Source: China News Network
(New Year to the grassroots) Xinjiang to raise "butterfly" people: butterfly wing art to achieve extraordinary life
Urumqi, February 10 (Xinhua) -- On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the taste of the new year has not completely receded. In the town of Quanzijie in Jimsar County, more than 140 kilometers from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, there is a lively scene, and villagers are rehearsing the community fire. The taste of the year also drifted to the Butterfly Valley not far away. Guan Fuyun, the non-hereditary heir of the butterfly wing painting, and his wife Chen Huiyun are immersed in the creation of butterfly wing painting.
Butterfly wing painting is made of butterfly wings pieced together, which belongs to a kind of arts and crafts, which is made of natural butterfly wings as material and is cut and pasted by hand.
Walking into Guan Fuyun's Butterfly Wing Painting Exhibition Hall, butterfly wing works of different shapes come into view, and each work is vivid and unique. There are characters, animals, landscapes, flowers, calligraphy, folklore, etc., in a variety of forms.
Various butterfly specimens of Guan Fuyun. Photo by Tao Shuke
Born in 1985, Guan Fuyun has loved painting since childhood, and during the Spring Festival in 2011, he saw on TELEVISION that there were domestic butterfly people in Hainan. After a whim, Guan Fuyun, 26 years old, went straight to Hainan in the spring to learn butterfly farming techniques. In May of the same year, he returned to Jimsar County from Hainan and began experimenting with butterfly farming at home on a small and medium scale. After more than 7 years of breeding, I have gradually mastered the performance and adaptability of butterflies. In 2019, with the help of the local government, Guan Fuyun relocated from the original small-scale aquaculture to the quanzi street town tourism base, named Butterfly Valley, and opened tourism experience, viewing and other projects.
Every year in mid-to-late May, Guan Fuyun introduces a large number of butterfly pupae from Hainan and Yunnan to return to Xinjiang for feathering, and a large number of butterflies will mature in late June and early July. "Our varieties are mainly migratory butterflies, golden-spotted butterflies, green phoenix butterflies, etc., which are suitable for our climate here." Guan Fuyun said.
Butterfly Wing Painting Exhibition Center in Butterfly Valley. Photo by Tao Shuke
Due to the short lifespan of butterflies, in July and August of each year, the lifespan is up to two or three weeks, and the lifespan of dead leaf butterflies is slightly longer. In order not to waste resources, after the death of the butterfly, Guan Fuyun and his wife had to collect a large number of butterfly wings, carefully put the butterfly wings into boxes, and carry out butterfly wing painting processing.
In the process of making butterfly wing painting, butterfly painting has to go through multiple processes such as softness, wings spread, moth prevention, anti-corrosion, drying and post-production. Guan Fuyun said: "In addition to the basic skills of making butterfly wing paintings, the most important thing is to be skillful, to think carefully and carefully to conceive, and the works can be extraordinary. ”
"Because butterfly wings have natural patterns and colors, the production should be quiet, the movement should be light, the material selection should be exquisite, and the concept should be clever. The general substrate material can be used in white cloth or white paper, draw a good outline line on the substrate, and then paste the cut wings in order. Chen Huiyun said.
Guan Fuyun's work made of butterfly wings. Photo by Tao Shuke
During the production process, Guan Fuyun chose different shapes of butterfly wings to skillfully combine, and used wisdom and exquisite skills to complete exquisite paintings. "This year's New Year, Guan Gong's portraits sold relatively fast, and a Guan Gong painting could sell for about 3,000 yuan, which was seen by tourists from afar." Guan Fuyun said.
Although affected by the epidemic, Guan Fuyun's butterfly wing paintings have grown against the trend, and in 2021, only butterfly wing paintings will be painted, and their family income will be more than 100,000 yuan.
Nowadays, Butterfly Valley has become a well-known local tourist viewing base and a research base in Changji Prefecture. Every year from July to August, the Butterfly Valley welcomes the peak of visitor viewing experience. (End)