four basic skills of the Fengbang tailor—cutting, machine work, hand work and pressing—must all be present for a garment to take its shape.
Nine postures and sixteen criteria
Nine postures and sixteen criteria form the old yardstick by which the tailor gauges stiffness, thickness and hang.
Reforming the Zhongshan suit
The shop reformed the Zhongshan suit and created a slim, close-sleeved, sharply pressed silhouette, winning fame in Shanghai.
The founding and succession of Hengsheng
The craft reaches back to 1794; the Hengsheng firm was founded by Xu Jisheng in 1929 and carried on by his eldest son Xu Yuzhang.
Ten-head craft and the youth-cut pattern
Lin Ruixiang refined the ten-head craft and devised the firm's distinctive young-cut pattern for finely tailored menswear.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The origins of Fengbang tailoring lie in the ready-made clothing trade cluster of old Shanghai, where the local-bang (bengbang) tailors and the Fengbang tailors parted ways. Hengsheng was founded by Xu Jisheng in 1929, and his eldest son Xu Yuzhang carried on the business; it stood in the same city as Fuchang, opened in the first year of the Daoguang reign, as well as Wangrongtai, Hechang, and Rongchangxiang, each vying with the others on craftsmanship. In the hands of masters from Fenghua, Ningbo, the Fengbang formed the "Red Gang" (hongbang) lineage, which divided from tailors specializing in traditional Chinese-style garments; thereafter the Hengsheng line won its place in Shanghai through its improvements to the Zhongshan suit and its crisp, slim-fitting, close-sleeved styling, becoming one of the most famous of the Fengbang establishments.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Hengsheng Fengbang handicraft is transmitted through oral instruction and personal example between master and apprentice, and can be mastered only through insight and feel. The Hengsheng Fengbang tailoring technique is the essence and representative of "Fengbang tailoring," and possesses high historical and cultural value. Xu Yongliang (from the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Han ethnicity, born in May 1965, from Shanghai. Representative inheritor of the Chinese-style garment-making technique (Longfeng qipao hand-made technique), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the fourth national-level batch. Technician of hand-made Longfeng qipao. In 1985 he entered the Shanghai Longfeng Chinese Garment Shop to engage in Chinese-style garment making; he took Gui Shunyuan as his master and comprehensively mastered the essence of the Suguang garment-shop craft; his artistry is exquisite and his technique all-round. He changed the formerly single type of knot button used on Chinese-style garments and created a series of knot buttons of an artisanal character, with more than a hundred products, highlighting the linear and formal beauty of Eastern dress. In May 2011, at the Shanghai workers' contest of unique skills and master strokes for model posts, organized by the Shanghai Workers' Technology Association, he was awarded the title of craftsperson. He actively participates in public-welfare displays and promotion, and has been engaged by the Shanghai Yifu Vocational School to teach the qipao-making technique. Lin Ruixiang (from the official archives of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the Chinese-style garment-making technique (Hengsheng Fengbang tailoring technique), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the fourth national-level batch. Senior fashion designer. He improved and perfected the craft characteristics of Hengsheng's "ten head workmen" (shigongtou); the new-style finely made men's garments he planned and produced opened up Hengsheng's distinctive "Youth School" (qingnianpai) garment pattern, which won the recognition of industry insiders and the welcome of a broad range of consumers. Male, of the Han ethnicity, born in February 1931, died November 2013, from Shanghai. He attached importance to instructing and guiding successors, and helped the company train a large number of a new generation of Hengsheng technicians.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xu Yongliang 04-1921
- Lin Ruixiang 04-1922
- Bao Wenqi 04-1923
- Chen Yuqiu
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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