Beijing Mengxiangjiyi
01 · Historical Records
Beijing was the political, economic, and cultural center of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and the Mengxiang (Mongolian-style inlay) technique that circulated in the Beijing region has distinctly imperial-craft characteristics. In the late Qing, the craftsmen of the Imperial Workshops (Zaobanchu) and craftsmen of the folk trades were concentrated mainly in the Eastern City, and Mengxiang craftsmen were likewise distributed mainly in and around Andingmen, Waiguan East Street, Wudaoying, the Yonghe Temple area, and Dongzhimen Street. The Beijing Mengxiang technique flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the mid-to-late Qing the technique gradually spread among the common people.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Mengxiang is a traditional special metal craft of Mongolian-Tibetan artistic style, in which pearls, coral, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and other natural gemstones are inlaid in gold and silver objects; in China it is distributed mainly in Beijing and in Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, and other regions. For various reasons the descendants of some craftsmen of the trade returned to their native places, and the technique thereby spread to other localities as well. The Beijing Mengxiang craft is based chiefly on plate casting, body hammering, chasing and carving, and torch welding, supplemented by jade inlay, gilt floral-ground work, antiquing, and part of the cold filigree technique; it comprises more than a dozen process steps, including blank forming, chasing and carving, assembling, welding, polishing, gilding, antiquing, and gemstone inlay. Its technical characteristic is to shape and chase forms by exploiting the ductility of metal, as if a fine-line (gongbi) painting were displayed on a metal plate. The craftsmen use entirely traditional tools, including the saddle block, various pry bars, iron hammers, and many kinds of chasing tools (zanzi), numbering several hundred in all. The more common Beijing Mengxiang works include Buddhist statue sculpture, vessels for Buddhist ritual implements, articles for imperial ceremonial and daily use, and later Mengxiang works of gold inlaid with jade. These works have a sturdy and uninhibited modeling; the patterns are mostly auspicious motifs, the chased ornament covers the whole vessel, and natural gemstones are inlaid. The figures are clearly distinct from the traditional metal crafts of the Han people of the Central Plains: the chasing is fine and complex, the forms draw on bronze vessels, and the work is combined with jade culture, giving it a distinctive character. From the ninth year of Shunzhi in the Qing dynasty (1652), the Qing government built a number of large lama temples in Beijing, Chengde, and other areas, providing soil for the transmission and development of the Beijing Mengxiang technique and making the craft truly a royal craft combining Mongolian-Tibetan and Han metal crafts, which then developed to its peak. The Beijing Mengxiang technique is a product of the unity, integration, and common progress of China's many ethnic groups, a representative of ethnic art and court art, and embodies rich historical and cultural information; it has important reference value for the study of religious art, metalworking techniques, and customs and practices.
Archival Records of Process Steps
The Beijing Mengxiang craft is based chiefly on plate casting, body hammering, chasing and carving, and torch welding, supplemented by jade inlay, gilt floral-ground work, antiquing, and part of the cold filigree technique; it comprises more than a dozen process steps, including blank forming, chasing and carving, assembling, welding, polishing, gilding, antiquing, and gemstone inlay.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The settlement of Beijing Mengxiang craftsmen has never left the area north of the city from the late Qing to the present: in and around Andingmen, Waiguan East Street, Wudaoying, the Yonghe Temple area, and Dongzhimen Street. After the technique spread among the common people in the mid-to-late Qing, some craftsmen's descendants returned to their native places and the craft scattered with them beyond the passes; thus, apart from Beijing, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Qinghai, it also radiated to groups of apprentices in Hebei and Shanxi. The local transmission lineage in Beijing has reached the fourth generation.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the course of transmission, apprentices from Hebei, Shanxi, and other regions successively learned the trade, and the range in which the technique spread continuously expanded. At present, the clearly documented transmission lineage in the Beijing area has developed to four generations; inheritors are actively engaged in excavating, collecting, and organizing relevant materials and objects, working hard to train young people, and promoting the dissemination of the project through various means of publicity. Protecting and transmitting this cultural heritage well is of positive significance for carrying forward fine traditional culture, promoting ethnic unity, and strengthening cultural confidence.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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