Qingming Festival: A Memorial Day for Ancestors
time, we also need to have a taste for the painting to be carved.”
For a long time, Beijing carved porcelain remained little known to many. In 2009, it got listed on Beijing’s intangible cultural heritage list, which brought it attention and financial aid from the Beijing municipal government. In 2014, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center of Beijing’s Xicheng District organized an activity to pool volunteers who were interested in China’s traditional craftsmanship and teach them the skills. In 2017, the Beijing municipal government held lectures in Beijing Union University to publicize Beijing carved porcelain among college students. As a result of the effort made by the government, more people have come to learn about this heritage.
Chen Yongchang hopes more young people will participate in protecting this art, and he vows to do whatever is needed to help preserve the craft. Now, Chen is passing this craft on to his student Zhou Xiaoming, who was one of the volunteers in 2014.
The Fourth Generation Successor: Injecting Emotions
Zhou Xiaoming is one of those referred to as millennials. She is now the fourth generation successor of Beijing carved porcelain.
Born in the suburb of Zibo, Shandong Province, Zhou says she grew up in a ceramic production center, and became familiar with this field from an early age. In addition, she majored in ceramic design in college and has studied Chinese painting since childhood.
“In 2014, when the protection center was looking for volunteers, I immediately signed up. As a lover of ceramic art, I find carved porcelain very interesting, and I want to inherit it if I have the chance. At the time I singned up, I had no confidence I would be selected as there were so many volunteers signing up. Luckily, I got the chance to sit together with nine other students in Mr. Chen’s class. Now I am the only one who has made it my life career.”
In Zhou’s eyes, porcelain carving is a comprehensive art, and its innovation lies in a deep understanding of its theory.
Zhou pays great attention to the temperature at which porcelain is baked. She uses a lot of porcelain from Jingdezhen in east China’s Jiangxi Province, since they are baked at a lower temperature, making the glaze relatively soft and easier to carve.
“I like carving on porcelain with transmutation glaze, a kind of porcelain baked by fire using a technique which gives the glaze ununiformed shapes. When I was creating my work ALonelyRoad , I tried more than 20 porcelain vases before finally choosing one. The glaze of the chosen vase trully resonated with my initial ideas as it looks like a winding road, reminiscent of the overland, winding road that Monk Xuanzang took from China to India in pursuit of Buddhist scriptures. At times it was windy, snowy, freezing, and at other times there were sand storms and burning hot weather.”
Zhou wrote her thoughts on paper and displays it together with the work at exhibitions so viewers can further understand the background of her carvings.
The injection of new blood into this venerable art is revitalizing Beijing carved porcelain. There is still much lying ahead for us to further explore this century old art.