The lion dance troupes are sometimes accompanied by various characters such as the Big Head Buddha. Photo shows the Big Head Buddha perform on the stage before the salon. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Spring Festival is right around the corner. For locals in Guangdong, some traditional customs shall never be missed for celebrating Lunar New Year, including pasting Spring Festival couplets, New Year pictures and paper-cut for window decoration, watching lion dance, sending and getting red packet, and more.
Maybe you have known all these clearly, but do you know that among all the traditional customs for Spring Festival, many of them are actually intangible cultural heritages?
A group photo of the guests at the salon. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Recently, an exhibition themed on “When intangible cultural heritage meets with Spring Festival” is being held at the M Space of IFC Tower in Zhujiang New Town, Guangzhou from Jan. 9 to Feb. 10. It showcases four major intangible cultural heritages that are closely related to Spring Festival, which are festoon lion head, New Year wood-block print, Shiwan pottery sculpture and Chinese Calligraphy.
On the evening of Jan. 12, a culture salon took place at the exhibition, featuring inheritors of the above mentioned intangible cultural heritages. Dozens of citizens attended the event to experience the vibe for Spring Festival in advance.
Li Wei (R) shows how to make a small part for the festoon lion head. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Foshan festoon lion head
At the salon, handicraftsman Li Wei introduced the history and his family tradition of making festoon lion heads and taught attendees to make parts. A young lady tried to make a paper wrapped iron wire and failed several times. She said that it seemed easy but it was pretty hard.
Created during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, Foshan festoon lion head is one of the oldest ethnic Han handicrafts in Guangdong, with a history of more than 200 years. Foshan festoon lion head by the Li Family is lifelike, bright-colored, exquisite and solid. There are over 1,300 knots for one festoon lion head, which is the most compared with other kinds of festoon lion heads.
Li Wei is the only representative inheritor of Foshan festoon lion head at the national level. The Li Family is also the only family in Foshan which has been engaging in making festoon lion heads for five successive generations.
Liu Zhongping (M) teaches an audience (R) to make Foshan New Year wood-block print. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Foshan New Year wood-block print
By showing how to welcome “the god of fortune” through New Year wood-block print, Liu Zhongping was surrounded by a dozen of people at the salon. Step by step, she guided the audiences to make their own New Year wood-block prints.
Liu is a star pupil of Feng Bingtang who is the third generation inheritor of Foshan New Year wood-block print. She told everyone that her master is in old age, but still insists on getting up very early to make New Year wood-block print every day.
Foshan New Year wood-block print is one of the most famous New Year pictures in south China. It has been one of the necessities for Spring Festival for the households around the Pearl River Delta region. The ancient woodblock printing shop where Feng and Liu are from is the only one that has inherited the traditional handicraft fully in Guangdong. The Fengs and their apprentices travel a lot around the county to promote Foshan New Year wood-block print.
Liu Guoxiang (R) and his disciple make clay figurines on the stage. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Shiwan pottery sculpture
One after another, some lifelike clay figurines were made by Liu Guoxiang and his disciple in just a few minutes at the salon. The figurines can be smaller than adult’s thumb, but Liu managed to present them in a really fast and accurate way. The audiences were amazed and couldn’t wait to have a try themselves.
Shiwan pottery sculpture skill was originated from traditional potting artistry in Foshan. In 2006, it was listed as national intangible cultural heritage. Liu is an inheritor of this skill at the provincial level and also the fourth generation inheritor of the Liu Family which has been doing Shiwan pottery sculpture for generations. Liu not only inherits his father’s clay sculpture art, but also explores the combination of clay sculpture and bonsai.
Calligraphy artist Zhao Dawei writes down the theme of the salon on the stage. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Chinese Calligraphy
In fact, Chinese Calligraphy was listed as an UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009. For all the other intangible cultural heritages, there are inheritors. However, there is no specific inheritor for Chinese Calligraphy, because everyone who practices calligraphy is the inheritor of it, said calligraphy artist Zhao Dawei at the salon.
Calligraphy is used in writing Spring Festival couplets a lot. Even now, many people prefer to write their own New Year scrolls. By the way, Newsgd.com’s foreign fans also created some amazing calligraphy works for Lunar New Year last Saturday (see article).
After a brief introduction of Chinese Calligraphy, Zhao used brush to write down the theme of the event at the scene. The brush calligraphy work was posed for all the group photos by the guests and audiences.
(By Monica)
Liu Guoxiang's disciple makes clay figurines on the stage. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Liu Guoxiang's disciple (M) teaches an audience (L) how to make clay figurines on the stage. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Audiences learn how to make Foshan New Year wood-block print. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
A couple shows the Foshan New Year wood-block prints made by themselves. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Two performers pose for a photo with the festoon lion head. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
One performer poses for a photo with the festoon lion head.[Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
One performer poses for a photo with the festoon lion head.[Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Li Wei (L) poses for a photo with an audience and a festoon lion head.[Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Zhao Dawei stamped on his calligraphy work. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Zhao Dawei (M) shows his calligraphy on the stage. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
A group photo of the artists. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Audiences learn how to make Foshan New Year wood-block print. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Li Wei (L) poses for a photo with an audience and a festoon lion head.[Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibits on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibit on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibit on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibit on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibits on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibits on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibits on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibits on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
Exhibit on display. [Photo: Newsgd.com/Monica]
