Non-genetic inheritance | sunflower art, not just a sunflower fan!

In the long history,

People who have lived here for generations,

Left us with a wide variety,

Unique and precious intangible cultural heritage,

Now,

These traditional cultures and techniques

In the process of inheritance and innovation, new flowers are blooming.

today

Let’s learn together.

National intangible cultural heritage:

Xinhui kuiyi

Xinhui

Since ancient times, it has been rich in Pukui and is known as Kwai Township.

Xinhui people from the Eastern Jin Dynasty

I started planting sunflower as a fan.

palm-leaf fan

Is the representative of Xinhui Kuiyi.

Making a sunflower fan

More than twenty processes are needed.

Planting sunflower, picking sunflower, drying sunflower,

Baking fan, cutting fan, cutting fan, closing fan …

On the coast of the South China Sea, the west bank of the Pearl River and the bank of Yinzhou Lake, there is a famous cultural city with a long history-Xinhui. Xinhui is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, and it is also known as "Kwai Township" because it is rich in Pukui. Xinhui sunflower art has a long history, and the planting and processing of sunflower trees began in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. After more than a thousand years’ exploration, Xinhui people have integrated knitting, embroidery, painting and printing, making the processing of sunflower art products reach a superb position. In the most prosperous period of sunflower industry, Xinhui has more than 300 sunflower factories and more than 500 varieties of colors, and its products are exported to Europe, America and Southeast Asian countries.

At the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Qu Dajun wrote in "Guangdong Xinyu Pu Kui Fan": "The edge is made of the silk of wild silkworm, embedded with the piece of Bai Lin, the handle is made of the brand of Qinglang, wrapped with the thread of dragon beard and rattan, painted with copper nails, and the painting is gorgeous."

In 1958, Premier Zhou Enlai visited Xinhui and made a special trip to Kwai Art Factory, and spoke highly of Kwai craft products in Xinhui. When Guo Moruo visited Xinhui in 1959, he praised the sunflower fan technology: "The cool world comes from the hands, and it is more skillful than the ghost axe, flying all over the world and overwhelming the west wind." Guan Shanyue, a great master of Lingnan School of Painting, tried to "brand fire painting" for more than 60 times, but because he couldn’t grasp the strength of the soldering iron, he burned the fan every time. Finally, he had to throw a sigh of "branding": What a stunt!

▲ On July 6th, 1958, Premier Zhou Enlai inspected the sunflower industry in Xinhui. Photography: Cai Zhongzhi

The main products of Xinhui sunflower art include sunflower fan, sunflower basket, sunflower mat, cushion and sunflower coir. Besides, Xinhui sunflower art can also make a painting, a lantern and a screen, which has great plasticity.

▲ Tuyuan Xinhui released

Among them, the craft sunflower fan is the most famous one with pyrography and embroidery, which is one of the four traditional crafts in Guangdong. Fire painting fan is recorded in the records of Daoguang County in Qing Dynasty. Chen Wan, an old painter at the end of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty, pushed the skill of fire painting fan to the peak. In 1915, a sunflower fan in Xinhui won the gold medal in Panama International Expo. In 1952, it was listed as a special handicraft by the state, and also won the first "Hundred Flowers Award" of China Ministry of Light Industry and other national awards.Xinhui Kuiyi was selected into the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008.

▲ Screen pyrography sunflower art fan. Photography: Liao Huilin

Xinhui kuiyi

It has rich humanistic history and local characteristics.

Generations of new people and overseas Chinese

Have some feelings for sunflower fans.

It’s hard to find any industry.

Can be like kuiyi

Bring back memories of the older generation.

▲ Sticker birds of paradise Kwai Art Fan. Photography: Liao Huilin

Inheritance of sunflower art in Xinhui

In addition to innovation

We need more people who love Kwai Art.

Get involved.

Hope that our younger generation

Can experience and inherit the sunflower art culture.

More hope for high-level talents

Be able to use what you have learned.

Fusion innovation

Cultural and Creative Products of Jiangkui Culture

Bring it to our daily life.

Create a cultural card with the characteristics of overseas Chinese hometown

magpie

  Magpies can be said to be the most common birds in rural areas of Guanzhong, especially in the countryside near the northern foot of Qinling Mountains, on the big trees in front of and behind people’s houses, and among the branches on the banks of ditches in rural areas. Magpie looks very festive, with a round head, a pointed beak, a fat body, a long tail and feathers in black, white, blue and purple, which can be said to be loved by everyone. What the villagers like best is its chirping sound, which they think is an auspicious sound. "When the magpies chirp, the guests will come", which is a favorite saying in our village.

  I also like magpies for two reasons. First, I have lived in the countryside since I was a child. Magpies are more common and seen, just like my neighbors. When I am familiar with them, I am happy. Second, I think this kind of bird looks good and sounds good, unlike sparrows, which gather in groups in front of people’s eaves all day, chattering, making people upset, and sometimes harming crops and making people hate it. Nor is it like an owl, whose voice is sharp and harsh, such as a sharp instrument crossing a slate.

  In my memory, magpies are the most common in spring and winter, but they don’t seem to be seen much in summer. This may be the reason why the magpie’s whereabouts are not easy to be found in summer. In spring, magpies can often be seen in Yuan Ye, my hometown. They jump in the wheat field one by one, head by head, and look very fun; Or while chirping, slowly fly from tree to tree, and the tail feathers draw a beautiful arc. This season, magpies’ nests are also easier to find, mostly on tall poplars. Walking in the countryside, when I look up, you will see huge magpie nests, crouching peacefully among the treetops of Gao Yang willow trees, as if they were pieces of art.. The sky is pure and blue, not stained with a trace of dust. At this time, there may be wind, and the nest will gently shake with the wind.

  Although it shakes, there is no need to worry that the nest will be blown down by the wind, because magpies are masters of nesting. I have lived in the country for many years, and I have seen many bird nests, such as those of swallows, sparrows and turtledoves … I think they are not as beautiful and strong as those of magpies. Sparrows make a nest out of a mess of grass. Sometimes, they don’t even build such a simple nest, but live directly under the eaves of others or among the trees. Swallows’ nests are exquisite, but they are also built on the beams of other people’s houses, and they like to use old nests, which are neither as big as magpie’s nests nor as beautiful as magpie’s nests. As for the doves’ nests, they are mostly built in the oblique branches of the trunk of a big tree, which is not only sloppy, but also extremely unsafe. When I was a teenager, I saw more than once that the village children climbed the tree to dig out the nest of the turtledove, and the turtledove flew around the tree in shock. Magpies, on the other hand, have no such worries. Their nests are mostly at the top of big trees, and village children can’t climb them. Even if they climbed up, because the branches at the top of the tree were too thin, the children were afraid of breaking the branches and falling to the ground, and did not dare to climb to the top to dig out the magpie nest. What’s more, the villagers also forbid children to climb the tree and dig out the magpie nest. Therefore, it is very natural that magpies are more common in their hometown.

  In spring and summer, magpies are busy building nests, laying eggs and brooding, but in autumn, magpies seem to be more relaxed. This season, the young magpies have grown up, so they don’t need to be fed. There is plenty of food in the field, and they can eat without much effort. The full magpies are singing and playing in the fields, or in the big trees in front of and behind people’s houses. Only in winter, because of the lack of food and the cold weather, they seem sluggish and seem to be less active than in spring, summer and autumn. Magpies seen in winter are mostly foraging.

  I have long known that magpies like to live in exile. In the past, during those years in my hometown, I also often saw it. However, in the past twenty years, it seems that I have seen fewer magpies in the plains and Sichuan fields. Sometimes I see it occasionally, and it is often one or two, and there are no groups. And the magpie’s nest seems to be smaller than I remember. Looking at it, it is about the size of a basketball and stands alone among the treetops of a small tree. Last winter, I went to Fengyukou, Qinling Mountain to play. By the Hongcao River, I unexpectedly met a large group of magpies. They were screaming and laughing, jumping and pecking in a mountainous area. That carefree, makes me fascinated. I was excited for a long time, and I stopped in a hurry and watched it quietly for a while. At that moment, my heart seemed to have returned to my familiar hometown and my distant childhood. In a trance, I saw my kind grandmother take a big red window cut of a magpie and stick it on the pane. And outside the window, it is a place of snow, a tree of Qiongzhi.


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