Before entering the door, the roar of a huge chainsaw was heard far away, and in an inconspicuous wooden house, 78-year-old Yang Zenggui was bending over, pushing the wood with both hands to divide it forward rapidly, and the raised wood chips were stained. Without waiting to take a breath, Yang Zenggui picked up the carving knife and carved the pattern drawn on the wooden strip, and when the carving knife flew over, a peony was gradually revealed.
After design, material selection, unloading, carving, assembly, polishing, painting, and placing the picture, a beautiful Huangyuan row lamp can be made. "Every year during the Lantern Festival, we make many rows of lanterns and hang them in the streets and alleys of the ancient city, which has become our annual custom." Yang Zenggui said.
Yang Zenggui is a native of Huangyuan County, Xining City, Qinghai Province. In 2007, Yang Zenggui was identified as the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project Lantern (Huangyuan Lantern).
Huangyuan County, known as Dangar in ancient times, is a famous historical and cultural city on the Tang dynasty and the Silk Road. The flourishing trade has given birth to the folk lantern art of Huangyuan row lamp. It began in the 18th to the middle of the 19th century of the Qing Dynasty, at first the street market merchants in order to attract customers at night, have made business billboard light boxes, lit candles inside, hung on the door of the business, and later gradually developed into a base, pattern, a variety of forms of billboard light boxes. The light boxes can be arranged one by one to form a "row of lights".
On February 14, citizens enjoyed the Huangyuan lanterns in the ancient city of Dangar in Huangyuan County, Xining City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yanagisawa Xing
The process of making row lamps is cumbersome, the carpenter's work is bitter and tired, Yang Zenggui never thought of retreating, someone once invited him to go to the primary school as a teacher, Yang Zenggui politely refused, still sticking to his own row lamp production workshop. "The old saying often says 'craftsmen who starve in a famine year', in my opinion, the lamp is far from a simple craft, but a cultural and spiritual carrier." Yang Zenggui said, "I just like to make row lights, and I can't do without it." ”
With the rapid development of the times, Yang Zenggui is also constantly adding new content to the traditional row lamp. Yang Zenggui pioneered the use of modern techniques of light, electricity and sound, making the picture content all-encompassing and making the row lamp more vivid and beautiful. His first nave-style row of lights has 8 pictures, all of which can be flexibly replaced, and the wooden legs can be folded and moved.
On February 14, Yang Zenggui was opening the wood used to make the row lamp. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Shengsheng
After being rated as a non-hereditary heir, Yang Zenggui felt that the responsibility and burden on his body were heavier, and he also paid more attention to passing on the skills of row lamp making. Disciple Zhang Shiquan has been following Yang Zenggui for more than ten years, and he is deeply touched by his master's strictness and meticulous attitude towards production skills. "Master was very serious when he taught us the craft, as long as there was a little flaw in our carving, Master would definitely let us do it again, I remember once in order to carve a flower, I re-carved it no less than 10 times." Zhang Shiquan said.
Lantern Festival is an important festival of Huangyuan lantern display, this year's Lantern Festival, Yang Zenggui and apprentices have been preparing early since last year, carefully preparing for 4 months of newly designed colorful lanterns, all hung in the streets and alleys of the ancient city of Dangar. "I was happy to see tourists taking photos under the row of lights, and I hoped that the row lights could add to the festive atmosphere of the festival." Yang Zenggui said.
Walking the streets of the ancient city of Dangar, the quaint buildings are even heavier under the colorful row of lights, and children carry small row lights and play and play. Huangyuan lanterns still burst out of infinite novelty today, precisely because there are generations of lantern makers like Yang Zenggui who have lit up the Lantern Night in the ancient city of Dangar with their own artistic lives. (Reporters Yanagisawa Xing and Zhou Shengsheng)