Yongchun paper weaving painting was founded in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, is a hazy artwork made of hand-woven paper silk, and Hangzhou silk weaving painting, Suzhou silk painting, Sichuan bamboo curtain painting, has a history of more than 1,000 years.
Whether it is true or not, whether it is a painting or not, whether it is a painting or not, the warp and weft are both vertical and horizontal
Yongchun paper weaving painting was called "Gonghua" in ancient times, which is a unique weaving process developed from Chinese traditional painting, which has the beauty of watching the moon through the curtain and seeing flowers in the fog.
According to records, as early as the Tang Dynasty, there were nine workshops in Yongchun that mainly specialized in paper weaving and painting. In the Song Dynasty, Yongchun paper weaving paintings have been exported to various ports in Nanyang, and have become treasures in the halls or cabinets of rich and noble families. Qing Yang Fuji's "Menglan Zuobi" once had an account of "Yongchun Prefecture Weaving Painting in Fujian".
Painting on rice paper, and then carefully cutting the painting into thin strips with a width of only a few millimeters, head to end, as warp, using the same width of white rice paper as the weft, the warp and weft are intertwined, as if weaving. The finished paper weaving painting looks like it is covered with a layer of mist, hazy.
On December 28, 2017, Zhou Wenhu, a master of Yongchun paper weaving painting, was selected into the fifth batch of recommended lists of representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects. In May 2018, he was officially recognized as the representative inheritor of Yongchun paper weaving painting, a national intangible cultural heritage, and the only national intangible cultural heritage inheritor in Yongchun County. His paper weaving paintings have won many national and provincial awards, and have been collected by the Central Military Museum and the Fujian Provincial Museum.
The production process of paper weaving painting is very complex, and the whole production process has to go through the process of conception, painting, cutting, weaving, color supplementation, point spirit, mounting, etc. Among them, painting, cutting, weaving, and mounting are the most important.
According to Mr. Zhou Wenhu, the first step in the production of paper weaving paintings is painting. The painting of paper weaving painting was developed from Chinese painting. It is compared with Chinese painting, the law is the same, but the painting with the pen and ink, the color is different, paper weaving painting has the painting skills of paper weaving painting: the color should be thick, the layers should be distinct, the outline should be prominent, and so on. If it is strictly in accordance with the requirements of Chinese painting, it will not look good when it is woven.
The second process is cutting. Each strip is about 2 mm wide, and each strip must be cut parallel and the same size, and the cutting skills must be practiced hard.
The third process is weaving. Compared with the other three major Chinese weavings, the difficulty of paper weaving is the greatest. Because paper is the least flexible and the easiest to break, not to mention that the paper strip used for weaving is only 2 mm, so the strength should be controlled when weaving. It is also necessary to grasp climate change, and as soon as the climate changes, rice paper will change with it. For example, in rainy and foggy weather, rice paper can easily break when it gets wet, so sometimes it is heated with a large light bulb or a stove. In June and July, the weather is hot, and the rice paper is too brittle and easy to break, and it is difficult to weave.
Finally, there is mounting. The mounting of paper weaving paintings should be protected well, because the structure of a picture will be damaged after cutting and then weaving, and it will crack if you are not careful, and it is more difficult to mount.
Paper weaving painting integrates painting and weaving, with the charm of Chinese painting and the delicacy of paper weaving. Yongchun paper weaving paintings have a wide range of themes and rich and colorful contents, from characters and stories to landscapes, flowers and birds, birds and animals. Now, the Palace Museum in Beijing still treasures the treasure of paper weaving during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty - the twelve screens of imperial poems made by Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty.
The perseverance and innovation of paper weaving craftsmen
In the 50s of the 20th century, Yongchun paper weaving painting was still in the dilemma of "passing on men but not women", and did not seek a new way out. At that time, in Yongchun, only Master Huang Yongyuan's family still insisted on making paper weaving paintings. In order to save the skills, he broke the traditional confinement and established a craft society to accept apprentices and teach the arts.
As the only national intangible cultural heritage inheritor of paper weaving painting in Yongchun County, Zhou Wenhu has been studying under Huang Yongyuan, an expert in paper weaving painting in Yongchun since 1957, and has devoted himself to research and creation for more than 60 years, and has been training apprentices since 1980, and set up a professional college of paper weaving painting in 1990, in order to carry forward this peculiar folk art.
Today's paper weaving and painting technology is becoming more and more sophisticated in the study of craftsmen. Lin Zhien, who has been engaged in the creation of paper weaving paintings for more than 60 years, absorbed the skills of light and shade and color and light changes in Western painting sketches, and integrated them into the production of paper weaving paintings, forming a paper weaving painting style with three-dimensional effects. He also continued to explore and innovate, so that new works of paper weaving paintings continued to appear.
In the 90s of the 20th century, Lin Zhien was fortunate to be invited to participate in the "90 Shanghai China Folk Art Expo" and the corresponding academic seminars, and read his papers at the meeting. It was here that he met new artists from all over the country, including a live performance of double-sided embroidery from Suzhou, which inspired Lin Zhien to draw on Suzhou's double-sided embroidery techniques to make double-sided paper weaving paintings. After coming back, after many research and experiments, he finally succeeded in making a "double-sided double-cat paper weaving painting" for the first time. The difficulty lies in the fact that the patterns on both sides must fit tightly and seamlessly, otherwise they will not stand the test of the light. Double-sided painting is not the color transmission phenomenon of raw rice paper, you must use cooked xuan, first paint one side, then turn it over, and then copy it on the table, reflect it with a large mirror, and look at the sample in the mirror to copy the painting.
Lin Zhien pioneered the "Double-sided Double Cat" paper weaving painting work, which was a new breakthrough in the art of paper weaving painting, and later the work was collected by the Fujian Provincial Museum.
The future of paper painting
As early as 1987, Yongchun County established the Yongchun Paper Weaving Painting Research Association. In 2000, Yongchun County was named the "Hometown of Chinese Folk Art (Paper Weaving Painting)". In 2005, Yongchun paper weaving paintings were included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage of Fujian Province. In May 2011, Yongchun paper weaving paintings were included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage.
With the emphasis on the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills at the national level, the future of paper weaving painting has become clear again. The development of various intangible cultural heritage research has given the paper weaving painting, an intangible cultural heritage skill of Yongchun, an opportunity to enter the eyes of the younger generation, so that more people can understand its charm, and it can also be promoted as an important factor in building cultural self-confidence, so that more people are willing to come to Yongchun and understand Yongchun.
Since 2018, Yongchun County has comprehensively launched the activities of national intangible cultural heritage projects into campuses, communities, enterprises and police barracks. At present, 100 learning bases have been set up in 14 townships and towns, and representative inheritors such as paper weaving paintings and white crane boxing have been hired as teachers, and they regularly visit the bases every week to teach and learn. Every year, there are tens of thousands of preaching activities, the purpose of which is to go deep into the grassroots and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
Nowadays, paper weaving paintings not only enter Yongchun's schools and units, but also tourists and friends who come to Yongchun can also experience the production of Yongchun paper weaving paintings in Yongchun Tourism Distribution Center, understand the charm of paper weaving paintings, and truly feel the beauty of this intangible cultural heritage.
Source: Oriental Entertainment Weekly
Author: Guo Junmiao Chen Yuehong
Editor: Pan Xi
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