Chinanews.com, Lanzhou, December 3rd (Zhang Jing) "From 0.2 mm to 2 mm, creating on the surface of these thin and fragile eggshells is tantamount to a nirvana on the tip of a knife." Yang Xingguo has carved thousands of works. Now he is the leader of Gansu Provincial Skill Master Studio, and he is also teaching egg carving skills in some colleges and universities in the province, so that interested young people can hone their minds and master skills in egg carving learning.

　　12 years ago, Yang Xingguo was a long-distance freight driver on the Qinghai-Tibet Line. Although he loves handcrafting, he often holds the steering wheel with both hands. Only when he is free, he uses waste to create by hand.

However, when he posted the graphic and text tutorials of his works on the Internet, several tutorials received more than 100,000 hits. For a while, he was greatly encouraged by the praise of "handicraft expert" on the Internet.

　　At that time, Yang Xingguo was in his early thirties, and by chance, he saw egg carving artworks made by foreign artists on TV, which was enough to attract his attention.

Yang Xingguo was shocked by this handicraft art, because there were very few people who had contact with egg carving at that time, and there were very few relevant knowledge that could be found.

　　Until 2016, Yang Xingguo was invited to participate in the egg carving art exhibition, which broadened his horizons. Coupled with the local government's emphasis on egg carving art, he made up his mind to become a professional egg carving artist. "If you don't know how to do it, then teach yourself egg carving skills "However, he has no art skills, so in order to make up for his shortcomings in painting, he found books and copied them. After a long time, he has a deep understanding of the texture of eggshells, so he simply copied them directly with a carving knife.

The picture shows Yang Xingguo's egg carving works.

(Data map) Photo provided by the interviewee

　　Relying on his talent and love for handcrafted art, as well as his continuous hard study day and night for several months, he stayed in the room to study basic skills such as carving, relief carving, and shadow carving. Finally, he finished the first egg carving work. Up to now, many sculptures The pattern has been thoroughly familiarized, and the knife work has become more skillful and comfortable.

　　Yang Xingguo lives in Linxia, ​​Gansu, which has been called "Hezhou" since ancient times. The local intangible cultural heritage is rich and diverse, which creates a good cultural atmosphere for his creation.

With the continuous improvement of his carving level, the carving knife in Yang Xingguo's hand gradually focuses on the city's customs and cultural landscape.

Therefore, his egg carving works can also be called a cultural business card of Linxia Prefecture.

　　But in Yang Xingguo's view, Hezhou egg carving should not only stay at the level of "Linxia cultural business card", but also incorporate more cultural elements into techniques, crafts and even themes, so as to promote Hezhou egg carving to the whole country.

Later, the local tourist attraction Bafang Shisanxiang was built, and he was invited to settle here to set up a studio and perform for tourists.

　　In order to carry forward the skill of egg carving, promote Linxia's regional characteristic culture, and let more people have the opportunity to get in touch with this intangible cultural heritage, he gladly accepted the invitation to build a studio.

Since then, egg carving has not only become his hobby, but also his lifelong career.

　　Yang Xingguo displayed the characteristic culture of Linxia from a unique perspective. In the studio, various egg carving works are displayed in an orderly manner, among which there are some works with Majiayao, peony, and Linxia's natural scenery and architecture as cultural elements.

In 2018, Gansu Province named the "Provincial Skills Master Yang Xingguo Studio" after him.

He said that as an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, he wants to pass on this skill to more young people, let more people understand egg carving culture, continue traditional skills, and inherit the spirit of craftsmanship.

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