Yidegemozhi Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Yidege was founded in the fourth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty (1865) and is one of China's famous ink-making firms. Yidege's founder, Xie Songdai, studied the methods of making liquid ink in meticulous detail and in the fourth year of the Tongzhi reign opened the first Yidege ink shop in Liulichang, taking its name from the phrase "one craft is enough for the use of all under heaven; the methods mostly come from the writings of the ancients." In 1956 Yidege entered joint state-private operation and the Beijing Yidege Ink Factory was established. In 2004 Yidege changed its name to Beijing Yidege Ink Industry Co., Ltd.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Yidege ink-making technique is a traditional handicraft for producing liquid ink, practised in Xicheng District, Beijing. Yidege produces a rich range of inks; the best known are Yidege ink, which pioneered liquid ink, Yuntouyan ink, and the specially made rich-ink treasure ink. The technique basically consists of the selection of raw materials, the proportioning of materials, and mixing and processing. Its raw materials fall into two categories, principal and auxiliary. The principal materials include carbon black and bone glue; the auxiliary materials are mainly aromatics, preservatives and minor additives. Its formulas are passed on orally and by personal instruction from generation to generation; a scientific and reasonable proportioning of materials is what guarantees the high quality of the ink. Mixing and processing are done mainly by hand; the process steps include making soot, stewing the glue, compounding the paste, grinding, forming the liquid, chen mo (stirring) and settling. The Yidege ink-making technique has two main characteristics. The first is that it can produce scorched ink (jiaomo). Traditional ink sticks can be graded in five tones, scorched, dense, heavy, light and pale, and ordinary liquid inks can seldom yield scorched ink. Through organised technical research, Yidege ink has fully attained the performance of ink sticks in quality. The second is that the ink contains the "purple jade luster". The so-called purple jade luster means that the ink trace is deep in colour and lustrous, with a faint purple cast, its hue like the clear eyes of a child; only costly ink sticks could achieve such an effect. Yidege ink produces lustrous ink traces; it is highly water-resistant, flows smoothly in writing, dries quickly afterwards, does not feather the paper, does not fade, and is suitable for rubbing and mounting. Its consistency is moderate, its fragrance rich and it can be used in all four seasons. In the twenty-fourth year of the Guangxu reign (1898), Xie Songdai died and Yidege passed into the hands of his apprentice Xu Jiebin. The Yidege ink-making technique is handed down in an orderly way through the trade, and its state of transmission is relatively sound. Ink is one of the Four Treasures of the Study and has existed since ancient times. Traditional ink sticks can be used only after being ground with water. Compared with traditional ink sticks, Yidege ink is in no way inferior in depth of colour and has the further advantage of being convenient to write with; it therefore won wide popularity as soon as it appeared and has enjoyed enduring success. Through the explorations of several generations of craftsmen, the Yidege ink-making technique has developed and improved continuously, providing a solid material foundation for the development and innovation of Chinese painting and calligraphy, and possessing considerable scientific, artistic and cultural value.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Mixing and processing are carried out mainly by hand, with process steps that include making soot, stewing the glue, compounding the paste, grinding, forming the liquid, chen mo (stirring) and settling.
Soot making, glue boiling, grinding and settling
Everything is done by hand: soot is made first, carbon black is bound with bone glue, aromatic and preservative additives are worked in, the mass is ground to ink, stirred while hot and then settled.
Producing burnt ink and the violet lustre
Ink sticks are graded in five tones from burnt to clear; the liquid ink of Yidege was brought by technical work up to the standard of sticks, the burnt grade being hardest, and it carries the violet lustre reserved for precious sticks.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Yidege ink-making technique had its birthplace and transmission centre in the Liulichang area of Xicheng District, Beijing, where the ink shop's signboard still hangs today. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties Liulichang had been a place where men of letters browsed for books and bought ink; those who painted and wrote needed dark, portable ink, and ink shops thus came to take over part of the inkstone-grinding trade by virtue of their convenience in mixing ink. After joint state-private operation in 1956, Yidege and its Beijing counterparts were merged into the Beijing Yidege Ink Factory, and in 2004 it was restructured as Beijing Yidege Ink Industry Co., Ltd. The technique spread with the firm through the capital's cultural-goods markets, painting and calligraphy academies and mounting shops, becoming a standard item that users from other regions bought along the Beijing-Shanghai railway line.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Yidege ink-making technique continues in orderly transmission through the trade; the ink factory and the company have retained the full set of manual stages such as soot-making, glue-stewing, grinding and forming the liquid, and their products, from Yidege ink and Yuntouyan ink to the specially made rich-ink treasure ink, form a stable sequence of categories. Traditional ink sticks must be ground with water before use, whereas liquid ink wins by being ready to write with as soon as it is mixed, saving users the step of grinding while being in no way inferior in depth of colour, and hence its unflagging sales. The formulas are handed down orally from generation to generation, and the slightest change in their proportions determines the depth of the ink colour and the quality of the purple jade luster; after Xie Songdai's death in the twenty-fourth year of the Guangxu reign, Yidege passed into the hands of his apprentice Xu Jiebin.
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。