"Jin Zhangye, Yinwuwei, Jade Wine Spring", speaking of Jiuquan, one of the famous four counties in Hexi in history, we have to mention the luminous cup produced in Jiuquan. Luminous cup is a kind of precious drinking vessel carved from jade, when the wine is placed in the cup, placed in the moonlight, the cup will shine, and the luminous cup is named after it. "Grape wine luminous glass, want to drink pipa immediately urge." This is the poem in the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Han's "Liangzhou Words", showing in front of people's eyes is a colorful, wine-filled grand feast, just as everyone is holding a luminous cup ready to drink, the sound of the pipa sounds, as if urging people to go out.
Luminous cup carving is a traditional art of Jiuquan citizens and one of the national intangible cultural heritage. Since ancient times, the Qilian Mountains have been a place where the spirit stone essence jade is buried, and the Qilian color jade can be divided into ink jade, jasper, and topaz according to color, which can be used to make luminous cups. Its jade texture is delicate, the texture is natural, carefully carved by craftsmen, as thin as cicada wings, soft color luminous cup was born, a small luminous cup, condensed two thousand years of Silk Road civilization history, but also carries the ancient jade culture.
Jiuquan Luminous Cup Carving has a long history. According to the Book of Ten Continents, during the reign of King Mu of Zhou, the Western Regions offered tributes to the imperial court, including the description of "the night light is always full of cups". The late Ming and early Qing dynasties were the booming period of luminous cup production, and there were more than ten jade workshops in Jiuquan that made luminous cups. Due to various reasons, by the republic of China period, there were only three production workshops left in Jiuquan. In the early days of the founding of New China, jade workers embarked on the road of public-private partnership.
In the summer of 1958, when Zhu De inspected Jiuquan, he saw the luminous cup and instructed: "The traditional handicraft of the luminous cup cannot be broken, and it must be vigorously developed." At the end of the same year, a local state-run Jiuquan Luminous Cup Factory was established. After the reform and opening up, in order to carry forward the national culture, the Jiuquan Municipal Government will jiuquan luminous cup and production technology as the tourism image product of Jiuquan City, vigorously publicize it, so that it has been revitalized and developed, and the products have won 18 awards in the national tourism commodity research and evaluation.
Jiuquan luminous cup unique shape, exquisite style, divided into traditional luminous cup and antique luminous cup two categories, its color black Saiwu lacquer, white as mutton fat, dark green like green, natural ornamentation, cup thin as paper, bright as a mirror, smooth inside and outside, jade transparent and bright, with its pouring wine, sweet and sweet, unchanged over time. Traditional luminous cups include large, medium and small goblets, flat cups, miniature cups, and three-bubble jade lid bowls; antique cups have more than 80 varieties such as jue cups, phoenix cups, bull head cups, 觞, double phoenix cups, double dragon begonia cups and wine utensils, tea sets, jade carving craft pendants, etc. Jiuquan luminous cup has the advantages of high temperature resistance and severe cold resistance. Pour hot wine, do not explode, do not crack; in the cold winter, do not freeze or fry. After serving wine, the color remains unchanged and the taste is stronger, which is called white jade essence. Moreover, the storage method is simple, after use, do not wash or brush, as long as it is gently wiped with a clean cloth, put into the box, to avoid dust and dirt, beware of smoke, you can preserve the natural light color for a long time.
So, how is such a beautiful luminous cup made? The traditional production process of luminous cup is complex and fine, strict but elegant, and it must go through complex processes such as material selection, material inspection, drill rod, cutting blank, chambering, modeling, coarse grinding, fine grinding, cup slipping, polishing and so on. The tools used are grinding machines, drilling machines, cutting stones, drill barrels and other more than 20 kinds, the operation is all by hand carefully crafted, the production of luminous cups beautiful shape, thin as eggshells, colorful.
In detail, the production of luminous cups goes through 28 complex processes. First of all, we must choose the best material, according to the size of the wine glass, cut the material into different specifications of the shape, and then cut it according to a certain size to make a blank, and the production of the blank requires 5 processes. The production of the first type goes through 4 processes, followed by the extraction of the chamber, which requires 5 processes. After the completion of this process, the luminous cup is basically formed, and the remaining is 14 processes such as fine grinding, punching, milling, rubbing, polishing, ironing, etc., and finally polished with a horsetail mesh to make a crystal clear luminous cup. The wine glass produced requires the cup to be as thin as paper, tall, thick, thick, the same color, and the surface is smooth and delicate.
Jiuquan Luminous Cup is a valuable source of historical materials for the study of ancient Western culture, folk handicrafts, folk customs and customs. Protecting Jiuquan luminous cup carving can enrich Chinese folk culture and art, so that the folk traditional crafts that have been handed down to the contemporary era for many years can be carried forward, and at the same time, it can also promote the prosperity of the jade industry and promote the development of Jiuquan cultural tourism industry.
Editor-in-Charge: He Han
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