Text, photo/ Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Hao Haoyu Chai Zhi Fu Yi Wang Li
Tall, loud voice, a pair of large hands that have stood through the years. Speaking with a Zhangjiakou Weixian accent, Gao Tongliang seems to be no different from most middle-aged men in Weixian County: warm, hospitable, and full of energy. The 56-year-old is the leader of paper-cutting in Wei County, a non-hereditary inheritor of the provincial level of paper-cutting in Wei County, and the first first-class master of arts and crafts in Hebei Province.
Gao Tongliang and the Olympic Games have a deep relationship. In 2008, Gao Tongliang was a volunteer for the Beijing Olympic Games, and his main job was to show the paper-cutting of Weixian county for domestic and foreign journalists; in the process of Beijing and Zhangjiakou bidding for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gao Youliang's paper-cut works have become a symbol of the world intangible cultural heritage that helped bid for the Winter Olympics and showed Chinese culture. A few days ago, a reporter from Yangcheng Evening News walked into Gao Youliang's studio in Wei County, Zhangjiakou, and chatted with him about his story with the Olympic Games.
Gao Tongliang is making paper cuts
In Beijing, the Olympic Games have forged an indissoluble bond
As the only pointillist paper-cutting in China with yin carving as the main and yang carving as the supplement, Weixian paper-cutting has great local characteristics and deep cultural heritage. Its composition is vivid and beautiful, the shape is simple and generous, the colors are bright and rich, and the structure is exquisite and transparent. As early as 2006, Weixian paper-cutting was selected as one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage, and in 2009, it entered the representative list of the world intangible cultural heritage of humanity. With a history of hundreds of years, it is a window to show Zhangjiakou and even traditional Chinese culture.
Born in 1966, Gao Youliang began to learn paper cutting with his mother at the age of 6. As a native of Wei County, Gao Youliang, who has been engaged in making and selling paper-cutting since childhood, has traveled to every corner of Wei County.
In the 1980s, Gao Tongliang's paper-cutting has become famous in Wei County, a small paper cut is a penny, a large five cents, Gao Tongliang can sell 200 yuan a day. "When I was in my twenties, I was already a '10,000 yuan household', and at that time it was amazing!" Gao Tongliang said with a smile.
But the "ten thousand yuan household" Gao Youliang was not satisfied with this, he hoped that his paper-cutting could go further, so he came to Beijing. It is here that Gao's paper-cutting goes out into the world, and he himself is closely associated with the Olympic Games. Gao Tongliang's paper-cutting was also very popular in Beijing, and in the 1990s, Gao Tongliang's paper-cut work "Figure Eight Figures" was used as a state gift to foreign guests by the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A paper cut made by Gao Youliang based on Gu Ailing
In 2001, Gao Youliang created a huge paper-cut work "Ode to the Olympics" to celebrate Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. On the map of China, the magnificent atmosphere of 56 ethnic groups in China, which is singing and dancing around the capital Beijing, is eager to win the Olympic bid, and now this work has been permanently collected by the National Sports Museum.
Gao Tongliang also cut a portrait of the president of the International Olympic Committee, "Samaranch's (paper cut), which is now hanging in his son Samaranch's office." Gao Tongliang said slightly proudly.
The 2008 Olympics in Beijing left a deep impression on Gao. At that time, as a volunteer for the Beijing Olympic Games, he introduced the paper-cutting culture of Weixian to journalists around the world. He recalled: "The Olympics is a big event in China, and I want to contribute to the Olympic Games. The changes in Beijing at that time can really be described as earth-shaking, and I thought at the time that if such a grand event could come to my hometown of Zhangjiakou, it would be good. ”
Paper cuts made by Gao Tongliang
The whole process helped this Olympic Games held at home
Perhaps even Gao Youliang himself did not expect that after 14 years, the Olympic Games would not only return to China again, but also return to Beijing again, but also let his hometown Zhangjiakou realize the dream of becoming an Olympic city.
This time, Gao Youliang participated in the Olympic Games from the beginning of the bid, which in his own words was a "thing to do at home." In the course of the interview, Gao Tongliang's most common sentence was: "I am really proud to be able to do something for the country." ”
On July 31, 2015, IOC President Bach announced in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that Beijing and Zhangjiakou would be the host cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics. At the moment when Bach read out "Beijing", Gao Tongliang, who was at the scene of the Olympic bid, was filled with tears of excitement. At that time, Gao Youliang, as the only representative of China's paper-cutting industry, was invited to participate in the bid for the Winter Olympics with his nine works.
As early as 2013, Gao Youliang was invited by the Zhangjiakou Municipal Government to create 9 paper-cut works for the Winter Olympics to help bid for the Olympic Games. Gao Youliang said: "These 9 paper cuts are inserted in the pamphlet introducing Zhangjiakou materials, page by page. On the one hand, the organizing committee can feel the enthusiasm of Zhangjiakou's bid for the Olympic Games, and it will also attract them to read these introductory materials from beginning to end and more seriously. ”
After Beijing and Zhangjiakou qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Gao Tongliang threw himself into the activities to help the Winter Olympics.
In 2015, Gao Youliang's large-scale paper-cut work "Frozen" showed the world the confidence and strength of Beijing and Zhangjiakou's ability to jointly host a successful Winter Olympics; in 2017, invited by the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, before the release of the emblem of the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, Gao Youliang produced and completed the Weixian paper-cut emblem; in 2019, he was invited to design and produce a commemorative paper-cut window flower for the opening of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, and as a representative of the Cultural Circle of Zhangjiakou, Gao Youliang boarded the first Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway to promote Chinese culture...
Gao Youliang (provided by the interviewee)
From November to December 2021, the Beijing Winter Olympics International Test Match was held in Zhangjiakou, and each winning athlete received a paper-cut work created by Gao Youliang.
According to Gao Youliang, in order to make the paper cuts obtained by these participating athletes never fade, the dyes used can be said to be at any cost, "The happy events of his own family, what losses and gains?" If they see this paper cut in the future, they will think that they once participated in this competition in Zhangjiakou. This is the most important and the most precious." Gao Tongliang said.
In gao's studio, paper-cut works related to the Winter Olympics can be seen everywhere. Paper-cutting, this traditional Chinese art is being carried forward under Gao Youliang, using the East Wind of the Olympic Games to spread the unique charm of Chinese culture to the world. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Liu Yi