Chinanews.com, Guangzhou, May 29th telegram: Guangzhou "post-85" leading carver Dragon Boat Festival rushes to make orders until 4:00 a.m.

　　Author Sun Qiuxia

　　In a quaint courtyard in Xiasha Village, Huangpu District, Guangzhou, Zhang Weichao, a "post-85" dragon head carver, and his apprentices are rushing to make orders for dragon boat heads and tails.

I saw that he held a carving knife in his left hand and tapped lightly with a hammer in his right.

Before the Dragon Boat Festival, he needed to build 8 new faucets and repair 9 old faucets, and he was often busy until four in the morning.

　　Picking up a dragon boat is a long-established folk custom in Guangzhou, which has formed a set of ceremonies for raising dragons, picking greens, racing dragons, hiding dragons and dispersing dragons.

Before the dragon boat race, the villagers had to lift the boat out of the water, and then put the dragon head and tail on to restore its former prestige.

For a dragon boat, the dragon head and tail are its soul.

The picture shows Zhang Weichao sculpting the faucet. Photo by Chen Chuhong of China News Agency

　　"It doesn't matter whether the dragon head is gorgeous or not, what matters is whether it can represent the spiritual culture of a village. Before each village asks me to make a dragon head, I will dig out the story of the village and integrate their culture with shapes, colors and lines. Go in." Zhang Weichao said in a recent interview with Chinanews.com.

　　Zhang Weichao is one of the few young dragon head carvers in Guangzhou, and he is also the inheritor of the "Dragon Boat Dragon Head and Dragon Tail Making Skills" project of Huangpu District's intangible cultural heritage.

At the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the countdown to the twenty-four solar terms started stunningly. A faucet with Lingnan charm jumped out of the water with splashes. This is Zhang Weichao's work.

　　He told reporters that a faucet can often be used for hundreds of years. For a village, it is a very grand event to be a faucet.

Stepping on the road of leading production stems from my own strong interest.

"My father is an old carpenter. He taught me how to make dragon boats since I was a child. My hands-on ability is very strong. When I was a child, I would make some small dragon boats to play in the water. One career was in 2010 when a special order came in."

　　One month before the Dragon Boat Festival in 2010, three new dragon boats were built in Luntou Village, Haizhu District, Guangzhou, and three new dragon boats were urgently needed.

Since some old faucet makers did not have a construction period, the villagers finally found Zhang Weichao and asked him to try it.

The picture shows Zhang Weichao sculpting the dragon's tail. Photo by Chen Chuhong of China News Agency

　　He admitted that he was not very sure at the time, but he still took the job and made three exquisite faucets within a month, "Suddenly a young man appeared to make a faucet, and everyone was very surprised. Since then, I have gained confidence that I can do it myself, and more and more orders have been placed.”

　　Hand-made faucets are very complicated, requiring more than ten tedious processes such as wood selection, material cutting, sketching, carving, grinding, polishing, and lacquering.

Zhang Weichao believes that the most difficult part in this process is the design stage, because each faucet is customized, and it is necessary to investigate and understand the cultural customs of the village, and integrate some elements into it, so as to make a warm faucet.

The picture shows the photo courtesy of the interviewee who was the leader of the "Old Dongpo" restored by Zhang Weichao for more than 100 years

　　After the design is completed, it is the production stage. Zhang Weichao told reporters that the production cycle of a faucet is usually about ten days, and camphor wood is generally used.

To carve a square piece of wood into a dragon head, rough carving is the most important thing. "Rough carving is to make structure, and every knife must be precise. The position of the eyes, teeth, mouth, etc. of the dragon head, as well as its appearance, must be known." .

　　In Zhang Weichao's studio, tools such as chisels, files, and carving knives can be seen everywhere.

He could not count how many carving knives there were in total, but if any one was missing, he could find it in time.

As his fame spread far and wide, some overseas Chinese also sought him to make faucets, hoping to bring the culture of their hometown to where they live.

　　Zhang Weichao said frankly that making a faucet was originally a hobby, but now it has become a responsibility, "There are fewer young people rowing dragon boats than in our time. I have an obligation to promote dragon boat culture, and to pass it on in a way that young people accept. ".

　　In recent years, Zhang Weichao has explained the carving skills of dragon heads and dragon tails to netizens through live broadcast. He also brought dragon boat culture and the production skills of dragon heads and tails to the campus.

In his opinion, "Although it is impossible for everyone to learn after a few classes, but through exposure to these things, children can learn about traditional Chinese culture and the roots of our culture."

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