Chen Weicheng
In the northern folk, every Dragon Boat Festival, people should hang a beautiful paper gourd on the door to ward off evil spirits and pray. Chen Weicheng, 57, has been working as a paper gourd in Harbin for 38 years, jokingly calling himself a "gourd baby."
At the age of 19, Chen Weicheng, a high school graduate, inherited the craft of making paper gourds from his grandmother and uncle and made a living from it. In the past, when it was booming, there were nearly 50 paper gourd workshops. Lao Chen said that although the small gourd is only sold for 2 months at most, because of its complex process, the craftsmen need to be busy for nearly a year.
In the past, buying raw materials, smashing blanks, printing and dyeing... From the beginning to the end of each process, Chen Weicheng completed in his own workshop; Now, the front-end work of brushing paper and dyeing is outsourced to some workshops in Hebei. Chen Weicheng's workshop has more than 30 kinds of paper gourds of different sizes, as well as "new varieties" such as "peanuts", "cabbage", "flower baskets" and "peaches". Every year after the Dragon Boat Festival, we must hurry up to prepare for the next year's Dragon Boat Festival, and only a month or so in a year can "catch my breath". Today, there are seven or eight workshops left that continue to operate. "I hope that this traditional craft will not be lost in many years." Chen Weicheng said.
Text/Figure Guangzhou Daily All-Media Reporter Feng Qiuyu Correspondent Cui You