China News Service, Lanzhou, March 19 (Wang Muyu and Li Yalong) In early March, reporters came to the work factory of Liang Baobao, the representative inheritor of Tianshui City’s intangible cultural heritage project "Tianshui Wood Sculpture". He has been obsessed with wood carving for 56 years and has been obsessed with wood carving for most of his life. Inside the factory The simple daily utensils were covered with thick dust. What were shiny and new were various wood carving knives and tools, as well as the wood carving works that Liang Baobao regarded as treasures.
The picture shows Liang Baobao performing wood carving creation activities.
Photo by Li Yalong
Liang Baobao, who is over seventy years old, is a native of Tianshui.
His second uncle was a carpenter, and under his influence, Liang Baobao became interested in carpentry from an early age.
When he was less than 10 years old, he often helped his second uncle pull rulers and sweep sawdust, and sometimes secretly made some small objects with leftover materials.
When he was in middle school, his art teacher discovered his talent and arranged for Liang Baobao to study painting and sculpture in the school's amateur art group.
After graduating from high school, Liang Baobao was recruited to work at the Tianshui Pneumatic Factory, and then was transferred to the Tianshui Automobile Repair Factory to engage in mold carpentry.
After retiring early, under the guidance of his middle school art teacher, Liang Baobao began his beloved wood carving career.
In order to understand and master Tianshui wood carving techniques, Liang Baobao spent a long time studying the wood carving patterns on ancient buildings in Tianshui.
At first, he wanted to do a good job so as to attract customers, but he didn't expect that he didn't have a thorough understanding of the wood properties of the raw materials. The furniture he made with great efforts soon deformed and cracked, which troubled Liang Baobao a lot.
After a period of observation and thinking, Liang Baobao discovered the mystery.
"Wood, like people, has habits. No matter how long it takes, it must be allowed to have its 'strength' gone, in order to avoid fission caused by thermal expansion and contraction, and the object can be long-lasting and durable." Liang Baobao said.
The picture shows Liang Baobao carving works with a carving knife.
Photo by Li Yalong
"Strengthening" is the jargon of their industry, which is the process of letting the wood have a final shape.
Liang Baobao said that the pear and walnut wood he is using now takes about one and a half years from "strengthening" the wood to the actual completion.
With a deep understanding of the properties of wood, Liang Baobao's work has never been out of shape again.
Liang Baobao's workshop is filled with all kinds of wood. He works there from morning to night. Others may think it is very boring, but Liang Baobao never tires of it.
Chisels, files, carving knives... were constantly changing in his hands. He was carving and filing now, as if he was casting "magic" on the wood.
Looking at the peonies that have been formed under Liang Baobao's hands, they are either in bud or in full bloom. At a glance, they seem to be "alive" and ready to be picked.
Liang Baobao said that interest and love are the best teachers and the endless motivation to achieve success.
"I have long regarded wood carving as an indispensable part of my life. As long as there is a little innovation and improvement on the original basis, I will be excited." He said.
Liang Baobao clearly realizes that wood carving craft is a cultural carrier produced in a specific social environment and natural environment.
"You cannot blindly pursue novelty and innovation and lose the most authentic things. If you think wildly without regional culture, it will become completely different and lose the original characteristics of wood carvings." Liang Baobao said.
The history of Tianshui wood carving can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty. It gradually matured after entering the Ming Dynasty and reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty.
Liang Baobao said that Tianshui wood carving has its own characteristics, and the influence of Tianshui carving techniques can be seen in the carvings of carved beams and painted buildings in ancient cultural relics or ancient houses, as well as in the archways of Fuxi Temple, Confucian Temple and Chenghuang Temple.
Liang Baobao said that in Tianshui, the birthplace of Fuxi, carving works that best represent the symbols of the Tianshui region, such as the Fuxi Bagua, is something that the masters engaged in wood carving crafts aspire to do.
The protection and inheritance of traditional wood carving craftsmanship as intangible cultural heritage is the foundation of his persistence over the years.
In recent years, Liang Baobao has participated in the restoration and carving of the "Eight Immortals Celebrating the Birthday" of the Tianshui City God's Temple Archway, the "Double Dragon Tai Chi Picture" of the back window of the main hall of Fuxi Temple, the "Confucius Statue" of the Dacheng Hall of the Confucian Temple, and the design and production of the plaque on Li Guang's tomb.
The picture shows Liang Baobao displaying his life-long wood carving work "Heaven and Earth Open Treasures Shine on the Sun, Moon and Feng Shui".
Photo by Li Yalong
The wood carving work "Heaven and Earth Open Treasures Shine on the Sun, Moon and Feng Shui" is the work of Liang Baobao and his apprentice.
The work can be decomposed from a wooden board into two pieces, two pieces into four pieces, four pieces into eight pieces... The entire work is decomposed through multiple levels using carving techniques, and is divided into 175 pieces in total, with sixty-four hexagrams. Each part is explained with a QR code, such as Fu, River Diagram, Luo Shu, Five Elements, Twenty-four Solar Terms, Twelve Zodiac Signs, etc., which visually displays the philosophical concepts of Fuxi's hexagrams in a three-dimensional and intuitive way.
In recent years, purely handmade wood carvings and furniture have become popular. Liang Baobao's wood-carved classical furniture has become a hot commodity, with continuous orders.
But Liang Baobao said that it would take at least half a year to make a pair of classical armchairs, and the work is done slowly and carefully.
Even if you can't produce a few things throughout the year, and you can't make much money, you still have to live up to the carving skills left by your ancestors. The future will still "revolve around wood carving."
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