China News Service, Lushan, March 30th (Zuo Lingyun Fuchao reporter Wang Haoyang) In the Xiufeng Scenic Spot at the foot of Lushan Mountain, there is a Lushan Venus Inkstone Culture Museum. The exquisitely carved inkstones on the booth are arranged in an orderly manner. Humanistic stories such as "Pickling Chrysanthemums in Yuanming", "Li Bai's View of Waterfall", "Love Lotus in Lianxi" and "Scenery of Kuanglu" are fascinating, and the lifelike patterns are breathtaking.
The curator Li Pinghan is familiar with the stories behind these works.
"Since I became attached to Jinxing Inkstone in the 1990s, I only want to do this thing well in my life. As the inheritor of Jinxing Inkstone's production skills, I will use my life's efforts to inherit this national intangible inheritance."
"Samurai loves swords, literati loves inkstones".
As one of the four treasures of the study, the inkstone platform first appeared in the Han Dynasty.
China's first "Inkstone History" records that there are bluestone inkstones in Lushan Mountain, which are mainly produced in Song Village at the foot of Tuoling Mountain, Hengtang Town, Lushan Mountain, also known as Venus Song Inkstone.
The color of the Venus inkstone is as blue as jade, the buckle has a sound, the Venus is bright, and the breath is like a cloud.
Li Pinghan said that according to folklore, the first Venus inkstone came from the hands of Tao Yuanming, a literati of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
In the poetic imagination of the literati, Mr. Wuliu, who "planted beans at the foot of the Nanshan Mountain", "returned with a moon and lotus hoe", washed his pen with a clear spring at the foot of Lushan Mountain, studied ink with Venus, and wrote the "Peach Blossom Spring" in his heart.
Venus inkstone is favored by ancient and modern literati for its rich colors and varied textures.
Li Pinghan said that in the period of the Republic of China, there was a military school in Lushan, and many people bought inkstones as gifts in the county seat "Inkstone Street". At that time, there were more than 100 inkstone-making workshops in the city. From the 1980s to the 1990s, Jinxing inkstones frequently It has won awards in national exhibitions and competitions, and its products are exported to Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and Europe and the United States.
Li Pinghan (left) introduced Jinxing Inkstone and Inkstone.
Photo courtesy of the United Front Work Department of the Lushan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China
In 1992, under the influence of his wife Jing Guizhi, Li Pinghan first came into contact with Jinxing Inkstone, and then devoted himself entirely to it.
Carving inkstones is hard and tiring. If the product sales are not good, living will be a problem.
The husband and wife often carry heavy Venus inkstones, or set up stalls in Lushan Mountain, or squeeze into trains and go to other places to sell, and they struggle to protect and inherit the culture of Venus inkstones.
"During its heyday, there were more than 400 people working in this industry in Xingzi Arts and Crafts Factory and Sculpture Factory. Later, because of the industry downturn, the inkstone market was cold and could not be sold at high prices. The income of apprentices was not high. Many people went to Suzhou to engage in the brick carving industry. , less and less adhere to." Li Pinghan said that cultural heritage cannot be cut off, no matter how hard it is, he must be the forerunner who holds the torch high.
In the workshop of Li Pinghan's hometown of Jiaotang Town, there is a house full of inkstones.
"In the past, a large number of high-quality raw materials for Venus Inkstone were mined and sold as building materials, which would be a devastating blow to Venus Inkstone. Fortunately, the local government ordered the prohibition of mining in order to protect the precious mineral resources of Venus Inkstone." Li Pinghan said, These stones were all "rescue" by him back then, and he spent almost everything to buy inkstones.
Open the tarpaulin and slowly rinse the stone with a water pipe. Patterns such as Venus, Golden Flower, Golden Halo, Golden Ring, and Eyebrows Gradually emerge on the bluestone.
In order to have a deeper understanding of the Venus inkstone, Li Pinghan went through more than ten winters and summers, traveled through the ravines of Lushan Mountain, knocked on the mountains and rocks, painstakingly searched for inkstone veins all the way, and made detailed records.
"The gold star in Caojiakeng, the silver star in Dingjiawa, the golden halo in Jishan of Hualin, the eyebrow pattern under the maple tree, the green of Lushan in Xiongjiagang, and the red-skinned water waves in Huangjia in the east, a total of 82 kinds of stones have been found so far. Color, stone pattern." In the Lushan Venus Inkstone Culture Museum, all the inkstone specimens are arranged in an orderly manner, showing the profound and extensive beauty of the Venus inkstone culture.
The Lushan Venus Inkstone Culture Museum displays inkstones of various textures.
Photo courtesy of the United Front Work Department of the Lushan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China
Li Pinghan worked hard, and vowed to carve the pristine stone into beautiful jade.
"It took me four years to travel all over Zhejiang, Anhui, Beijing and other places, looking for and arranging historical materials related to the Venus Inkstone, writing manuscripts and printing them into books, and spent nearly 300,000 yuan before and after. "Inkstone" is the first monograph to systematically study the Venus Inkstone since its inception."
One stroke and one chisel can give life to the stone, and one book and one article can continue the culture from generation to generation.
In Li Pinghan's view, nearly 30 years of perseverance and inheritance, as well as countless hard work and sweat, are all worthwhile.
"This is the responsibility and mission of the inheritor of Jinxing Inkstone. As long as it can leave a cultural wealth to future generations, I have no regrets."
In August 2020, the awarding ceremony of the studios of "Famous Teachers", "Famous Doctors" and "Famous Masters" in Lushan City was held at the new campus of Lushan No. 1 Primary School. As the leader of the first batch of "Famous Masters" studios, Li Pinghan officially entered the campus to promote the production of Venus Inkstones skill.
Li Pinghan expressed the hope that more people will join the traditional culture dissemination team in the future, and more schools will offer local cultural courses.
The Qiujiaao Venus Inkstone Research Museum in the Xiufeng Scenic Spot of Lushan Mountain has also become a window for the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage culture, receiving more than 100,000 research teams every year.
Xiong Zhifang, head of the United Front Work Department of the Lushan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that Lushan is a holy land of humanities and has a long cultural history. The combination of intangible cultural heritage and cultural tourism industry can vigorously promote the excellent traditional culture and enrich the cultural connotation of Lushan. The next step will guide and help Jinxingyan The development and upgrading of cultural enterprises and the promotion of sales on e-commerce platforms will allow Jinxing Inkstone to break out of the cocoon and turn into a butterfly in the future, showing new brilliance.
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