Filigree inlaid "Intangible Heritage" inheritor Li Changyi's "Golden and Silver Life"
I can't cut off the filigree craftsmanship for a lifetime
Master of Arts and Crafts Li Changyi
Li Changyi's "Prosperous Dragon Boat"
Li Changyi and his apprentices
Li Changyi teaches skills to apprentices
Jewelry by Li Changyi's apprentice
Li Changyi, a native of Chongqing, began his apprenticeship and contact with filigree inlay at the age of 22, and has now gone through nearly half a century.
At the age of 72 this year, he is the only provincial master of arts and crafts in Chongqing and the only inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Chongqing "Traditional Filigree Inlay Craftsmanship".
Making dragon beards is Li Changyi's unique skill: the diameter of the thinnest part of the beard and hair is only 0.16-0.18mm, and they are welded on without a trace. If there is a breeze, they can tremble slightly... The filigree is inlaid in the film and television drama. Very common, this kind of handmade craftsmanship handed down by the royal family is mostly used in jewelry making.
In "Zhen Huan", "Yanxi Palace Strategy", "Wu Mei Niang" and other popular costume dramas, most of the golden crowns or hairpins worn by the queens and concubines are made using this technique.
Li Changyi has never left the industry since he came into contact with filigree inlay at the Chongqing Metal Craft Factory in 1972, and spent most of his life on filigree inlay.
Nowadays, Li Changyi's main job is to make samples and teach skills to apprentices. In addition, he still insists on painting in his own studio every day.
Similar to the wishes of many "intangible heritage" inheritors, Li Changyi also said: "I am old, but I hope to continue this skill."
Silky hair
Twist the filaments to a diameter of 0.16mm by hand
Filigree inlay is a fully manual technique. Each process must be operated by a dedicated person and checked by a craftsman. It takes a lot of energy and time to complete a product. The most difficult technique is the drawing process, which requires a 5mm diameter. Gold and silver wires are drawn into the required filaments, while the current thinnest filaments are only 0.16mm in diameter.
Filigree inlay, also known as fine gold craftsmanship, is to draw gold, silver, copper, etc. into filaments, and then rely on eight processes such as pile, build, weave, weave, pinch, fill, assemble, and weld to turn the filaments into jewelry or art. The products are inlaid with pearls, gems, and jade, and are made of high-quality wood, glass and other high-end materials.
Because the two independent techniques of filigree and inlay are often used together, they are gradually collectively referred to as "filigree inlay" and are named the first of the "Eight Yanjing". They were first divided into Beijing style, Sichuan style and Shanghai style.
During the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of high-ranking officials and nobles moved westward to Chongqing, creating a flourishing and prosperous age of filigree inlays from small characters to Linjiangmen.
After combining the advantages of the first two schools, the Yu School filigree inlay came into being.
In 2014, Yupai filigree inlay was also included in the Chongqing Intangible Cultural Heritage List. At present, Li Changyi has become the only master in Chongqing who is still engaged in filigree inlay production and the only inheritor of this intangible cultural heritage.
To obtain a suitable metal wire, in addition to melting the raw materials, it also has to go through steps such as tapping and wire drawing.
Regardless of these simple actions, the molten metal raw materials must be polished to the appropriate thickness. With these smooth and soft metal threads, craftsmen can carry out real filigree inlay production.
After woven into parts of different shapes with wires of different thicknesses, they are welded together at high temperature, and gems or decorations are inlaid in them to form a complete filigree inlaid ornament.
Li Changyi said that the charm of filigree inlays can never be expressed by machines. Welding filigree on jewelry or utensils without leaving marks is the core technology that filigree inlays can never be replaced by machines. When roasting, use your mouth to blow the higher-temperature outer flame to the interface of the filament, so that the filament can "grow" from the ornament.
Once the heat is not well controlled, the product will instantly become waste during welding.
As skilled as Li Changyi, it takes 24 hours to weld a simple piece of gold and silver.
Apprenticeship
22-year-old and filigree inlay forged a "fate of fate"
Speaking of his experience with filigree inlays, Li Changyi admitted frankly that it was not his own choice at the beginning, but more like an arrangement of fate.
In 1972, in order to expand the scale and variety of production, the Chongqing Gold and Silver Jewelry Factory was changed to a metal craft factory. It received 1.2 million yuan in funding and began to build a new plant and recruit foreign workers.
Li Changyi, who loved art since childhood and liked making small handmade toys, quickly signed up and was hired as a jewelry worker.
Since Li Changyi had studied fitter skills at Chongqing Air Repair Station, he was taken seriously as soon as he entered the factory. While learning to make steel molds with engraver Wu Suzuo, he practiced filigree and cold production with Zhang Qiduan, an old filigree inlay artist.
When he first started learning filament, Li Changyi suffered a lot. Because the machine was not advanced, he could only beat gold and silver into pieces by hand and twist them into strips. After countless pulling and rubbing, the filaments would be as thin as hair.
At that time, due to daily rubbing, the blood blisters on Li Changyi's hands burst again and again, and finally a thick callus was formed to relieve the pain.
Less than two years after entering the factory, the factory gave Li Changyi the opportunity to study at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts.
At the beginning, there were five factory designers, and only two of them went to the Academy of Fine Arts for advanced studies. Li Changyi got one of them.
Looking back now, Li Changyi feels very grateful for the learning experience at that time. “This time at Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, without other interference, allowed me to concentrate on learning sketching, meticulous painting, color, pattern design, sculpture, etc.”, and Zheng Zheng It is this more than a year of advanced study that has made Li Changyi's skills more comprehensive.
After returning from school, Li Changyi began to engage in the processing and design of gold and silver jewelry. During the day, he rushed to work in the factory. At the same time, he continued to learn techniques from his master.
Later, he and the experienced masters in the factory produced a silverware handicraft called "Peacock Open Screen Large Hanging Plate". This handicraft is very stunning and its emerald green feathers are vivid. He was selected to represent Chongqing to participate in the United States. It was bought at a high price by a collector on the spot.
Through his own efforts, coupled with the fact that Li Changyi has done more things, Li Changyi's design level has been continuously improved, and the factory has also increased production and market development. The master officially let Li Changyi do the design by himself.
After 1976, Li Changyi began frequent business trips to Beijing, sending hand-made samples of filigree inlays he made.
"At that time, Beijing's filigree inlay skills were more mature. I often went to Beijing to send samples. I also learned a lot of knowledge, and then I created my own style by innovating." Compared with Beijing, Chongqing's filigree inlay skills are slightly behind. However, Li Changyi was not discouraged. He focused on improving himself and studied drawing more carefully. The benefit of Chongqing Metal Craft Factory became more and more prosperous, and there were long queues of orders. The jewelry and pendants he designed were especially popular with the public.
All by enthusiasm
The harder you are, the more you want to learn. If you stay up late without going to bed, you have to study thoroughly.
Li Changyi still remembers the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of working in the factory when he was in his 20s and 30s: "At that time, the more you learn, the more energetic you are, and the harder you are, the more you want to learn. He has a lot of drills. It really depends on enthusiasm. Design samples and make samples by yourself. , I took over a thing from work in the morning, I hope to finish it as soon as possible, and I have to study it thoroughly if I stay up late without sleeping."
Even if there is no overtime pay and no extra benefits, Li Changyi never complained.
"I still remember my salary at that time was 18.5 yuan, and I paid 12 yuan a month for my family's living expenses, and the rest was used to buy paints and tools for sketching." For Li Changyi, it was. During a poor and happy and fulfilling day, in order to save living expenses, I had breakfast and couldn't bear it at noon. I had to hungry and eat till night.
When sketching from life, Li Changyi had to carry water, scones or pot helmets on his back every time, and walked at least 30 to 40 kilometers, tired and energetic.
The days of delivering goods to and from Beijing were also very unforgettable for Li Changyi. He recalled that at that time there were only sleeper trains from Chongqing to Beijing, and it took more than 20 hours to arrive one way.
Every time he goes to Beijing to deliver goods, he has to carry more than ten boxes alone. The train is very crowded. He is responsible for taking care of his samples at all times.
When I arrived in Beijing, I started to design and modify according to the request of the other party. I was drawing pictures in the hotel at night, and the train on the return journey was also rushing to work and changing the plan.
I went to work and proofed the next day after I got home from a business trip, and rarely gave myself a vacation.
At that time, Li Changyi had to go to Beijing at least five or six times a year to negotiate with foreign businessmen from Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
He still remembers the place "Fuwai Street" clearly, "When I arrived at the railway station, I had to take the 103 bus to the delivery location every time."
Li Changyi said that Chongqing's filigree inlay was in this time period when it was most brilliant. It was in the 1970s and 1980s, and the annual output value of the factory could reach hundreds of millions.
In the mid-1980s, a jewelry factory that had been in business for ten years began to transform into large-scale ornaments, producing bottles, plates, and other ornamental pieces in order to increase production and generate foreign exchange income.
"This poses a problem for us, because there are more types of ornaments than jewelry, and the technical requirements are higher. To make a three-dimensional model." Li Changyi said.
However, it is both a problem and an opportunity. The transformation of the factory-made products has also allowed Li Changyi to fully develop his skills in sculpture and painting. He quickly started to produce filigree crafts with three-dimensional images such as birthday stars, Guanyin, dragons, and horses.
In 1988, Li Changyi applied the filigree technique to three-dimensional ornaments and produced the silver ornament "Silver Palace Ship".
This work is made of tens of thousands of silver filaments as thin as hair. It integrates flat filling, piled, filigree, coiling, winding, and clamping. It has conquered the industry and is still in the Chinese arts and crafts. In the award, he won the second prize, and finally Li Changyi won the title of "Master of Arts and Crafts of Sichuan Province".
After the introduction of the "Silver Palace Ship", the factory orders increased, and Li Changyi became busy again, working overtime to produce to ensure quality, while trying to control the production cycle within two months to ensure supply.
Before Li Changyi retired, he had been very busy at work. It was his wife who took care of the housework and children wholeheartedly.
His wife's support and understanding of his work made Li Changyi very grateful and gratified.
Curve to save the nation
After retiring, I still visit all parts of the country just to preserve the filigree skills
Every craftsman’s wish is to carry forward his own business with his handicraft, and Li Changyi is no exception, but the changes in the world under the tide of the times are unavoidable.
Around 2000, the traditional handicraft industry suffered a huge impact, and the processing of handicrafts gradually became desolate.
In 2004, the Chongqing Metal Craft Factory where Li Changyi was located went bankrupt.
Witnessing the whole process of the factory from reconstruction to take-off to decline, Li Changyi felt very uncomfortable.
The original technical backbones and workers in the factory switched careers one after another, seeking new outlets.
Li Changyi also faced the difficult choice of whether to stick to it or to find another way out.
“In fact, the factory started to make gold products in the early 1990s. I also went from a filigree inlay designer to a gold product and jewelry processing staff. In 2001 and 2002, because the price of gold raw materials in Hong Kong and Macao was lower than ours, machine processing Faster than us, the gold market in the Mainland was not competitive, and the factory went bankrupt." Li Changyi recalled.
There was no opportunity to make filigree in Chongqing, Li Changyi did not give up, but planned to let go of his hands and feet to walk outside and look for opportunities.
In that year, he was already more than 50 years old.
After traveling to Beijing, Chengdu and other places, Li Changyi decided to go to coastal cities to see opportunities, and went to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen successively.
He found that open cities like Guangdong and Fujian prefer machine processing.
Although machine processing means a higher level of modernization, Li Changyi knows that this path is not suitable for him, nor does it conform to his original intention.
For Li Changyi, Chongqing's filigree inlay skills are more integrated and diverse, and the skills of other regions are not suitable for him, a native of Chongqing.
"I'm a craftsman, and I'm not interested in machine processing," he said.
When he was in Shenzhen, Li Changyi worked in one of the largest gift companies in the area, but he still didn't have much chance to make the filigree craft he likes. His job was to design gifts.
However, he insisted on doing design while doing his own business. Because it was designing gifts, Li Changyi had the opportunity to make decorations here.
"I like to make boats because I worked as a fitter on a boat when I was a teenager."
One of Li Changyi's filigree inlay masterpieces sold at high prices, "The Dragon Boat of the Prosperous Age", was completed here.
After working for nearly a year, Li Changyi went to another gift company in Xiamen, Fujian Province through a friend's introduction to make models and designs of resin products. There, Li Changyi worked for another seven or eight months.
The turning point occurred in 2006.
That year, Li Changyi's father fell ill, and he chose to go back to Chongqing to look after his father.
A gift company in Chongqing learned that Li Changyi was a scarce talent in traditional filigree craftsmanship, and sent a sincere invitation to Li Changyi, hoping that he would come back and pass on the disappearing silver craftsmanship.
Li Changyi mentioned that the secretary general of the Arts and Crafts Association at that time also tried his best to keep him: "Chongqing's crafts are not good anymore. You are a master, you should come back and bring some, with management, processing, and apprentices, otherwise no one will make this thing. NS."
In this way, Li Changyi, who was wandering away, was finally able to return to his hometown of Chongqing, opening the way for the inheritance of filigree inlay craftsmanship.
"The boss of this gift company used to do gift business in Shenzhen. Later, the gift market in Shenzhen was too saturated and he came back to Chongqing. I do filigree here and the boss is very supportive. I just made a few items there." Finally, I had the opportunity to make filigree, but the problem still exists-the finished product is not easy to sell because the price is too high, and Li Changyi has to do the work of gift design at the same time.
Inheritance of disciples
"Are you sincerely willing to learn this stuff?"
In 2013, there was a student of Chongqing Technology and Business University named Zuo Shuqiao.
He saw the report of Li Changyi, the inheritor of filigree inlays, on the Internet, and the idea of apprenticeship was born.
Li Changyi didn't agree to Zuo Shuqiao's request at the beginning, but asked him: Are you sincerely willing to learn this thing?
He has his own worries about accepting disciples: "If it's just a temporary interest, it will be meaningless if I take pains to teach you."
Li Changyi knows that this craft is by no means a job for impatient people. A skilled filigree craftsman will have to spend at least three years of hard work in order to learn.
In the face of every person who apprentices to learn art, Li Changyi will first examine his personality, and then look at his comprehension.
The young Zuo Shuqiao’s tenacity is also very strong. In order to get Li Changyi to agree, Zuo Shuqiao found a workshop on the first floor near Li Changyi’s home for Li Changyi to use exclusively for teaching. At the same time, he also founded his first home in Chongqing. studio.
This made Li Changyi feel that this young man was not on a whim, but really wanted to take the filigree inlay skills as a lifelong career.
After nearly a year of "investigation", he officially accepted Zuo Shuqiao as his disciple in October 2014. This was also the first college student apprentice Li Changyi accepted.
When Zuo Shuqiao's store was on the right track, Li Changyi also began to recruit second and third apprentices.
It slowly developed to today. Just last month, Li Changyi also accepted new apprentices and held an apprenticeship ceremony.
Today, Li Changyi’s apprentices have many people with different identities and backgrounds, including fresh graduates, and even teachers from Jiaotong University. There are many college students in the Academy of Fine Arts.
Speaking of his apprentices, Li Changyi’s tone could not hide his pride and gratification: “The apprentice I led has six or seven filigree studios in Chongqing, and each studio can generate two or three million in sales each year. The total sales amount can reach eighteen million." Since 2015, Li Changyi has personally taught and accepted apprentices, and now apprentices have also started classes, and the number of students enrolled across the country has reached as many as 2,000.
At present, the studios of Li Changyi's apprentices are gradually on the right track. The main profit channels are sales of filigree inlaid jewelry and training.
Li Changyi also takes time to visit the apprentices' studios every month. How is the studio's products doing? What are the technical problems? Give them suggestions and cheer.
When first recruiting apprentices, some children were from poor families and had no money to buy tablet presses and other tools. Li Changyi helped him to buy them.
Li Changyi often tells his apprentices, don't give up halfway.
Regarding inheritance, Li Changyi also has his own worries: “The apprentices only learn filigree, but they cannot stop on this basis and do not move forward. They have to learn the next step, learning sculpture, shaping, painting, etc. If you don’t engage in fine art, If you don’t understand the combination of various skills, you can’t design new things. It’s still impossible.” Despite that, Li Changyi also understands that the apprentices also have their difficulties: “I’m twenty-six or seven years old and need to earn money. The goal is not like we had the backing of factories back then. Now they rely on their own money to support their families." Li Changyi's words are full of understanding and distress.
Among the many disciples of Li Changyi, Zuo Shuqiao had the greatest influence on the path of non-inheritance.
Two years ago, Zuo Shuqiao set up an intangible cultural heritage studio in Shuangjiang Town, Tongnan District, Chongqing City. With the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and the promotion of intangible cultural heritage as the foundation, with the support of the Shuangjiang government, the seemingly distant intangible cultural heritage Flowers on the ground.
Nowadays, Li Changyi works at his desk and paints in his own studio all day long. He says painting is his old profession.
In 2013, Li Changyi painted the Chongqing Three Gorges, a total of 12 pictures.
The subtlety is that they are separate paintings, and they are connected as a whole. This work won the Innovation Award of the National Tourism Products Souvenir Exhibition that year.
Someone once asked Li Changyi, in the eyes of others, the daily work of rubbing, threading, tapping, and beating is really boring, so why can you never get tired of it?
Li Changyi gave the answer: "I have one of the biggest motivations for making filaments, which is responsibility." Li Changyi said that from a young age in the factory, he held the concept of "doing the best and not asking for return".
Now, as the non-genetic inheritor of Chongqing filigree inlay, the sense of responsibility for protecting filigree inlay technology is even more heavy in Li Changyi's heart.
Others have asked Li Changyi when he plans to retire and enjoy his life?
Li Changyi replied: "I won't really rest in this life. I have brought so many apprentices, and there are still many techniques that I haven't taught them."
The 72-year-old Li Changyi’s greatest wish is: the filigree inlay craftsmanship can be passed on forever, so that more people can appreciate the beauty of complex art.
In his early years, he never stopped the brushes and tools in his hand. He practiced the skill hard in the first half of his life, and passed it on in the second half of his life. This skill is still in his heart.
"I have done filigree crafts for a lifetime, and I can't cut it off from me."
Text/Reporter Lei Ruotong
Photo courtesy/Li Changyi