If it were not for the field visit, it is difficult to imagine that the national intangible cultural heritage project, the inheritor studio of Shanghai Lanterns, would be in the Wuliqiao Community Cultural Center.
It seems to send a signal that we are proud of local craftsmanship, but we seem to be unfamiliar with it. Trying to connect the two is exactly what Gong Zhiyu and her partners have been doing since the 80s.
Shanghai Lantern Inheritors Studio, a national intangible cultural heritage project, the pictures and videos of this article were taken by the surging news reporter Zhu Zhe
Gong Zhiyu is the representative inheritor of Shanghai Lantern Huangpu District, and is also the youngest inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage project, and unlike the general non-genetic people, she is not from a major in arts and crafts, and her contact with Shanghai Lantern is only 4 years.
"I was very questioned at the (inheritor) selection and review meeting, but fortunately the works spoke for me," Gong Zhiyu said with a smile.
Her original profession was accounting, and in 2018, her mother saw the enrollment of the Lu Xiezhuang Shanghai Lantern Inheritance Studio training class in the community cultural center, but she was rejected because she was too old, so she asked Gong Zhiyu to study. At that time, she had just given birth to her second child, and when she was idle, she wanted to try it, and the result was "out of control".
"You don't see that she has only been in contact for 4 years, but basically every day is fully devoted to learning", wang Gang, the head of the studio, told reporters, "This is a declining Haipai craft, when our Wuliqiao Street Cultural and Sports Team Federation decided to pass it on well, so the Shanghai Great World Art Center and Wuliqiao Street jointly set up a platform, asked Teacher Lu Xiezhuang to teach personally, there were also several post-80s at that time, but in the end only Xiao Gong stayed, perseverance, saying that it is talent, but also perseverance, But we all feel that it is because of the love of the heart, which is extremely valuable! ”
From Gong Zhiyu's words and deeds, you can feel her full of enthusiasm, as long as she talks about Shanghai lights, the team creates together, she gushes endlessly, and the investment in this matter has reached the point of sleeping and forgetting to eat, "I can not sleep, as long as I can make works."
Gong Zhiyu demonstrates the production of double-piece small lanterns
"What is the charm of Shanghai lights that makes you so intoxicated?" Gong Zhiyu has been asked countless times, and her answer is also very crisp, "Exquisite." Shanghai illuminations are a combination of decorative, artistic and ornamental, and the beauty of this light and shadow is unparalleled."
Lanterns, also known as flower lanterns, have a history dating back to the Western Han Dynasty and are inseparable from the folk Lantern Viewing Customs.
Shanghai's Lantern Viewing Customs are recorded in the historical records of Ming Hongzhi and Jiajing: the thirteenth day of the first month is illuminated, the fifteenth lantern is climaxed, and the eighteen lamps are dropped. Not only that, the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, the downtown shopping street in Shencheng, the red-hot lamp market, and the fashion of viewing lights have promoted the development of Shanghai's lights.
Songjiang in the Ming Dynasty has "carved paper yarn lamp", the Qing Dynasty has "umbrella lamp", "seven treasure cover lamp", "calligraphy and painting lamp" and "dragon lamp" lamp characteristic works, in the early 20th century, Shanghai lanterns flourished in the City God Temple, wooden frame glass lamps, silk lamps and paper lamps and other various shapes, material lights dazzling.
Shencheng illumination art master He Keming once set up a stall at the City God Temple, and his works such as crane lanterns and phoenix lanterns are famous all over the world, known as "Jiangnan Lantern King" and "Lantern Cai He".
He Keming's three-dimensional animal lamp is the signature feature of Shanghai's illumination art, Gong Zhiyu introduced that Teacher He based on animal bone science, and then through the traditional production of lantern color in the middle of the measures, tie, cut, paste, paste, paste, depiction, painting lamp technology, the animal's posture and expression in front of people's eyes, He style lantern exquisite also made it won the name of Shanghai lantern.
Gong Zhiyu's teacher Lu Xiezhuang is the second generation of "He Style Illumination", pouring out what he has learned all his life, and this kindness has also turned into a learning motivation, "If there is no Teacher Lu to teach by hand, high standards and strict requirements, I may always be 'outside the door'".
Rubbing rope and steel wire is the basic skill of entry
Rub the wire
Gong Zhiyu has studied food carving, which may be her only art skills, but her comprehension and hands-on practice ability are beyond doubt.
She said that the reason why the three-dimensional animal lamp is called a unique shanghai lamp, there are several reasons why the peers scratch the eye, first of all, when we build a skeleton (shaped with steel wire), our lines are simple, as long as a few, the framework of an animal body becomes, which is the experience and results of in-depth study of sculpture and animal body anatomy.
Illumination, skeleton (shaped with steel wire)
Secondly, the three-dimensional animals of Shanghai lanterns must also achieve the true beauty of "flesh and blood".
She said: "In the past, teachers could only go to the zoo to learn animal behavior, observe and sketch their forms, but now with the Internet, they can quickly find materials, learning efficiency is higher, I naturally have more time to learn more, if the teacher assigns a homework, then I may go home to do 15 or more, I don't feel tired, but I want to learn too much!" ”
Three-dimensional animal lights are the signature feature of Shanghai's illumination art, striving to be lifelike in shape, with the picture showing the details of rooster chicken feet.
Moreover, it is the insistence of Shanghai Lantern on materials and craftsmanship, which is different from the extensive use of tincture cloth and mechanical processing in other places, Shanghai Lantern still follows the handmade, and every inch of every line contains temperature and ingenuity.
Shanghai lighting used in different textures, such as glossy surfaces or gold wire dark patterns, thick and thin silk cloth, the works insist on hand-made.
From the basic skills of rubbing paper rope and rubbing wire (wrapping paper rope around wire), to making small double-piece, folding lamps, and advanced to semi-three-dimensional and three-dimensional modeling lights, Gong Zhiyu's progress is rapid, and the "Auspicious Ruyi" placed in the studio now is the skeleton she has groped out.
"The teacher hasn't taught the four-legged animal yet, I tried it myself, and although I'm not sure if it's right or wrong, I did it with the concerted efforts of our team," she introduced, pointing to a sheep-shaped lamp.
"Auspicious Ruyi"
This is a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party, Gong Zhiyu, Wang Gang and the entire intangible cultural heritage team will be ingenious and ingenious in detail: the predecessor of the sheep has the word "Shou", the four corners of the base and the tail have bats, which means "Five Blessings and Worship Shou", and the two sides of the sheep body have gourds, tuan fans, swords, lotuses and other dark eight immortals, representing the eight immortals crossing the sea, riding the wind and waves; the curls on the body symbolize wool, and resemble the cloud pattern head of Ruyi, which is similar to the ruyi on the sheep's back and the ganoderma lucidum grass in the sheep's mouth, which together express the auspicious meaning.
The details of "Auspicious Ruyi" (from top to bottom, from left to right), the predecessor of the sheep has the word "Shou"; the two sides of the sheep body have gourds, tuan fans, swords, lotus flowers and other dark eight immortals; the curly pattern on the body symbolizes wool; the ruyi on the sheep's back and the sheep's mouth contains Ganoderma lucidum grass.
Gong Zhiyu said: "The curls on the sheep are all handmade one by one, if it is only one person, it cannot be completed in the short term, and it is precisely because everyone in our team is willing to pour time and no returns to have the current results."
Next to "Auspicious Ruyi" is "A Singing Rooster World White, Wanfang Music Playing in Khotan", each place reflects the exquisite location of Shanghai lanterns, in addition to the shape and color matching, Shanghai lanterns with different textures such as glossy surfaces or gold wire dark patterns, thick silk cloth, through the clever hands of the lantern artists, so that its luster and delicacy are displayed to the fullest.
"A singing rooster is white in the world, and the music of wanfang is in Khotan"
Gong Zhiyu laughed and said that this is not a restoration of real animals, but an imaginary colorful rooster, shining under the illumination of the embedded LED light strip.
The members of the studio are usually retired aunts and uncles, their focused looks make people forget their age, everyone has their own strengths, they generously share their skills and experience with Xiao Gong, and spend countless days and nights together, like a family. Gong Zhiyu said that this is the source of her strength to move forward.
Shanghai Illumination Inheritors Studio members work
Inheriting and carrying forward the lights of Shanghai is also a responsibility that falls on Gong Zhiyu's shoulders. Nowadays, she frequently appears on campuses, Yu Garden, community classes, intangible cultural heritage activities, and TV programs, and even if she only makes some basic introductions and demonstrations, she feels that she has done something to spread this craft.
Quxi Road Primary School students' illumination works
At the interview site, she showed a clip of making a double-piece lantern tiger head, and she and her team are developing more material packages to make it easy for the general public to get started and access to Shanghai lanterns.
Gong Zhiyu demonstrates the production of small double-piece lanterns
Gong Zhiyu demonstrates small double-piece lighting production (03:56)
The New Year is coming, they are the busiest time, for the Lantern, this year they designed a series of rabbit lights, in the traditional shape to add Marvel, Disney, Minions and other cartoon comic image elements, combined with the current topics and hot spots, innovative finished products.
Shanghai Lantern Rabbit Lantern Series
At the end of the interview, Gong Zhiyu said: "Someone once asked me, what are the keywords of Shanghai Lanterns? I say glittering, colorful, delicate and delicate... Later, when I think about it, it seems that it is a bit wordy, isn't 'Shanghai' the best answer? Isn't the most unique meaning of being named after these two words? ”