"Iron Ink Danqing"

Narrator: Chu Jinxia, the inheritor of the national Wuhu iron painting forging technology

As the saying goes, "Ink Danqing", do you know "Iron Ink Danqing"?

"Use a hammer as a pen, iron as ink, anvil into paper, and wrought iron into a painting." Wuhu iron painting is such a "iron ink Danqing". From the age of fifteen when I was dragged hard into the iron painting workshop by the old man, this road, I have walked for sixty years.

At first, I was full of grievances, but the old man said: "My daughter of Chu Yanqing, I have to learn iron painting!" At that time, he was really anxious, the iron painting craft created during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty was on the verge of being lost, and he was the only surviving wuhu iron painting heir.

Iron painting artists must not only master the basic processes of forging, drilling, welding, filing, etc., but also dabble in paper-cutting, woodcutting, sculpture, gold and silver inlay and other crafts. Good iron painting works look at the ink color from a distance, look at the hammer marks from a close distance, the sound of tapping, the stroking of the bones, and the beauty of power.

And the source of this beauty is all in a "forge" word. The "red forging" technique is the soul of iron painting. The black and shiny "two Huai" coals were hammered into small pieces slightly larger than broad beans, and the fire was arched vigorously, and then the iron pieces were "planted" into the "red forging".

"Red forging" pays special attention to the fire: when the coal pile rises up with a big red flame, the iron parts have been "as soft as mud", and at this time, the "fire connection" (welding) is seamless; "red forging" also tests the "hammer skill": the strength and landing point of the craftsman's hammer must be accurately coordinated with the angle and speed of the hand tongs to flip the iron. Between the hammers and hammers, the red-hot iron pieces became a pine needle, a pole of green bamboo, a horse...

Wuhu iron painting to this day, inseparable from the support of the government. The works I co-completed, "Yingke Song" and "Ode to China", are now displayed in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In recent years, Wuhu iron painting has an industry-university-research base in the university, and has also become a new major in some vocational technical schools, and iron painting has a "latecomer".

(Interviewed and sorted out by Ma Rongrui, a reporter of this newspaper)

Source: Guangming Daily (December 14, 2021, 01 edition)

Photo: Xinhua News Agency

Editor-in-charge: Wang Yuanfang

Editor: Wu Yaqi Sun Xiaoting