Writing Brush Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Yangzhou water brush is already recorded in Qing-dynasty histories: the medium-stem rat-heart brush was best for ink outline drawing, and the water brush was likewise wonderful—perhaps the earliest evidence of its standing alongside the Huzhou and Xuan brushes. Later, brush shops around Jiangdu turned this line into a local school, ranked as one of the four great schools together with the Xuan brush, the Huzhou brush, the water brush, and the Li Fushou brush. Among these, the use of a hemp core as lining is rare elsewhere and has become the most distinctive hallmark of the Yangzhou water brush.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
China's brush-making craft has the 'four great schools' of the Xuan brush, the Huzhou brush, the water brush, and the Li Fushou brush. The Yangzhou brush (also called the 'Yangzhou water brush') is unique for its hemp-core lining. A Qing-dynasty history records: 'Among the Yangzhou brushes, the medium-stem rat-heart brush, used for ink outline drawing, is superbly fine, and the water brush is likewise wonderful.' The Yangzhou brush uses wolf hair and rabbit tip (hair from the rabbit's back) as its main materials, local kong hemp as an auxiliary, and mostly self-made tools. Its making craft is extremely difficult, divided into three stages—the water tray, mounting, and the dry stage—with more than a hundred steps, each closely linked and rigorously executed. The key steps rely entirely on the artisan's sense of touch, taste, and visual estimation. The thickness, length, maturity, and tip shape of the brush point are all matters of exacting care, the craft refined and full of character. Learning the Yangzhou brush is taught orally and heart-to-heart by the master; the learner must practise and ponder repeatedly—entry is hard, and mastery harder still. The Yangzhou brush takes water into the mount and holds it without leaking, durable over time; head and shaft complement each other; of elegant character, firm and vigorous with charm. Its representative work, the 'Xiangjiang Yipin,' was once hailed as the 'king of brushes.'
Process-Step Record
Its making craft is extremely difficult, divided into three stages—the water tray, mounting, and the dry stage—with more than a hundred steps, each closely linked and rigorously executed.
The water-tray stage
The first stage: hair is sorted in water, the tips spread on the surface, and the length, maturity and tip shape of the head are decided there.
Mounting the head
The head is fitted and bound to the shaft; the depth and tightness of the join decide whether head and shaft act as one.
The dry stage
Shaping, drying and trimming of both head and shaft happen here, as does the carving of the shaft; only then is the brush finished.
The hemp-cored brush
Lined with local nettle fibre, a method found only in Yangzhou, producing a brush that carries water, holds ink and stays supple.
Restoring the rat-whisker brush
The inheritor recovered the lost method for rat-whisker brushes and kept to over one hundred and twenty traditional stages.
Xiangjiang Yipin
The best-known Yangzhou brush, once hailed as king of brushes, suited to tiny regular script, document annotating and decorative painting.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The craft of the Yangzhou brush is rooted in Jiangdu, structured around the division of labour among the three stages of water tray, mounting, and dry work, with more than a hundred steps closely linked; several key steps dispense with rulers and rely wholly on the artisan's touch, taste, and visual estimation to determine the point's thickness, maturity, and tip shape. In 1982, Shi Qingpeng founded the Jiangdu City Chinese Painting Brush Factory, reassembling this process line, and there the long-lost method of making rat-whisker water brushes was restored; the giant brush 'Zhonghua Bikui' that he spent months making in 2011 is a concentrated demonstration of this process system.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Shi Qingpeng (per the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born August 1948, from Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province. A representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the Brush-Making Craft (Yangzhou Brush-Making Craft), a national intangible cultural heritage item. A Yangzhou brush-making technician. He masters the Yangzhou brush-making craft and in 1982 founded the Jiangdu City Chinese Painting Brush Factory. Making brushes with a hemp core is found only in Yangzhou, known as the hemp-lined water brush. It takes water into the mount, absorbs ink fully, holds water without leaking, combines firmness and suppleness, and suits both writing and painting. This brush excels at writing tiny regular script, annotating documents, and craft lacquer painting, and is durable. He restored the long-lost method of making rat-whisker water brushes. He adheres to the traditional brush-making process, comprising as many as one hundred and twenty-plus steps. In 2011, he spent months making a giant brush 53 metres long, named the 'Zhonghua Bikui.' He once went to Taiwan to take part in cross-strait cultural exchange. He has repeatedly stated publicly his willingness to take on and teach apprentices for free, bringing up a group of true Yangzhou water-brush inheritors.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wu Qingchun 04-1928
- Shi Qingpeng 04-1929
- Yang Wen 05-2884
- Zhou Pengcheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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