Yintongqizhizuojiliujinjiyi
01 · Historical Records
In the mid-17th century, the Urad tribe migrated west to the area north and south of the Yinshan Mountains; after more than 300 years of evolution, this craft gradually matured into a copper-and-silver ware processing skill with the tribe's own characteristics, and has been passed down to the present through master–apprentice transmission. This craft began in the late Ming and early Qing. Only after the mid-17th-century westward migration of the Urad tribe to the area north and south of the Yinshan Mountains, and a further 300-plus years of evolution, was the tribe's original metalworking tradition honed into a copper-and-silver ware craft peculiar to the clan, which has endured to this day through oral transmission between masters and apprentices.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Urad copper-and-silver ware craft is a type of copper-and-silver ware making, mainly distributed in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, and other places. The Urad tribe is a branch of the Mongol tribes; the Chinese meaning of "Urad" is "skilled craftsman." The Urad copper-and-silver ware craft uses precious metals such as copper and silver as raw materials and employs hand-making methods. The craft's procedures are divided into steps such as melting the silver, casting the rough blank, hammering sheets, drawing wire, stamping to shape, mounting on the pitch block, chasing and engraving, soldering, grinding and polishing, and applying the enamel (shangcui dianlan). The making tools include an anvil, axe, hammer, pliers, wire-drawing machine, hazha, lazha, bellows or leather-bag blower, heri-sa (smelting furnace), multi-wick oil lamp, solder, crucible, alum, molds, and charcoal for working. These objects are generous and honest in bearing yet exquisite and fine in detail, emphasizing balance, symmetry, and unity, and possessing a distinct ethnic style. The Urad copper-and-silver ware craft arose in the late Ming and early Qing. The Urad copper-and-silver ware craft is an important part of Urad culture and harbors a rich Mongolian cultural content.
Documented Process Records
The craft's procedures are divided into steps such as melting the silver, casting the rough blank, hammering sheets, drawing wire, stamping to shape, mounting on the pitch block, chasing, soldering, grinding and polishing, and applying the enamel.
Beating leaves, drawing wire
Molten silver is cast as a blank, then beaten into leaves and strips and drawn into wire with the drawing machine, hacha and laza tools.
Stamping and mounting on a glued die
The shaped silver leaf is mounted on a glued die to fix the wall thickness and curvature of bowls and drinking vessels.
Chiselling the ornament
The ornament is chiselled into the shaped surface without biting too deep, so pattern and vessel read as one piece.
Applying green and blue
After polishing, green and blue are applied into the recesses of the ornament, raising colour from the silvered surface.
The Herisa furnace and the bellows
A Herisa furnace worked with bellows or hide blowers, together with crucibles, alum, solder rods and multi-wick lamps, forms the smith's kit.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Within the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region it is mainly distributed in the former, middle, and rear Urad banners of Bayannur City, with the core transmission area being the Middle Urad Banner. Middle Urad Banner lies in the northeast of Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, on a plateau with vast territory and developed transport; its favorable geographic environment aids the dissemination of the Urad copper-and-silver ware craft. Its products are mainly divided into two categories—ornaments and daily-use articles. The ornaments include women's headpieces and bracelets; the daily-use category includes Mongolian knives, silver bowls, drinking vessels, and horse gear. The range of products is very broad and is closely bound up with the life and production of the Mongolian people.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yintongqizhizuojiliujinjiyi · Yintongqizhizuojiliujinjiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The transmission and dissemination of this craft helps drive local economic development and strengthen exchange and cooperation among the people of different regions, and plays an important role in promoting friendly interaction among ethnic groups, especially in expanding external economic and cultural exchange. In the Bayannur area, copper-and-silver ware is not merely jewelry; Mongolian knives, silver bowls, drinking vessels, and horse gear are all bound up with the herders' life and production, and the combined demands of festivals and everyday wear sustain this craft. The objects take balance, symmetry, and unity as their formal principles—square yet cunning, generous yet honest—which is the plainest gloss on the tribal name "Urad," meaning "skilled craftsman."
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- He Man 04-1925
- Batutaogao
- Xiao Gang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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