Intangible Cultural Heritage has a newcomer｜Wang Kang: Millennium engraved on a square inch

【Open Column】

　　General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "it is necessary to strengthen the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, actively cultivate inheritors, and make intangible cultural heritage bloom more charmingly."

Lychee News launched the "Youth Keeper of Artists" series of bilingual micro-documentary "Intangible Cultural Heritage There are New Talents", which traveled through thousands of years of cultural context, traveled thousands of mountains and rivers, recorded the renewal story of traditional intangible cultural heritage, and listened to the voice of the times of youth inheritance.

One session, one session, the image retains the memory, preserves the spiritual context, cultivates cultural self-confidence, and presents the splendid and continuous Chinese civilization to the world.

　　Beitong Presidential Palace, Nanlian Confucius Temple, and No. 35 Huaihai Road are located at Xinjiekou, Nanjing, which belongs to the downtown area.

Da Yin is hidden in the city. Located on this house number is a quaint house. Surrounded by high-rise buildings, it highlights the purity and solemnity.

　　156 years ago, Yang Renshan, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, founded the "Jinling Sutra Engraving Office" here. The Chinese Buddhist scriptures in temples across the country are basically stored here. At present, the best engraving works in the country and the world are also preserved here.

In this small world, one of the intangible cultural heritages of the United Nations - Chinese engraving and printing skills (Jinling engraving and printing skills) has been passed down to the eighth generation.

As always: the fate of "post-90s" new and millennium craftsmanship

　　In 2010, 18-year-old Wang Kang also studied ancient book identification and restoration at Nanjing Mochou Secondary Vocational School (now Nanjing Intangible Cultural Heritage Institute).

When representing the school at the Jiangsu Province Ancient Book Restoration Achievement Exhibition, Wang Kang met Ma Mengqing and Deng Qingzhi, two inheritors of the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office.

With an eye for it, the two teachers told Wang Kang on the spot that if they were interested, they could go to the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office to systematically learn the techniques of engraving and printing.

　　In the graduation season of the following year, the bus that Wang Kang took to go to school happened to be diverted and passed by the entrance of the engraving office. "I pass by every day, why don't you go in and have a look?" With this idea, Wang Kang began to study arts and practice. .

　　Today, Wang Kang has worked in the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office for more than 10 years, and has participated in the carving of more than 20 ancient books with nearly 100,000 characters.

Recalling that he just entered the industry, Wang Kang has a certain sense of "the same as before". "A seed is planted, and it germinates and grows in the dark. This path is followed, and it is natural."

　　Before Wang Kang, some young people came to the engraving office, and most of them left after a short contact.

　　For Deng Qingzhi, the seventh-generation inheritor of the engraving and printing skills in Jinling, Wang Kang is the first "post-90s" young man she knew who really wanted to learn the skills of engraving and printing.

"Many people think that our craft is backward, but Wang Kang really loves it and is proud of it. Sometimes he will show people around with his engraved scriptures."

　　As for the source of joy when displaying works, Wang Kang likened it to queuing for food. "After waiting, the food you get will become more delicious. The process may not be easy, but the result will be infinitely beautiful."

　　Engraved in the thousand-year-old Buddhist scriptures buried in the clouds, Wang Kang's original intention is very simple, "I always want to show the best things to future generations."

That is a joy of inheritance.

Whenever the engraved pattern is freshly released, Wang Kang described it as "like witnessing the birth of a baby with my own eyes".

Thinking like grinding: the process of tempering skills and sharpening the mind

　　Like other art categories, the printing skills of Jinling scriptures are the wisdom passed down from generation to generation.

In the modern industrialized society, the Jinling engraving and printing techniques still carry the warmth of the engraving people. While possessing the beauty and value of traditional craftsmanship and culture, the human breath is also deeply involved in the engraving works.

　　The history of Jinling engraving and printing techniques can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty a thousand years ago, and it is a part of Chinese woodblock printing techniques.

To this day, the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office still maintains the tradition of making books by hand with the main process of "engraving, printing and binding". There are more than 30 processes such as pagination and folding, all of which are done by hand.

　　In the engraving process, the right hand holds the knife and the left hand supports the back of the knife. After the two processes of sending the knife and picking the knife, the Chinese characters are gradually formed.

　　Wang Kang has calculated that sometimes it takes hundreds of knives to complete a word.

After years of engraving, a thick layer of calluses was formed in the center of Wang Kang's left thumb. Even so, if he did not pay attention to the back of the knife when sharpening the knife, he could still make a wound on the callus.

　　The engraver engraves the memory of history by hand, and the carving knife also leaves the craftsman's medal on his hand.

　　The tempering of kung fu is only one aspect, and there is also the human mind that has been honed.

Bowing down, holding your breath, and concentrating, the carving knife wanders on the engraving plate, and time stops between square inches.

In Wang Kang's view, the most difficult thing to overcome when learning to carve scriptures is loneliness and repetition.

　　"There is a teacher in our school who also listens to TV when repairing ancient books, because it is completely quiet and so lonely," said Wang Kang.

Even more unbearable for himself was the stagnant repetition.

　　Wang Kang is eager to make breakthroughs, even small changes.

There was a time when Wang Kang, in order to improve his craftsmanship, carried the original draft to and from get off work every day, and held it on the bus to read it, simulating how to engrave it in his mind.

He likes to ponder, which is the stubbornness and persistence of the craftsman.

　　Regarding how to break through the bottleneck period, Wang Kang also summed up eight words: come back to life, not broken and not established.

"You can't work at the current level, you have to throw away all the skills you've already mastered and start from scratch, looking for a new feeling. It's 'reborn'. After you throw away skills, you're bound to do things you didn't do before. Mistakes, only when you are wrong, you know how to not be wrong, this is 'no breaking, no standing'."

　　In the ten years of the engraving department, Wang Kang participated in the carving of nearly 100,000 characters.

After ten years of "polishing", the spirit of craftsmanship has long been embedded in Wang Kang's work, and it has also been internalized into his character.

"I used to be a very impatient person, but now, rather than speed, I want to be able to do one thing well."

　　This change also comes from the words and deeds of the two masters.

"Master is like a master, and his character will make you yearn, and make you hope to become like them, a person who pursues excellence and beauty."

As New as Old: Inheritance of Teachers and Taoism and Development of Integrated Innovation

　　The two masters mentioned by Wang Kang are the two inheritors who met at the "Ancient Books Achievement Exhibition" - Deng Qingzhi and Ma Mengqing.

　　Deng Qingzhi is the only female descendant of the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office for more than 100 years. Beneath his gentle appearance, there is perseverance in writing and carving every day for 30 years.

　　Ma Mengqing is the sixth-generation inheritor of the Jinling Sutra engraving and printing technique, and the only national-level inheritor of this technique.

Due to acquired reasons, Ma Mengqing's hearing was somewhat damaged.

At the beginning, there were some obstacles in Wang Kang's communication with him, but after years of teaching and learning, Wang Kang and his master basically need no language to communicate, and they can understand each other with just one look.

　　Regarding the feelings of the masters and himself, Wang Kang described it as "indulgence".

"Master Ma sees me sharpening a knife, he is worried that I will scratch my hand and wants to help me sharpen it."

　　In addition to the two masters, Wang Kang's growth is also inseparable from the "dialogue" with the ancients.

There are 125,000 pieces of scriptures in the scripture edition building in the back court of the engraving office, which is the hard work of generations of craftsmen. The gold-painted couplets on both sides of the main entrance "circulate the merit collection, continue the human and heavenly masters" describe the methods here. Pulse inheritance.

　　When he first came to the engraving office, Wang Kang just caught up with the completion of the repair of the scripture building.

In order to protect the hidden national treasures, the Jinling Sutra Engraving Office has renovated and strengthened the scripture building and upgraded its hardware to become a cultural relic library that can meet the storage conditions of cultural relics.

　　At that time, Wang Kang, together with his colleagues, moved out the prints in the warehouse, cleaned and sorted them one by one, and put them back into the "upgraded" version building.

Because of this, he is familiar with every scripture and admires the skill and wisdom of the ancients.

　　Wang Kang's dream is to be able to publish works that are on par with him. "Because of these unparalleled works in the world, our current skills can be improved." For Wang Kang, the process of engraving is using a knife. Go to those traces engraved by predecessors, and learn the angle and state of mind of predecessors' lettering.

　　"Our engraving is not to complete the task. As a craftsman, the responsibility is to show the best things to future generations to prove that we have come. If this thing is broken in the hands of my generation, I will pick it up later. , rely on photos and information? Do you imagine it yourself?"

　　For Wang Kang, carving scriptures is a job and a mission embedded in life.

　　From Ma Mengqing to Deng Qingzhi to Wang Kang, the printing skills of Jinling scriptures have been passed down to the eighth generation.

　　Deng Qingzhi said frankly that the spread of woodblock printing skills is not for productivity, but for cultural accumulation.

During the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games in 2014, the engraving department launched the engraving and printing works of the emblem and the mascot "Liao", which were displayed and interacted at the Youth Olympic Games venues.

　　When the cute and cute mascot meets the Jinling scriptures that have been passed down for thousands of years, the ancient skills have new vitality.

　　"There are a lot of people, especially parents with children." Wang Kang still remembers the scene of the crowd. "They all hope that their children can be exposed to more traditional culture, so that their hearts will be more enriched."

　　In Wang Kang's view, the preference for handicraft is the pursuit of being integrated into human DNA.

"Human development always needs individuality, not the same thing. Therefore, this ancient craft will not decline in the future. When the aesthetics is repeated, it will still be dazzling, but it all depends on how we give it to Keep going." Wang Kang said.

　　( The

Jiang Hongyi Wang Weijie

/ Jiang Hongyi Zhou Shijie

/ Li Hui Zhang Runsen summer

/ Yuan Jie Miao Xu Liu Bingxin Liu Xiangnan)