Pomegranate Cloud/Xinjiang Daily reporter Liu Mengmeng
Just after the Spring Festival, the Mulberry Paper Industrial Park in Buda Village, Puchakqi Town, Moyu County, welcomed the first batch of tourists this year. Their arrival has brought the warm winter sun and full of hope to the local area, and also made a good start for rural cultural tourism.
This little-known village on the edge of the desert can not attract tourists with ice and snow during the ice and snow season, and the charm is inseparable from the cultural medium of mulberry paper. In particular, the resulting "Chinese painting on mulberry paper", a new form of art that breaks the boundaries of region and art, integrates cultural content, symbols and stories into the whole process of travel and excursion, and has become one of the important ways to promote the integration of culture and tourism.
Buda Village, Puchakqi Town, Moyu County, is the "hometown of mulberry paper." "Moyu zero distance provided
From hiding in the "deep boudoir" to going to the public
In Beijing, in the ancient books library of the National Library, a series of Chinese paintings presented on quaint and simple mulberry paper attract people to stop and watch. This is the exhibition site of the "Blue Indigo Gold Leaf - Chinese Painting and Mulberry Paper Painting Works Exhibition" in the 2012 "Spring Rain Project" National Cultural Volunteer Frontier, and "Chinese Painting on Mulberry Paper" has entered people's sight for the first time. In the past 10 years, it has developed into a unique cultural business card in Xinjiang, which has received attention and praise from all walks of life.
"Xinjiang mulberry paper, known as Hanpi paper in ancient times, is an important carrier and witness of exchanges and blends between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, with the characteristics of insect moth prevention, not afraid of moisture, and anti-fading handwriting. In 2006, the 'Uyghur Mulberry Paper Making Technique' was included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection List. Wei Baoshan, executive vice president and secretary general of the Xinjiang Academy of Chinese Painting, said.
Yarikun Hazi, vice chairman of the Xinjiang Artists Association, exchanged views with peasant painters. Courtesy of Xinjiang Academy of Chinese Painting
With the deepening of understanding of the profound cultural accumulation of mulberry paper, the Xinjiang Academy of Chinese Painting has introduced mulberry paper into the creation of Chinese painting, making it replace rice paper and completing the perfect combination of Xinjiang's intangible cultural heritage and Chinese painting. From "Chinese Painting on Mulberry Paper - National Fine Arts Works Tour exhibition", "Ethnic Unity and Family Affinity - Exhibition of Chinese Paintings on Mulberry Paper", "Xinjiang along the Belt and Road - Exhibition of Chinese Paintings on Mulberry Paper", to "The Charm of Mulberry Paper and Tian - Beijing Xinjiang Calligraphy and Painting Works Exhibition", the Xinjiang Academy of Chinese Painting has organized and invited thousands of well-known painters across the country to create Chinese paintings with mulberry paper to participate in the exhibition, of which more than 200 painters have also gone deep into Xinjiang to collect sketches and exchange and learn from each other. On the basis of creating the exhibition brand of "Chinese Painting on Mulberry Paper", the Xinjiang Academy of Chinese Painting has successively launched a series of exhibition activities such as "Peasant Painting on Mulberry Paper" and "Children's Painting on Mulberry Paper", building a platform integrating achievement display, cultural dissemination, publicity and promotion, and promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of Mulberry Paper in Xinjiang.
"Intangible Cultural Heritage Xinjiang Mulberry Paper Making Technique" Long Scroll Partial Map. Wei Baoshan offers
Exchange and mutual learning, inherit excellent traditional culture
In the exhibition hall of the Urumqi Art Museum, a 16-meter long scroll of "Intangible Mulberry Paper Making Technique" slowly unfolded in front of people's eyes. This long scroll, by He Jiaying, vice chairman of the China Artists Association, Huang Liguo, a well-known painter in Zhejiang, and Wei Baoshan, which was jointly completed in one year, depicts the historical origin of Xinjiang mulberry paper and the main process of making mulberry paper in a way that integrates Chinese painting, calligraphy, freehand writing and brushwork, and constitutes a panorama of mulberry paper production technology.
Yarikun Hazi, vice chairman of the Xinjiang Artists Association, said that Xinjiang mulberry paper is an integral part of China's excellent traditional culture and a kind of cultural inheritance of "you have me, I have you", which needs to be jointly inherited and utilized.
"When I took the students to copy the Guizi murals, I found that mulberry paper was very suitable for the art creation of the mural theme." Yang Yanhua, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Xinjiang Normal University, said that in parallel with research and application, we can better inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture and integrate intangible cultural heritage into a modern and beautiful life.
"The pale yellow color and coarse fiber texture of mulberry paper remind me of the gobi, desert, wind-eroded canyons and other terrains in Xinjiang." Chu Xiaoli, dean of the Art College of Xinjiang Education College, said that artists should explore the application of mulberry paper in the creation of calligraphy and painting and derivative products according to the unique characteristics and beauty of mulberry paper.
Not only Chinese painting and calligraphy, painters also create oil paintings and watercolor gouache paintings on mulberry paper, so that Chinese and Western painting forms are integrated with each other, showing a unique artistic charm. The "Charm of Hetian on Mulberry Paper - Beijing Xinjiang Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition" held at the beginning of this year brings together more than 100 well-known calligraphers and painters from Beijing, Xinjiang and other places to collect more than 100 fine works, covering economic and social development, ethnic unity, humanistic customs and other contents.
"In the exchange and collision, the painters formed a consensus: on the basis of inheritance and innovation, excellent traditional culture can win the love of more people." These works not only reflect the profundity of Chinese culture, but also show an increasingly vivid vitality. Li Zhitian, executive director of the Xinjiang Academy of Chinese Painting, said.
Zhejiang painter Huang Liguo sketched for the peasant painter Ablikim Mai Mai Timin. Courtesy of Xinjiang Academy of Chinese Painting
Living heritage, into modern life
The creation and dissemination of "Chinese painting on mulberry paper" has made the "Daya" that was snubbed in the past glow with the brilliance of the new era.
"Through the series of activities of 'Chinese Painting on Mulberry Paper', many people inside and outside Xinjiang have learned about moyu mulberry paper, which has driven the production and sales of mulberry paper in Buda Village, and promoted local farmers to work at home and increase their income and become rich." Wang Luocheng, secretary of the party committee of Puchakqi Town, Moyu County, said that the inheritance and protection of mulberry paper should not only be the sale of paper itself, but should stand at a higher level, excavate the deep cultural connotation attached to mulberry paper, and use intangible cultural heritage to tell the story of Xinjiang. In April 2021, in order to protect, inherit and make good use of the intangible cultural heritage of mulberry paper making technology, Moyu County upgraded and put into use the mulberry paper culture industrial park located in Buda Village, which has related industries such as mulberry paper making workshops and mulberry paper museums, and more than ten villagers engaged in musical instrument sales, special cuisine and other industries.
In one painting exhibition after another, the academic discussions of painters, literary and art theorists and art critics gradually excavated the technical operation, cultural connotation and development prospects of "Chinese painting on mulberry paper", setting off one upsurge after another, driving the active participation of calligraphers and painters, inheritors and more people.
A set of mulberry paper experience packs composed of mulberry skin, wooden mallet, wooden frame and mulberry pulp, a mulberry paper thread bound book "Four Books and Five Classics" that exudes a retro atmosphere, and a simple and elegant mulberry paper table lamp... The assortment of mulberry paper and its derivatives has brought considerable income to papermakers, and more and more young people have become enthusiastic about learning this craft.
Mulberry paper craftsmen are sorting mulberry paper. Photo by Gao Weihu
"Our ancestors have all made mulberry paper, and now, with the strong support of the party and the government, only the production of mulberry paper, my family has an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan." Mulberry paper craftsman Bu zai Naipu Simayi said that Buda Village regularly holds mulberry papermaking training classes every year, and more than 50 people in the village have mastered the craft of making mulberry paper.
"Pieces of mulberry paper have been transformed into exquisite paintings under the pen of well-known painters across the country, inheriting, protecting and innovating, and making the national intangible cultural heritage come alive." Wei Baoshan said.