Visit the Lantern Craftsmen: Light up the Road of Intangible Cultural Heritage Innovation

Leng Wengang is welding the flower lamp frame.　Photo by Yu Jinfeng

(Spring Festival grassroots) Visit the lantern craftsmen: light up the road of intangible cultural heritage innovation

Yinchuan, February 11, China News Network Title: Visiting Lantern Craftsmen: Lighting up the Road of Intangible Cultural Heritage Innovation

China News Network reporter Yu Jing

A song is like the sea in spring, and a thousand lights are like day at night. Lantern Festival flower lantern is a custom for thousands of years, a flower lantern, meaning the New Year is red and red, pinning the good wishes of the artists. On February 11, a reporter from China News Network walked into the studio of Leng Wengang, a non-hereditary inheritor of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region District Intangible Cultural Heritage Lantern Making Technique Project, to feel the Chinese New Year flavor in the lanterns.

In Leng Wengang's studio, there are colorful flower lanterns with diverse shapes and colors everywhere, which are festive and peaceful. Only to see him use the index finger of his right hand to stick the paste, move it back and forth three or two times, and then glue the cut red paper to the lantern skeleton, skilled and fast.

Flower lanterns, also known as lanterns and lanterns, originated in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and spread throughout the song dynasty, after more than a thousand years of time, all kinds of changes are from the hands of lantern artists. For generations of craftsmen, flower lanterns are the skill of eating, but also the ingenuity of inheritance.

The most amazing flower lamp made by Leng Wengang is the marquee lamp. The marquee is also called "marquee lamp", which was called "lantern shadow play" in the Sui Dynasty, which is one of the flower lantern techniques. It is named because it has an impeller lying flat inside, a candle or lamp under it, a rising heat that drives the impeller to rotate, a paper cut of a person or a horse pasted inside the lamp, and a shadow projected onto the lantern paper cover, forming an interesting visual effect of "walking horses".

According to Leng Wengang, he learned the art of making lanterns under the influence of his father and grandfather since childhood. The marquee is a craft that he has been pondering since he was a child, and after 9 major processes such as design, material selection, molding, modeling, welding, and assembly, a complete marquee is considered to be formed. Its built-in rotating wheel axle generates an upward rush air flow when it encounters the heat of a candle or bulb, which rotates the color picture inside the lamp, which is displayed during the New Year and Lantern Festival, and can also add a little fun.

"The production of the marquee has principles and exquisiteness, and ordinary people really can't do it." Leng Wengang said proudly that the production of flower lanterns combines design, painting, paper cutting, structure, iron and other artistic skills, and only by mastering these can we truly make a marquee.

Leng Wengang told China News Network reporter that welding is a more complex part of the production process of flower lanterns. After continuous practice and exploration, he developed a "welding universal mold", which is suitable for the welding work of various lantern skeletons, making welding convenient and efficient, not easy to deform, which not only ensures the perfection of welding modeling, but also greatly improves efficiency. A flower lantern that used to take a week to be ready, under his innovative assembly line approach, shortened to one day to complete.

"I have also innovated and improved the process and packaging of the marquee, making the marquee not only practical but also more beautiful." At an intangible cultural heritage exhibition, Leng Wengang put the first improved marquee on the booth. "I didn't expect someone to buy it." And the price is higher than usual. ”

Since then, Leng Wen has just begun his innovation path, integrating traditional and modern elements, combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technology, and standardizing and modularizing the production of flower lanterns. He improved the internal and external rotation system of the flower lamp, which greatly improved the rotation stability and service life of the flower lamp. Innovative light source independent system makes maintenance more convenient and simple.

Approaching the Lantern Festival, Leng Wen had just entered the busiest season. Leng Wengang told the China News Network reporter that seeing that the flower lanterns he personally made were snapped up, the praise and applause of onlookers gave him great encouragement and encouragement, and his labor efforts can add luster to the festive day and pray for peace, and he has a sense of accomplishment. For the future, Leng Wengang frankly said that as a non-hereditary inheritor, he will continue to uphold the ingenuity and care of the ancestors in the future, continue to collect and learn more traditional cultural essences, integrate more and better traditional culture into it, and constantly upgrade and innovate to pass on the lantern skills. (End)