Zhifen Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The third was hair oil. After the mid-Qing period, Xie Fuchun's osmanthus hair oil and borneol-musk hair oil were the most renowned; their function was to protect and nourish the hair and to make it easy to comb, while also guarding against sunburn and skin sores. The craft of making scented powder in Yangzhou dates back to the Han and Tang periods, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties it was known throughout the country. The Xie Fuchun scented-powder shop was founded by Xie Hongye in the tenth year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty (1830 CE). The name “Xie Fuchun” both evokes the subtlety of rich fragrance and carries the sense of spring light enduring forever, and the powder, oil and incense it produced were known as the “three excellences” of Xie Fuchun.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Xie Fuchun face-powder and cosmetics craft is a distinctive technique that draws fragrance from fresh flowers and blends it into base powder and oils, supplemented with Chinese medicinal materials and other ingredients; through many process steps it makes scented powder, scented articles and hair oil. It is mainly practised in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, and reaches into the surrounding region. Yangzhou lies in the central part of Jiangsu Province, with the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal running north and south through it; it is the gateway for water and land transport in northern Jiangsu, with a suitable climate and four distinct seasons. Its flower-growing bases in the nearby Baocheng, Yizheng and Jiangdu areas, the rapeseed oil of the Lixiahe region, and the stone powder from the lakeside deposits of Gaoyou Lake and Shaobo Lake provided abundant, high-quality raw materials for the rise of the scented-powder industry. From ancient times to the present, the Yangzhou custom of women paying close attention to grooming gave rise to the city's cosmetics culture and, still more, brought about the flourishing and development of the scented-powder craft. The main raw materials of Xie Fuchun cosmetics are flowers of many kinds — rose, osmanthus, gardenia, jasmine and others — together with borneol, ambergris, pearl powder and the like. The traditional tools are censers, stone mortars and pestles, grinding boats, wooden moulds, jars and vats of various sizes, sieves of various kinds, and so on. Its main process falls into three stages: fumigating and dyeing with fresh flowers, fixing the fragrance with borneol (musk), and “first exposing, then sealed maturation”. Each stage can be broken down into a number of steps, and the particulars differ according to the product being made. Some key skills — compounding, rolling and kneading, pressing, demoulding, firing and refining — require the practitioner to rely not only on manual dexterity but also on careful observation, deliberation and intuition before they can be mastered. Xie Fuchun cosmetics fall into three main product types. The first is duck-egg scented powder, shaped like a duck's egg and made from natural materials by fumigating and dyeing with fresh flowers and fixing the fragrance with borneol (musk); it is characterized by being light, white, pink-hued and fragrant. The second comprises sachets, scented beads and the like, called in former times “elegant ornaments for wearing”; compounded from many fragrant materials and Chinese medicines, they act as a solid perfume and serve to touch up the lapel or as ornament, richly fragrant and fresh and able to dispel foul odours. The Xie Fuchun cosmetics craft preserves a vivid memory of history and culture and bears the distinct regional cultural character of Yangzhou. Xie Fuchun's century-old shop motto — “We sell no shoddy goods, and what we sell is genuine; for genuine goods there is one price, and the price cheats no one” — carries the plain, honest business philosophy of a Chinese time-honoured brand.
Archival Records of Process Steps
The Xie Fuchun face-powder and cosmetics craft is a distinctive technique that draws fragrance from fresh flowers and blends it into base powder and oils, supplemented with Chinese medicinal materials and other ingredients; through many process steps it makes scented powder, scented articles and hair oil. It is mainly practised in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, and reaches into the surrounding region. Its main process falls into three stages: fumigating and dyeing with fresh flowers, fixing the fragrance with borneol (musk), and “first exposing, then sealed maturation”. Each stage can be broken down into a number of steps, and the particulars differ according to the product being made.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In Yangzhou the Xie Fuchun cosmetics craft was passed down within the family for five generations, and after joint state-private management it shifted to transmission inside the enterprise. The division of raw materials also followed geography: the nearby Baocheng, Yizheng and Jiangdu areas were the flower-growing bases, the Lixiahe region supplied rapeseed oil, and the stone powder from Gaoyou Lake and Shaobo Lake served as the filler for grinding the powder. The process is divided into three stages: fumigating and dyeing with fresh flowers, fixing the fragrance with borneol, and first exposing and then sealing for maturation.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Over the past nearly two hundred years, the Xie Fuchun cosmetics craft was transmitted within the family for five generations and, after joint state-private management, developed into transmission within the enterprise. At present Xie Fuchun has set up close to a hundred chain stores in more than twenty provinces and municipalities across the country; while selling its products it spreads the history and culture of Xie Fuchun and displays the traditional craft. The transmission, protection and development of this craft not only have the economic effect of creating employment, promoting related industries and raising incomes, but are also of positive significance for research into local craft history and indeed the history of Chinese folk culture and of cosmetics culture.
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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