Man and stone have an inexplicable and indissoluble relationship.
From the perspective of survival, people "rely on the mountain to eat the mountain", and the stone is the tool of production and life; from the perspective of development, the stone records the footprints of human development and is an important carrier of human art and culture. In particular, the unique materials and unique shapes of the stones soon became the treasures that people used.
Located on the line of the WeiHe River and the Guanzhong Plain, Fuping, Shaanxi, is connected by mountains in the north and plains in the south-central part, rich in ink jade with a dark color, a smooth appearance like jade, and a tough texture. For many years, ink jade and calligraphy and carving art have been born together, surviving in the forest of steles and emerging in stone carving - the cultural and artistic atmosphere of human beings, pinned on the body of ink jade, makes ink jade glow with eternal brilliance.
▲Fuping County is located at the intersection of large and medium-sized cities such as Xi'an and Weinan, with superior transportation, rich products and many cultural relics and monuments. Image source/network
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > Fuping ink jade "A in the world"</h1>
The abundance of ink jade in Bupyeong is closely related to the geographical structure here. Stretching for more than 100 miles to the north of Fuping, it is a branch of the Qiaoshan (also known as "Qiaoshan") mountain range, and Phoenix Mountain is a very famous mountain in the mountain line. The mountains gave Fuping a solid barrier, gathering a large amount of limestone, which is estimated to be about hundreds of billions of cubic meters. There are many rivers between the mountains, and after years of running water, the stones have undergone interesting changes.
The same is limestone, but the stone here reflects a very unique point: the texture of the stone is not as rough as the limestone in other places, but it is relatively fine and has a clear texture; from the performance point of view, the stone is tough and not easy to break, and it is very endurance, acid and alkali resistance, cold and heat resistance, weathering; gently knock on the ink jade, you can also hear a crisp and pleasant sound; from the color point of view, it is not as white as traditional limestone, but deep as ink - so, the stone here is also called "ink jade".
In terms of color, among the various color differences such as dark blue, cyan, light blue, cloud gray, and markings, the dark cyan stone is the best. The "Chronicle of Fuping County" records that the ink jade is "heavy in color, delicate in texture, pitch black as ink, smooth as jade, and extremely prestigious."
▲Fuping ink jade is produced in the Qiaoshan Mountains in the north of Fuping, and after polishing, the color is as black as ink, the texture is delicate, and the quality is firm and tough. Image source/figureworm creative
The unique natural conditions of the landscape have achieved a strange ink jade. People even called it "precious stone" along with diamonds, precious stones, and colored stones. There has always been a legend about the origin of ink jade: legend has it that a fairy dressed in a black veil was fascinated by the scenery around The North Mountain of Fuping, and traveled in the middle of the day and stayed at Phoenix Mountain at night. Wonderfully, the stones she had touched had all turned into rare ink jade. After hearing about it, a rich man at the foot of phoenix mountain wanted to snatch the fairy home and "turn stones into jade" for him. One night, the fairy had just returned to the cave where she was perched, untied her veil, found the rich man waiting here, and fled in a hurry. The rich man chased after it without success, and suddenly remembered that the fairy still had a black shawl, and when he returned to pursue, he found that the black veil had long disappeared, turned into black stone, and dyed the entire Stone of Phoenix Mountain, all of which became ink jade.
Legends are legends after all, pinning people's beautiful feelings; ink jade is a treasure of Fuping, and it is indisputable. There are poems to prove it. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Li Yindu, a scholar of Hanlin University, was a native of Hancun, XueZhen, Fuping, and he mentioned in the preface to the poem "Tang Ling Mo Yu": "There are cave stones under the Tang Tombs, named Mo Yu. Take the engraving tablet, A in the world. And in the poem "Yi li absolute sentence", it is written: "The giant moraine Cui Wei has a million layers, and the Tang family has a tomb in the middle of the river." Qingling ink jade swirled along, and the light of the seal was everywhere. This poem is by far the most classic verse describing Fuping Ink Jade.
▲Fuping's unique natural conditions have become the source of ink jade. Image source/network
Ink jade, which has attracted much attention, has been mined in large quantities in history, and there were many stone nests or stone pits in Fuping, which were left by digging ink jade. In recent decades, with the implementation of the policy of sealing the mountain and strengthening the protection of ink jade, the phenomenon of stone nests has been greatly reduced.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > thousand-year-old stone carvings make ink jade "cultured"</h1>
It is not difficult to see from Li Yindu's poems that the main use of Fuping ink jade is to make stele stone carvings and various types of stone carvings. The reason why Fuping ink jade has such "courtesy" is inseparable from "the time, place, and people".
Ancient people liked to carve on stone tablets, which was nothing more than three purposes: one was to preserve important written materials; the other was to engrave the famous poem inscriptions or fine paintings of the literati to show the charm of calligraphy; the third was that when the emperors built palaces and tombs, they needed a large number of stone carved statues. The good ink jade material of Fuping, coupled with the excellent geographical location, makes the ink jade stone favored by inscription carving.
Geographically, although Fuping belongs to Weinan City in Shaanxi Province in terms of administrative divisions, it is close to the ancient capital of Xi'an and directly borders Xi'an Yanliang District. Fuping and Xi'an are in the Guanzhong Plain area, there is no dangerous mountain or raging river in the middle, the straight-line distance is only 70 or 80 kilometers, and the modern driving time is only about an hour, even if it is placed in the ancient times when the traffic was not very developed, it is not far away.
▲Fuping is very close to Xi'an, and it takes less than an hour to drive. Image source/network
Historically, Xi'an has been the ancient capital of China since the Qin and Han dynasties, and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty has pushed Xi'an's status in the country to the peak. Emperors will point out the country, the literati riot and excite the text, whether it is a classic of calligraphy or the art of calligraphy, Xi'an is the top priority of the whole country. Carving inscriptions and collecting famous deeds has become a common practice. In The land of Gyeonggi, Fuping, the two major factors of "jade material + near the water tower", are naturally the first choice.
Imperial Monument
It is recorded in the "Records of History" that in 212 BC, Qin Shi Huang forcibly recruited 100,000 prisoners to repair the Afang Palace and the Lishan Mausoleum, and mined a large number of Fuping stones. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the wind of thick burial of emperors prevailed, and Fuping was located in the northeast corner of Xi'an, with mountains in the north and plains in the south, not far from Xi'an, which naturally became the last shelter of many emperors.
▲Among the many Tang Dynasty mausoleum stone carvings in Fuping, the most famous is the Dingling stone carvings that once stretched for ten kilometers. Image source/network
In many towns in Fuping, there are many tombs of ancient kings, including the tombs of the five emperors of the Sheng Tang Dynasty (The Dingling Tomb of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty, the Tomb of Emperor Yuanzong of Tang Dynasty, the FengLing Tomb of Emperor Shunzong of Tang, the Tomb of Emperor Wenzong of Tang, the Tomb of Emperor Jian of Tang Yizong), the Yong Mausoleum of Emperor Wen of Western Wei, the ChangLing Tomb of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, and the Mausoleum of Emperor Taishang of Han in the north, and the tomb of Emperor Chengcheng of Northern Zhou and the tomb of the father and son of The Great General of Qin - there is even a folk saying of "ten miles and one tomb". Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty Li Xian's Dingling tomb is on the north side of the town of Fuping Palace on the phoenix mountain, stretching for 10 kilometers of Dingling stone carvings have been famous in the world, in addition to steles, epitaphs, as well as decorative signs such as suzaku, Huabiao, as well as stone people and stone horses, it is not lively. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, it could not be preserved, and only some remnants remained.
According to statistics, the stone carvings of the Tang Tombs and their funerary tombs are mostly made of Fuping ink jade. Outside the scope of Fuping, many emperors such as the Tomb of Tang Gaozu in The Three Plains of Xianyang, the Tomb of Emperor Taizong zhaoling in Liquan, as well as the tombs of many princes and princesses, and even the tombs of the important people of the country, there are stone carved cultural relics from the town of Fuping Palace. In addition to the Tombs of the Tang Dynasty, in the cultural relics and monuments such as the Imperial Tomb of Han Taishang, the Tomb of Han Mao, and the Tomb of Huo Fuyi, stone carvings from the town of Fuping Palace can also be seen.
Fuping ink jade has long become the first choice for stone carvings on the stele in front of the tombs of emperors and nobles.
▲The Yuan Mausoleum of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang is one of the five major emperor mausoleums in Fuping, and some of the surviving character stone carvings are missing. Image source/network
Forest of Steles Culture
The ink jade was used for the imperial tombs, which inevitably sounded heavy. The most "cultured" thing that can make the ink jade stone is the forest of steles. The Forest of Steles Museum in Xi'an is the most well-known sacred place in the Forest of Steles in China, which was founded in the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1087 AD). The original purpose was to protect the "Stone Classic", that is, the Shitai Filial Piety Sutra written by Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji of Tang Dynasty. When the Tang Dynasty fell, the Stone Classics and many important stone tablets were exiled from the Guozi Prison of Chang'an City to the wilderness. In order to protect these historical treasures and integrate them into one place, the Qing Dynasty began to be collectively referred to as the "Forest of Steles".
▲The Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Xi'an has a collection of inscriptions carved from Fuping ink and jade. Image source/figureworm creative
The forest of steles is an important symbol of stone inscriptions, and the Tang Dynasty was the heyday of stone carvings in the forest of steles. According to statistics, 80% of the steles collected in the Forest of Steles Museum in Xi'an are stele erected by Fuping ink jade. Among the famous monuments of the past dynasties, Li Si's "Carved Stone on Mount Yishan" of the Qin Dynasty, Wu Zetian's Qianling "Wordless Stele", as well as the "Cao Quan Stele" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as well as the calligrapher Ouyang Qian's "Emperor Fu's Birthday Monument", Liu Gongquan's "Xuan secret Pagoda", and so on, were all carved with Fuping ink jade. It is said that Zheng Banqiao, the most famous of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", wrote the famous sentence "Rare confusion", and some people in the folk entrusted people to trust the relationship, found the Fuping inscription master, and let this sentence flow on the stele forever.
Folk carving
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of stone carvings gradually turned to civilianization. At this time, the art of Fuping stone carving has gradually shifted from engraving to comprehensive carving art, and the types of carving have extended to various production tools (mills, luxes, etc.) and living utensils (door piers, door images, etc.), and have become more and more prosperous.
Rich people's families, learning the appearance of the emperor and general, painted the scoop according to the gourd, added stone screens, stone stele buildings, stone incense burners to their courtyards, as well as stone tables, stone benches, stone pillows, etc. for leisure, and even the horse stakes of the tethered horses have engaged in artistic carving styles.
▲Stone carvings of horse stakes in the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Xi'an. Image source/figureworm creative
Many carvings seem to be very common, but the connotation is deep: for example, the door number is the king, the best stone material needs to be used, and can not be neglected; for example, the stone lion is not every family can put it, only large households put stone lions; for example, who has more horse stakes in front of the door, which means that the family's waist (indicating that there are people in the imperial court) is strong; in addition, the relief technique should be able to highlight the relationship between the monarch, the lord and the subordinate, the distance and other character relationships - seemingly simple stone carvings, in fact, imply a variety of humanistic "secret codes", This is also the epitome of ancient social culture.
Wanfu culture
The inscription is both historical and modern. In order to explore the art and culture of contemporary calligraphy, four or five years ago, the Wanhu Mountain in Fuping Laomiao Town appeared in the Wanhu Mountain covering an area of 10,000 acres, with the theme of "Fu" characters, bringing together the ink treasures of contemporary Chinese calligraphers. More than 100 stone tablets, stone drums and strange stones with various calligraphy "Fu" characters are all over the place, which is very ornamental.
▲The Forest of Steles of Fuping Wanfu is a representative of the modern Forest of Steles. Image source/network
So far, wanfu stele forest is still absorbing many "fu" steles, planning to use 5 to 8 years to complete 10,000 to 30,000 pieces of calligraphy stone stele, 10 kilometers long cliff stone carvings. In recent years, every Spring Festival, everyone will take the mobile phone to "sweep the blessing word", set the five blessings, auspicious. If you are in the forest of Ten Thousand Blessings Monuments where there are "blessings" everywhere, it is really a lot of fun.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" > skilled craftsmen make the ink jade shine</h1>
There is ink and jade as a good material, and there is an ancient culture as the accumulation, but it is not so simple to form a cultural monument that has been passed down through the ages.
China's calligraphy culture has a long history, the hard pen calligraphy represented by the brush pays attention to the "bone method with the pen", the atmosphere is vivid, the shape and meaning are one, and the smooth beauty of the lines of pen and ink blending. However, such a spiritual sense of calligraphy art, if extended to the stone stele, becomes an inscription, because of the different media, it is likely to produce deviations, unable to express the beauty of traditional Chinese calligraphy. Therefore, in order to accurately, vividly and flexibly present the handwriting of the master of calligraphy on the stele, it is necessary to be skilled in craftsmanship.
▲ If you want to carve the style of a calligraphy master on the ink jade, it all depends on the hand skills of the stonemason artist. Source: Shaanxi Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Network
The effect of engraving on the stele and the original font of the calligraphy master must be in place. According to the summary of local experts, there are eleven processes in the stone carving process, such as green selection (stone selection), grinding, ink application, waxing and other processes, and the requirements of each process are very fine. Experienced engraving masters need to have a high degree of understanding, prepare for various processes in advance, and carefully study the "pen rhyme" of calligraphy masters before engraving; in the process of engraving, the knife method is strong, light and heavy, and cannot drag mud and water; and it also needs "mind concentration". It is said that during the Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, Liu Shengrong, a native of Nanling Village, Nanling Village, Fuping Palace, once said a sentence, "Engraving is the same as writing, only when the mind is fixed and the spirit comes, can a good word be carved." His copy of the "Yu Gong Cemetery" written by Ouyang Qing was collected by the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum, and after expert identification, it was comparable to the original stele, and the handwriting of the original stele had long been blurred. Liu Shengrong is also engraved with Yue Fei's Book Zhuge Liang's "Table of Teachers".
▲ Historically, Fuping has appeared in the stone carving art of the "Five Tigers on the 'Craftsman'", exquisite engraving and sculpture, all by a pair of dexterous hands to achieve. Image source/network
Historically, there are many inscription masters in Fuping. Zhao Zhiqi, who is known as the head of the "Five Tiger Generals (Craftsmen)" in the Fuping stone carving industry, came from a family of stonemasons and mastered the works of the calligraphy masters Zhong Xuan, The Second King (Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi), Yan Zhenqing, Ouyang Qing, Liu Gongquan, Zhao Mengfu and others; in addition, among the engraving artists in the history of Fuping, It was Shi Hua who carved for Yan Zhenqing, Wan Shaowen who carved for Zhu Suiliang, and Li Xin who carved for Sun Piyang in the Ming Dynasty.
As for the art of carving, the artists of Bupyeong stone carvings are best at line carving, relief carving and circular carving. Each of the three processes has its own strict process requirements, and it also requires a deep understanding of the characters and shapes carved. In the early 20th century, Zhao Weixin, a zhaobao man in Nanling Village, Fuping, was very good at portraying characters.
After thousands of years of development, many stone carving families have emerged at the southern foot of Phoenix Mountain in Fuping. According to official statistics, there are more than 460 stone carving workshops and enterprises in Fuping, and more than 8,000 people are engaged in the stone carving industry. In 2014, the stone carving art of Fuping Palace was included in the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Shaanxi Province.
▲ Fuping Palace Town stone carving has a long history, near the palace town of Qiaobei, Sanfeng, Fengxi and other more than 10 villages, generations of stone carving technology. Image source/network
However, the rapid development of modern society, especially the emergence of modern mechanization processes, has gradually eliminated traditional stone carving tools. The shift from traditional manual operations to mechanization, rough production to refinement, and scattered operations to scale, these new changes continue to impact the traditional art of stone carving. Many young people have not inherited the stone carving skills of the older generation, and the number of young stone carving artists has gradually shrunk, which has made many old stone carving artists worried.
How to regain the glory of ink jade and stone carving techniques in the context of the new era is a difficult problem that needs to be solved.
Resources
• "Fuping Stone Carvers: The Fragility and Solidity of Stone Writers", Song Yancheng, 21st Century Business Herald, 2017-03-22
• "Fuping Stone Carvings: With a History of More Than 1500 Years, Inheritance Depends on Eyes and Hearts to Remember Hand Diligence", Huashang Network - Huashang Daily, 2016-05-04
• Website of Fuping County People's Government, http://www.fuping.gov.cn/
• Shaanxi Intangible Cultural Heritage Network, http://www.sxfycc.com/
• "Fuping Stone Carvings - Permanent Scenery on Stones", Weinan Daily, Weinan Propaganda Network, http://www.wnxc.gov.cn/impression/show_1159.html
• "Words about Weinan Fuping Ink Jade and Stone Carving Art", Weinan News Network, http://www.wnnews.cn/p/60888.html • "Shaanxi Fuping Ink Jade and Legend", Yanhuang Customs Network, http://www.fengsuwang.com/
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line">- END -</h1>
Written by /Huang Qibing Image source/Figureworm Creative Network, etc
Editor/Yang Yalin Photo Editor/Zhou Honglei Review/Lv Weibin
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