Shuidui Building Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The craft of building water-powered trip-hammers has a long history, and historical sources of the Song and Qing dynasties both record the use of water-powered trip-hammers to pound porcelain stone.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The craft of building water-powered trip-hammers for the Jingdezhen porcelain industry is an important component of China's traditional craft of building water-powered trip-hammers; it is distributed mainly in the townships of Yaoli, Ehu, Zhuangwan and Xianghu in Fuliang County, Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province, and radiates to the surrounding districts and counties. Fuliang County lies in northeastern Jiangxi, has a high rate of forest cover and is rich in porcelain-clay resources, and has long enjoyed the reputation that "its water and soil suit pottery". With the development of the local porcelain industry, Fuliang became a very typical area of Jiangxi for making and using water-powered trip-hammers to grind porcelain clay and produce glaze frit, and the craft of building water-powered trip-hammers for the porcelain industry was thereby nurtured and transmitted from generation to generation. The craft of building water-powered trip-hammers for the Jingdezhen porcelain industry integrates the knowledge and experience that craftsmen have summed up in practice, their handicraft skills and their craft of building workshops. The main process steps of construction comprise five items: first, the user and the craftsmen together decide the form of the trip-hammer; second, siting, for which a river (stream) bank with abundant water that is not easily struck by floods is best, and an auspicious day and hour must be chosen for starting work; third, selecting materials, for which the wheel, the axle and the mortar of the trip-hammer are mostly made of pine (which does not rot easily in water) while the other components are mostly made of harder miscellaneous woods; fourth, drawing, in which the chief carpenter in charge draws the trip-hammer plans, including the front view, the side view, the plan, the structural drawing and schematic drawings for making components; and fifth, construction, led by one or more carpenters, who first make the components separately and finally install them in place. A large water-powered trip-hammer four metres in diameter requires four craftsmen and more than twenty days to complete. The water-powered trip-hammer is a traditional hydraulic machine that developed from the pestle and mortar and the stone millstone of high antiquity. To this day, in places such as Yaoli, Zhuangwan, Xianghu, Shou'an and Sanbaopeng, quite a few potters' workshops still use water-powered trip-hammers to process porcelain clay or produce glaze frit. Through the making of the trip-hammers and their routine maintenance, the craft is taught orally and by personal example in the form of mentoring and is handed down from generation to generation in the practice of construction. The craft of building water-powered trip-hammers and the Jingdezhen porcelain industry depend on one another, and the craft has made a certain contribution to the development of Chinese ceramic culture. Together with the ancient kiln sites and the customs of the porcelain industry, the water-powered trip-hammers display the rich ceramic cultural ecology of Jingdezhen.
Archival Records of Process Steps
The main process steps of construction comprise five items: first, the user and the craftsmen together decide the form of the trip-hammer; second, siting, for which a river (stream) bank with abundant water that is not easily struck by floods is best, and an auspicious day and hour must be chosen for starting work; third, selecting materials, for which the wheel, the axle and the mortar of the trip-hammer are mostly made of pine (which does not rot easily in water) while the other components are mostly made of harder miscellaneous woods; fourth, drawing, in which the chief carpenter in charge draws the trip-hammer plans, including the front view, the side view, the plan, the structural drawing and schematic drawings for making components; and fifth, construction, led by one or more carpenters, who first make the components separately and finally install them in place.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In Fuliang County the craft of building water-powered trip-hammers for the Jingdezhen porcelain industry is distributed along the streams at Yaoli, Ehu, Zhuangwan and Xianghu, preserving the siting tradition of taking materials by the river and arranging the hammers according to the fall of the stream. The wheel, the axle and the mortar are made of pine, which does not rot easily in water, while the uprights and other components use harder miscellaneous woods; the drawings, comprising the front, side, plan and structural views, are drawn by the chief carpenter in charge.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present the main community transmitting the craft of building water-powered trip-hammers in Fuliang County falls into two parts: the community of inheritors formed through family or master-apprentice transmission, and villagers able to do carpentry who are recruited locally by the protecting body in order deliberately to ensure the transmission of the craft. The craft makes full use of the impact of flowing water and of geographical potential energy; it is ingenious in design, uses local materials and is refined in structure, integrating fluid mechanics, mechanical mechanics and design aesthetics, and it embodies the Chinese idea of the unity of heaven and humanity, which both makes clever use of nature and protects it. It therefore has high historical, cultural and scientific value.
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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