*Chaozhou Wood Carving

*Chaozhou Wood Carving

Nominating Units: City of Chaozhou, City of Shantou and City of Jieyang

As a folk engraving art form in Chaozhou district of Guangdong Province, Chaozhou Wood Carving is mainly seen in the decoration of architecture, furniture and sacrificial utensils. The craft is popular in Yixilianshang Village, Xidu Village of Xiangqiao District in City of Chaozhou. It can also find its popularity in counties like Raoping, Shantou, Chaoyang, Jieyang, Jiexi, Puning, Lufeng, Dapu, Wuhua, Xingning and Meixian as well as the southeastern coastal areas of Fujian Province.

We do not know the exact time when Chaozhou Wood Carving began to take its appearance. However, we know that one of the decorative bucket arch, in the shape of a grass tail on the beam of Heavenly King Hall in Chaozhou Kaiyuan Temple, is made in the Tang Dynasty, while the carved wood dragon which hangs the bronze bell in the Song Dynasty.

The mansion of the emperor’s son-in-law Xu was built during Zhiping period of the Northern Song Dynasty. Woodcarvings on the building are mainly of grass-tail type. From this we can conclude that there were already Chaozhou Wood Carving techniques in the Tang and the Song Dynasties. The engraving craft of Chaozhou Wood Carvings came to perfection until the Ming and the Qing Dynasties.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the building of grottoes almost came to stagnation. Major temples made wood-carved statue of Buddha and articles for worship. At this time multi-layer piercing appeared. Sharing the same reputation with Dongyang Wood Carving, Chaozhou Wood Carving is also characterized by multilayer piercing. Most woodcarvings are decorated by gold foils, with black lacquer or five colors as the under tone. The former woodcarving is called Heise zhuangjin, while the latter one is called Wucai zhuangjin.

Chaozhou Jilue Huang ancestral temple, one of the major historical and cultural sites under state protection, was built in 1887 of the Qing Dynasty. The pattern of auspicious animals such as dragons, phoenixes and lions are carved on the beams and pillars in the temple in different carving methods, which are called a unique skill of Chaozhou Wood Carving. During the early years of the Republic of China, building temples, ancestral temples and mansions have become a trend among the emerging rich businessmen in Chaozhou. In this context, woodcarving craftsmen created woodcarvings such as Hongmu Fangqu and Ruyi ji with rosewood from Southeast Asia, forming the new delicate, dignified and luxurious style of woodcarvings.(https://www.daowen.com)

Chaozhou Wood Carvings were often based on moderate tenacious wood as the raw material. They have various forms such as carvings in relief, three-dimensional carvings, piercing carvings, etc. The finished woodcarvings are exquisitely carved with rich design. In the shape of the Chinese character, Chaozhou Wood Carvings divide the complete story into different frames. Though there are many roles in the story, they are in order. And the plot is very vivid.

Taking the audience’s sight into consideration, the craftsmen will make some exaggerations on certain parts of the human figure in the carvings at the top of the beams. For example, they will deepen the eyes, hump the nose or highlight the lips. Then the audience will enjoy a perfect image. The composition of the design in Chaozhou Wood Carvings either imitates that of traditional Chinese painting or of the stage of the old plays. That is to say, it needs to carve stories happening in different times on one single surface.

The most eye-catching decoration in Chaozhou Wood Carvings is on the door. The door is divided into different parts. And the theme, form and carving method vary with each individual part. Besides decorations for the architecture, Chaozhou Wood Carvings can also be seen on some articles for worshiping the god. There are various forms in Chaozhou Wood Carvings such as carvings in relief, three-dimensional carvings and piercing carvings, etc. The style of the woodcarvings varies from district to district. Let’s take Chaoshan and Xingmei districts for example: Chaoshan woodcarvings are characterized by complicated design and delicate details. It is especially good at revealing successive plots. In contrast, the carving method of Xingmei woodcarvings is fairly simple. It is characterized with highlighting the major plot by simply a few people. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, an extraordinary talent named Huang Kaixian won reputation for Chaozhou Wood Carvings with his remarkable skills. Currently the major successors of the craft are Zhang Jianxuan and Chen Shunqiang, etc. Zhang Jianxuan has made a remark that the craft of Chaozhou Wood Carvings can be simply summarized into six Chinese characters, namely “yunyun, zaza and tongtong”. Yunyun refers to the fact that major and minor parts of the woodcarvings should be distinguished with different methods; Zaza refers to the fact that the woodcarvings should be multilayered; and Tongtong refers to the fact that the carvings should be exquisitely designed and carved.

On one hand, due to the change of housing environment in modern times, Chaozhou Wood Carving has lost its old functional place. In addition, traditional folk custom is gradually losing its attraction, making shrine and pavalions for commemorating ancestors withdrawing from daily life. As a result, there are few occasions where Chaozhou Wood Carving would be needed.

On the other hand, Chaozhou Wood Carving is difficult due to its delicate craftwork, its difficulty of creation and the complex processes. What’s more, it is mainly made by hand. Laborious as it is, it can not be produced in great scales. Thus it bears low economic benefit. As a result, there are only a deceasing number of people making the woodcarvings. Especially the young generations are unwilling to take the job, trapping Chaozhou Wood Carving in the danger of losing successors. It is now in urgent need for rescue and suppot.

Chaozhou Wood Carving was selected into the list of the first batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006, and Jieyang Wood Carving and Shantou Wood Carving were selected into the list of the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.