Beijing, 24 Mar (Xinhua) -- On 24 March, the Xinhua Daily Telegraph published a report entitled "Non-Hereditary Inheritors of the 'Post-90s': Between Knives and Wood, Carving Youth."
Downtown Nanjing, a quaint mansion. The vermilion lacquered gate is isolated from the hustle and bustle of the world, and the green brick Dewa reveals the taste of history.
In early spring, explore the cracks in the doorway, and the breeze gently blows the treetops. In a bucket room in the southwest corner of the courtyard, the birds outside the window are singing, and the room is silent, only listening to the rustle of wood chips falling from the planks.
On the old desk, carving knives of different shapes are placed among them. The small tin lamp next to the desk emits a brilliant white light. Wang Kang curled up on the case, clenching his fist knife in his right hand, holding the back of the knife with his left hand, carving the knife through the wooden board, and the Chinese characters of Junxiu slowly took shape.
The traffic outside the wall is busy, and this piece of tang pear wood board in front of him is Wang Kang's whole world.
Wang Kang visits the Scripture Edition in the Scripture Building of the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office (photographed on February 21). The pictures were all taken by Li Bo, a reporter of Xinhua Daily Telegraph
A seed
As the eighth generation inheritor of Jinling's engraving and printing skills, Wang Kang likes to use "fate" to describe his relationship with this ancient skill.
In 2010, Wang Kang, who was still studying in Nanjing Mochou Secondary Vocational School (now Nanjing Intangible Cultural Heritage College), majored in the identification and restoration of ancient books, and when he visited the exhibition of ancient book restoration achievements in Jiangsu Province, he met Ma Mengqing and Deng Qingzhi, two inheritors of the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office. An eye edge, the two teachers said on the spot, if you are interested, you can go to the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office to systematically learn the art of engraving and printing.
This accidental acquaintance planted a seed in the heart of Wang Kang, who has liked "upside-down woodcuts" since he was a child.
Soon after, Wang Kang, who commuted to and from school every day, unexpectedly found that the bus line was just passing in front of the Jinling Scripture Office due to diversion, and the seeds that had just been planted quickly sprouted.
In 2011, the school organized an internship, and Wang Kang found the Jinling Scripture Office. From studying art with a teacher to graduating from work, in his opinion, "everything feels arranged."
"A seed is planted, and it sprouts and grows in the darkness," Wang Kang said, "and the road is followed down, and it is natural." ”
Wang Kang sorts out the scriptures in the Scripture Building of the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office (photographed on February 21).
Located at No. 35 Huaihai Road, Nanjing, the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office was founded in 1866 by the famous scholar Yang Renshan in the late Qing Dynasty, integrating ancient scriptures, scripture collections, scripture carving, printing and circulation in one, and has a history of more than 150 years.
To this day, the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office still maintains the tradition of handmade books with "engraving, brushing and binding" as the main process. When engraving, the bottom sample is made of old Song characters, and the sample is engraved after being oiled. When brushing, the ink is first brushed on the warp plate with a broom, then the rice paper is covered, pressed with a rub, and then the printed page is removed. In the binding, dozens of processes such as pagination, folding, picking, bundling, compacting, column, string paper twisting, cutting books, eye punching, covering, wrapping corners, binding, sticking strips, and binding sleeves are all completed by hand.
For the first "post-90s" who wanted to learn engraving and printing in his contact, Deng Qingzhi, the seventh generation inheritor of Jinling engraving and printing technology, once doubted whether Wang Kang could "eat this suffering".
"The inscription should take away the fancy heart, and then sit down and do it safely, from morning to night," Deng Qingzhi said, "Many young people can't eat this suffering." ”
The work is not only hard, but also the income is not high, in the face of worldly considerations, Wang Kang admitted that he also thought about giving up, but the love in his heart made him persist.
"From the moment I carved the first engraving, I liked the way the wood chips bounced off the top of the plate," Wang Kang sighed, "like a piece of petals, thrown out by myself." ”
Wang Kang practices engraving wood planks in front of a workbench (photo taken on Feb. 21).
"Treasure of town"
In the backyard of the Jinling Scripture Inscription Office, there is a simple two-story small building, and the gold couplets of "Circulating Merit Collection, Continuing The Heavenly Master" on both sides of the main entrance are awe-inspiring. This "Scripture Building" is the holy place of the Jinling Scripture Inscription Office, which contains 125,000 sutra plates, bringing together the painstaking efforts of generations of craftsmen.
When he first came to the scripture engraving office, Wang Kang just caught up with the scripture building to perform "surgery". In order to protect the national treasure in Wanquan, the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office rebuilt and strengthened the Jingban Building and upgraded it to a cultural relics warehouse that can meet the conditions.
At that time, Wang Kang, together with his colleagues, moved out the plates in the warehouse, cleaned up and sorted them out piece by piece, and put them back into the "upgraded" version building. Because of this, he said he was "associated" with almost every sutra, including the "treasure of the town" – 18 large Buddha statues.
Most of these 18 large-scale Buddha statue plates were engraved during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, and they are the pinnacle of Chinese engraving and printing history from both a craftsmanship and an artistic point of view.
"When I first saw these 18 plates, I took them as my ideals and pursuits." Recalling the situation at that time, Wang Kang's tone improved slightly.
"It's my life's dream to carve out works that can go hand in hand, even if it's a little distant."
Wang Kang visits the Scripture Edition in the Scripture Building of the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office (photographed on February 21).
Only after seeing heights that they cannot reach will they truly feel their own smallness. The close contact with the "treasure of the town" made Wang Kang greatly shocked, inspired by this, and began to immerse himself in learning art.
"Apprenticeships in general start with observation. Follow Master every day, observe carefully, do not hurry to move, and see what doorway you can see from observation. ”
The master in Wang Kang's mouth is named Ma Mengqing. When he was a teenager, his hearing was impaired by the effect of drugs, but he was a "hearted" person. If the ear can't hear clearly, use the eyes. When learning art, Ma Mengqing observed the hands of his masters without leaving, but he learned faster than others, becoming the representative inheritor of the sixth generation of Jinling engraving and printing technology.
To engrave words by hand, you need a calm heart. According to Wang Kang, people who are anxious in their hearts have "fire gas" in what they carve out.
"For example, if you have just finished squeezing the morning peak and your heart has not yet calmed down, you have begun to carve, then what you carved out is mixed with the impatient 'fire' in it." People didn't soften up, they weren't so calm. When you do this, you are actually disrespectful to your craft. ”
Bowing his head, holding his breath, concentrating, the carving knife wandered on the wooden board, and his thoughts were immersed in the square inches. Master told Wang Kang that the process of carving is also the process of refining, tempering not only the kung fu in the hand, but also the human mind.
"What you want to achieve, how to achieve it, and why others can achieve it, these are all things that need to be considered." Wang Kang said, "In the process of refining, constantly improving one's own height, when there is no way to improve, then repeat it, this process of rebirth from maturity is very critical." ”
In the blink of an eye, Wang Kang participated in the carving of more than 20 ancient books and nearly 100,000 words. He said that whenever a plate of engraving is freshly baked, the joy is like "witnessing the birth of a baby with your own eyes."
Wang Kang engraves a carved wooden plank in front of a workbench (photo taken on February 21).
The lights don't go out
Master, Master, like Master.
The engraving and printing technique of the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office is the remnant of Chinese engraving and printing technology, which occupies an important position in the history of printing in the world, and has always been taught orally by teachers and apprentices for generations.
"There is such a process of learning engraving: when you advance the door, it is a tool to make, generally this tool is the master to take you to make a set, and then you have to learn to ponder, learn to use it yourself, and then receive the training of engraving, including material selection, sample, and then engraving, and finally sorting out this series of processes, which is also the establishment of feelings between master and apprentice."
After years of teaching, body and art inheritance, Wang Kang regards it as a process of cherishing his talents.
"Over the years, my communication with Master didn't require language at all, and I could basically understand each other with one look. As Mimatsu Shiono wrote in "Keeping the Craft," the process of learning to work is the process of understanding each other with an honest heart. Eating the same pot of rice and doing the same work, naturally, the relationship between master and disciple is formed. Every day, Wang Kang followed Master to quietly start and end the day's work in the old house with white walls and black tiles.
Since the establishment of the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office in the fifth year of Qing Tongzhi (1866), the engraving and printing technology here has been passed down for eight generations, of which the fourth generation of inheritors has reached 19 people due to the brief revival after the founding of New China, and then the number of people has dropped sharply, and to Wang Kang's generation, ushered in a turnaround.
In 2009, the "Jinling Engraving and Printing Technology" represented "Chinese Engraving and Printing Technology" and was selected as the United Nations Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. There was a sudden increase in attention from all sides.
With the attention of the state and the revival of traditional culture, many colleges and universities have opened courses and related majors on the inheritance of China's intangible cultural heritage. In Deng Qingzhi's eyes, Wang Kang's batch of "post-90s" is different from the starting point of her entry into the industry, "The major they learned came with a foundation." Wang Kang began to be exposed to this skill from about the second year of college, first from drawing to painting, to brushwork, then to binding and framing, and finally to engraving and printing.
Deng Qingzhi believes that the master and the apprentice themselves are improving each other, and for traditional craftsmen such as her and Ma Mengqing, the arrival of fresh blood is urgently needed to add a little vitality to the engraving place.
When Wang Kang carved the words, he liked to listen to Yuval Harari's "A Brief History of Mankind". While listening, doing what you like, it is as if you feel the "breath of the universe". Engraving is a slow kung fu, the heart arrives, the hand can arrive. In that era, masters could carve 100 words a day. In Wang Kang's generation, it takes a day to carve 40 words, a panel is generally 400 words, and a board is carved for at least 10 days, which is very tempering.
In his spare time, Wang Kang likes national comics and also likes to play games. Like other art categories, the carving technique has been passed down from generation to generation, and it has also absorbed the unique charm of the engraver, and while having the beauty and value of traditional craftsmanship and culture, the human breath is also three points in the engraving works. In 2020, with his exquisite skills, Wang Kang was identified as the youngest representative inheritor of nanjing's intangible cultural heritage "Jinling engraving and printing technology".
"I don't think the spirit of craftsmanship is about how well you have to do in this industry." Craftsmanship like ours is bound to be replaced by modern industrial production. What we need to learn is the perseverance and dedication of craftsmen, which is needed in all walks of life. Deng Qingzhi said.
The Jinling Inscription Office now has 125,000 engravings, and there are only a few skilled engravers, and it takes more than 5,000 years to back up all the engravings, and the harsh reality forces the inheritors to find new paths for heritage protection. It is necessary to use the latest digital technology to protect it, and the use of modern digital means is a very important and effective supplement to the traditional engraving and printing technology in jinling engraving and printing technology.
"Traditional culture and intangible cultural heritage need to further fit the times while conserving the essence of tradition, effectively use modern media methods, and widely disseminate them, so that more people can feel the unique connotation of traditional culture and intangible culture, and experience the 'culture' and 'far away' that belong only to us." Liu Dingyi, who is also an apprentice of the "post-90s", put forward his own views.
Choose one thing, one thing for a lifetime
Listening to nature is a truth that every craftsman understands.
Ma Mengqing asked the apprentices to understand the wood suitable for carving, not to choose the best, but to be the most suitable. The Jinling version of the stereotype has always used tang pear wood, which is moderately soft and hard, and the price is not expensive. Find the best tang pear wood, before writing the sample process, you need to boil the board with boiling water and then dry it, generally when the winter has just passed, and then take them out to dry, even if the board is hairy, it can only be dried, and after autumn, it will start to be shaved.
According to Wang Kang, a freshly carved book plate was taken to print, and the printed line strokes were prominent and angular, but it was not the best looking. Only after printing hundreds of times, the ink eats through the wooden board, after the broom is constantly polished, the strokes become rounded, and the printed work is the most beautiful, which is the result of the "fire gas" faded from the wooden board. There is also a difference between each sheet of paper and each sheet of paper, depending on the temperature, it may add a little more ink, the color will be a little darker, and a little less ink may dry up a little. Like a tinder, it will burn the plains.
"Handicraft, not only the order between the processes can not be changed, the previous people told you that the festival can not change, said to be the winter thing to do, missed, you can only wait for next winter, for example, if you have to soak the board in the summer, the final board will be mostly cracked, and finally affect the carving of the engraving, it is impossible to have a good engraving that has been handed down, insistently 'arranged in advance', but wasted a year of time." Wang Kang said that in order to protect the precious woodcut scriptures and ancient books, the scripture building has not used candles for hundreds of years, and the light source is the sunlight and moonlight in the sky, and the real sunrise is made and the sunset rests.
"We have so many flowers, so many grasses in our yard, each carving, just like every season has flowers that bloom in each season, and it has its own unique fragrance."
The engraving process of the "Jinling Edition" with exquisite engraving, large and eye-catching characters and excellent paper and ink has gone through a hundred years and integrated into the "ingenuity" of the inheritors. Each neat Chinese character carries the residual temperature of the person's fingertips.
Ancient Chinese engraving and printing technology was passed down from generation to generation at the Jinling Scripture Engraving Office. Generations of carvers have always been willing to grind out the calluses that accompany this craft for a lifetime.
This inimitable carving technique has bloomed at their fingertips for a hundred years.
Now, as the eighth generation of heirs, Wang Kang has also begun to bring his own apprentices.
Wang Kang wondered, "How to teach?" ”
Master replied, "How I learned before, how I teach now." (Moderator: Huang Zhen)