評(píng)論
打印
Reporter:
Tai Liping was born into a family who practiced the old tradition of Chinese folk art printmaking New Year posters for centuries. The family lived in Fengxiang in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, a little village famous for being a center of the popular Chinese print.
Tai Liping's grandfather was a respected printmaker, proficient in various techniques like painting, carving and printmaking. Tai's father successfully succeeded in the ancient handicraft and passed it on to him when he was still very young.
"I learned printmaking from my father when I was only 6 or 7 years old and began to use knife to carve at 8 or 9. Later I learned to draw patterns for furniture like cabinets and even for coffins, which enhanced my drawing skills. I did all kinds of work and I learned all the techniques by myself."
The Tai Family Fengxiang has a history of over 500 years. The 20th-generation successor, Tai Liping has gained a bigger success than his seniors. Besides enjoying a wide reputation in China, he has drawn attention from abroad. Newspapers like the European Times have reported on him. His artworks have been shown in Europe, Australia and Asia.
Having been working in the field for 50 years, Tai Liping knows his New Year poster making just like he knows himself.
"It's a very complicated process, needing over 30 steps. First a pattern should be designed and then posted to a wood block. Normally we use pear tree wood and the wood cannot be used until it has been air-dried for 3 years. Then we carve according to the pattern and dye the carving afterwards. Then we draw a colored pattern according to the carving, then carve and dye again... finally we print the patterns and make the New Year posters."
Tai Liping says he is deeply delighted every time he sees the posters made by him on walls and doors, chanting the happiness for the Chinese spring festival. Another honor for him is that Fengxiang New Year posters are regarded by experts as the best exponent of Chinese New Year posters. He explains it is because compared with other New Year posters in China, Fengxiang is the one representing local tradition the best.
"Our northwest region used to be very remote and isolated. This made our Fengxiang posters scarcely impacted by the art from the outside world and thus create a unique traditional style."
Tai says the style of Fengxiang posters is its straightforwardness and brightness, always with bright colors, just like the local people in Fengxiang.
To protect the traditional art, Tai Liping has been through years of hardship.
The storm of the Cultural Revolution starting in 1966 severely damaged Fengxiang New Year posters. Over 1000 precious printmaking patterns passed on by Tai's forefathers were ruined and lost during the period. Tai and his father stepped on their tough journey for the search and collection of the patterns when China's Cultural Revolution ended in 1976. Tai says that was indeed a hard time.
"The time between 1978 and 1980 was the hardest time. We were so poor then that we could not even afford a pack of cigarettes. I remember the first time we took 30 yuan and the second time 300 yuan to travel everywhere to search for the patterns and buy them back. Gradually we collected back over 330 patterns, which included over 2000 woodblocks. They can fill a 5 ton truck. With them I can open a big museum."
Tai says he is now still trying to find the lost patterns and also making efforts to create new ones. He says innovation is essential to cater to modern people's tastes nowadays as this traditional handicraft is not as thriving as in the old days. Meanwhile, the machine-made fast production of the posters nowadays has severely impacted the traditional hand-made ones.
However, Tai says he will continue his efforts for the revival of the art.
Tai Liping's wife, Wang Huifang (王惠芳), has been working with him through the years. She has witnessed his hard work.
"Very hard. He has carved the wood for so many years and the wood is very hard to carve. He works so hard. He now has got a serious illness in his cervical vertebra."
Tai Liping excitedly says a book about Fengxiang New Year posters was featured at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year and drew wide attention. He says he believes more and more people will get to know about the ancient handicraft.
Thanks Ying ying for that story.
You're listening to 'Heartbeat'.
