(New Year walks to the grassroots) Shanxi Palace Lantern "Guardian Artist": The shadow of the lantern has been deeply reflected for a hundred years
Chinanews.com, Yuncheng, February 4th, title: Shanxi Palace Lantern "Guardian Artist": The shadow of the lantern has been deeply reflected for a hundred years
Author Yang Peipei
On the eve of the Lantern Festival, in a courtyard in Wangshou Village, Xinjiang County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, Feng Huailin, the inheritor of palace lantern making skills, was still making the final order before the Lantern Festival.
Palace lanterns are endowed with beautiful meanings to "light up" the new year.
"Thousands of gates are unlocked and thousands of lanterns are lit, and the capital is moved in the middle of the first lunar month." "Mountains of moonlight lights are full of emperors, and fragrant cars and treasures cover the pass and thoroughfare." Since ancient times, lanterns have been favored by countless literati.
Palace lanterns, as the most representative lanterns, have been shining brightly for thousands of years.
Palace lanterns, also known as palace lanterns, began in the Eastern Han Dynasty and flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Palace lanterns are mainly made of fine wood, inlaid with silk and glass, and painted with various patterns with beautiful meanings.
On this basis, the Jiangzhou Palace Lantern made by Feng Huailin incorporates traditional artistic elements such as paper-cutting and blue-and-white porcelain to meet the aesthetic needs of contemporary people.
A blunt knife carves birds and animals vividly, and a bald pen fully demonstrates traditional skills.
Photo by Wu Junjie
The 62-year-old Feng Huailin has been making palace lanterns for more than 20 years, and the "love" of his palace lanterns has been inherited from his predecessors.
"I inherited the court skills of the Qing Dynasty. My grandfather was good at carving, and my father was good at mortise and tenon." Over the years, he has continuously learned painting, calligraphy, sculpture and other skills, integrated them, and formed his own style.
Feng Huailin liked to do handicrafts since he was a child, and often made wooden household utensils.
When talking about the first palace lantern he made, he has a deep memory.
During the Spring Festival of that year, he made a pair of palace lanterns with the help of several palace lantern designs handed down from his ancestors, and gave them to his son as a Spring Festival gift for blessing.
"In 1996, I resigned from my job as a teacher and devoted myself to researching and making palace lanterns." Feng Huailin said that despite constant twists and turns, he never thought of giving up.
I am a craftsman and even a "artist", hoping to pass on this century-old skill in the shadow of the lamp.
For this reason, Feng Huailin established Feng's Palace Lantern Research Institute in 2006, hoping to expand the influence of palace lantern craftsmanship.
One year, none of the palace lanterns he made were sold, and the whole family could only live on the money earned by his wife's part-time job.
From then on, Feng Huailin, who refused to admit defeat, took the palace lanterns to many places to participate in various exhibitions.
After years of hard work, coupled with Feng Huailin's various shapes and exquisite workmanship, the palace lanterns are very popular among the people.
The reputation of Feng's palace lanterns has soared, and orders continue to flow, gradually going out of Shanxi and going to the whole country.
In Feng Huailin's home, palace lanterns can be seen hanging everywhere inside and outside the house, a blunt knife carved birds and animals vividly, and a bald pen fully demonstrated traditional skills.
According to Feng Huailin, the production of palace lanterns includes more than 20 processes such as material selection, design, flattening and polishing, hollowing out, and polishing.
Most of the content is dragon and phoenix bringing good fortune, prolonging longevity, historical allusions, landscapes, flowers and birds, etc.
Photo by Wu Junjie
"The materials and selection of palace lanterns are very particular. I use century-old walnut wood from the Luliang Mountains. The production is also strictly in accordance with the drawings, so that there is no difference." Feng Huailin told reporters that while inheriting the court skills of the Qing Dynasty, he also It is necessary to innovate and combine with modern elements, so as to "go far".
Today, Feng Huailin is motivating fellow villagers to make palace lanterns.
The palace lanterns produced by him include Jiangzhou Palace Lantern, Number One Scholar Lantern, Four Seasons Peace Lantern, Five Sons Win the First Prize Lantern and other series.
Feng Huailin also serves as an instructor of palace lantern skills in many schools. "The purpose of recreating this ancient skill is to let more people pass it on. This is a kind of wealth left to us by history. I hope this palace lantern can 'light up' people. Every year in the world." (End)