The Eighth Party Congress of Tianshui City determined the overall requirements, goals and main tasks of the city's work in the next five years, and pointed out the direction of progress and efforts for us. How to build and strengthen the provincial sub-center, get out of the new way of high-quality development of the old industrial base, and successfully complete the goals and tasks set by the party congress is a major responsibility and mission before us.
In order to implement the spirit of the party congress, we should urge the broad masses of party members and cadres to act quickly with a sense of urgency that they cannot sit still, a sense of crisis that cannot be slowed down, and a sense of responsibility that cannot wait, and strive to realize the beautiful and happy new Tianshui with high development quality, strong innovation ability, open vitality, good urban and rural environment, and high happiness index. Tianshui Daily has set up a column entitled "Implementing the Spirit of the Municipal Party Congress, Not Forgetting the Mission of The Municipal Party Congress, And Forging Ahead on a New Journey" to comprehensively display the new ideas, new measures and new achievements of various departments in the city in implementing the spirit of the Eighth Municipal Party Congress.
The Eighth Party Congress of the City proposed to promote rural construction actions, excavate history and culture, preserve local features, and inherit rural memories. While inheriting history and culture, Gangu wood carving actively explores innovation and empowerment, so that the development of small workshops can gradually adapt to the scale and efficiency of the development of cultural industries, actively integrate into the melody of the times of rural revitalization, and make positive contributions to the rapid development of the county's characteristic economy.
Gangu wood carving: inheriting tradition and empowering innovation
Approaching a courtyard in Chengwang Village, Liufeng Town, Gangu County, the faint wood fragrance in the air came to the face, the laneway, yard, and eaves were piled up with various processed wooden planks, and the roof, corridors, and stairs were full of wood carvings of different sizes and shapes.
This is not only the home of Wang Yong, the inheritor of intangible cultural heritage wood carving in Gansu Province, but also the place where he wields his sword to carve and teach skills, and the wood carving works "Fugui Tu" and "Ruyi", which won the first prize of the 2017 Gansu Artists Association Hundred Flowers Award Innovation, were born here.
Wang Yong is a hard-working, simple, generous and reserved person, since childhood under the influence of his father who likes to paint, he planted a seed of painter's dream in his heart, but in the face of a difficult life, 15-year-old Wang Yong had to pick up the burden of life early and choose to learn carpentry.
"It was a time when carpenters and masons were quite popular, and I learned carpentry from my teacher, and the carpenters at that time also carved some, so in addition to doing woodwork, I was also exposed to some of the things that were introduced to carving." Wang Yong said, "I have a relationship with Wood, although I was forced to make a living at that time. ”
Carpenter craftsmanship allowed Wang Yong to solve the difficulties of life, and the slowly affluent life made him always feel that something was missing in his heart, until in 1993, when he met the Gangu woodcarver He Suibao by chance and began his career in wood carving art, the gap in his heart was smoothed.
Master He Suibao opened a door to the world of wood carving for Wang Yong, and the ancient and magical art of wood carving deeply shocked him, and Wang Yong read many books on painting and wood carving. He learned one by one, practiced knife by knife, carved wood, and also carved the state of mind. Under the guidance of his master, the hard-working Wang Yong gradually mastered the traditional wood carving techniques of Gangu and began his wood carving career. In 1994, he went alone to Changle County, Fuzhou to learn the art of southern wood carving, and was later selected by the China Ancient Construction Company to restore the johor temple in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. In the two years of working with the country's first-class wood carving masters, Wang Yong's vision and skills have been improved as never before, and he has gradually formed his own unique wood carving skills.
For more than ten years, Wang Yong has relied on the persistent pursuit of wood carving skills, returned to his hometown to inherit and carry forward the art of Gangu wood carving, and founded Gangu Wang Yong Wood Carving Craft Co., Ltd., which has driven more than 30 peasant technicians and absorbed more than 20 households.
In order to pass on the traditional cultural wood carving skills from generation to generation, Wang Yong made a bold decision, that is, to use the method of paying salaries to attract apprentices to join the road of wood carving inheritance. He mobilized young people who like the art of wood carving to learn from the class, he personally led the apprentices to learn the application of wood carving tools such as sharpening knives and knives, learning painting, recording, ingredients and wood carvings of round carving, through carving, relief carving and other carving techniques, the company provided living security for the apprentices, the first year of living security, the second and third years of salary.
Huang Qiuwa is a wood carving technician trained by Wang Yong, who brought Gangu's wood carving skills to Xinjiang after leaving the school, returned to his hometown a few years later to start a business, opened the Jiangjiasi Wood Carving Factory, absorbed 6 surplus laborers, and realized the gorgeous transformation from apprentice to master to starting a company.
In 2019, Wang Yong Wood Carving Craft Co., Ltd. was named Gansu Provincial Poverty Alleviation Workshop by the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office, and in 2020, the first wood carving inheritance "poverty alleviation workshop" in Gangu County, which he undertook, was established, in order to do a good job in the poverty alleviation workshop, he went to Qinghai, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan and other wood carving intangible cultural heritage poverty alleviation workshops at his own expense to investigate and study, and a month later, the first batch of 12 poor households entered the poverty alleviation workshop to work. In the poverty alleviation workshop, in addition to serving as a teacher of wood carving skills courses, he also invited teachers in e-commerce and entrepreneurship guidance to give lectures, and adopted the method of mentoring apprentices, mutual help and mutual learning, and going out to train to enhance the learning effect, so that they "have a skill in hand, there is a way to get rich", and now Wang Yong Wood Carving Art Company's monthly salary of the file card household has reached 2200 yuan. After entering the poverty alleviation workshop training, Wang Jie, a member of the Lika household, has greatly improved his craftsmanship and become the "skilled craftsman" of Wang Yong Wood Carving Art Company, and in the first half of 2020, he paid a salary of more than 30,000 yuan, realizing the butterfly change from poverty to poverty alleviation.
Wang Yong is very busy now, in addition to leading his apprentices to learn wood carving skills every day, he also has to go to the Gangu Wood Carving Workshop to guide the carving skills. "Wood carving is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, wood carving artists are the representatives of Traditional Chinese handicrafts, in the current situation of rural revitalization, how to make wood carving form an industry, how to empower traditional skills, so that this traditional handicraft can be alive and passed on, more vitality and creativity, is the cause I will always strive for in the future." Wang Yong said.
Reporter's Note: The inheritance of traditional skills is not difficult, but it is difficult to innovate and empower in the process of skill inheritance. The development of traditional culture is not difficult, but it is difficult to form an industrialized and large-scale development path on the basis of how to retain the connotation of traditional culture. Gangu Wang Yong Wood Carving Craft Co., Ltd. not only makes the wood carving skills accumulated for thousands of years in the inheritance of innovation and empowerment at the same time, but also with an open and inclusive attitude to make traditional skills embark on the road of industrialization and large-scale development, the Eighth Party Congress of Tianshui City proposed to develop the county economy with high quality, Gangu wood carving as a characteristic industry in the county economic development, has taken a solid step, we believe that in the near future, Gangu wood carving will be with deep cultural connotation and exquisite skills out of the road of continuous innovation and development.
Editor: Zhao Jing
Editor-in-charge: Wang Cunlu