Beijing, February 28 Luliang electric Title: gourd branded "gold" Shanxi peasant woman "fire pen" to outline happiness
Author Yang Jing
From the ordinary peasant woman who grows gourds to the fifth generation inheritor of the production technology of Wenshui gourd, a national intangible cultural heritage, Xue gailian has an indissoluble bond with gourds. She hopes to constantly explore new fields of gourd culture and let more people feel the charm of Chinese traditional folk arts and crafts.
On the 28th, when I walked into Xue gailian's studio located in Wu Village, Nanzhuang Town, Wenshui County, Luliang City, Shanxi Province, I saw gourds of different sizes and shapes. Even the tea cups were made of gourds. These gourds were exquisitely made with branded words or paintings.
Xue gailian told reporters that in the early years, the family planted grapes like the villagers, but the yield was not good due to the influence of soil and climate. Later, through investigation and study, he began to try to plant gourd. "Determine the row spacing and plant spacing, how to prevent and control diseases and pests, how to set fruit, harvest, dry and store... Our husband and wife have repeatedly come to consult gourd growers hundreds of kilometers away, and gradually mastered the way to grow gourds."
Xue gailian, who loved painting since childhood, came up with the idea of painting on the gourd when she saw the harvest of vegetable gourd. "I tried to paint on the gourd, but the effect was not good, so I asked my friends engaged in gourd craft production for advice, systematically learned the craft techniques and tool use methods of painting, and slowly mastered the gourd painting skills."
Gourd pyrography, also known as hot drawn gourd and fire stroke gourd, is a traditional Chinese folk craft with a long history and unique artistic style.
"Making a gourd handicraft requires peeling, drying, polishing, carving, painting and other steps. It pays attention to creating scenery according to the shape. Each gourd has its own style." Xue gailian introduced that the gourd pyrography takes the gourd as the carrier, takes the pyrography as the means, supplemented by needle engraving, color painting, hollowing out, relief and other processes, and uses the techniques of hook, Le, dot, dyeing, wiping, line drawing and so on. In order to make his works more exquisite, Xue gailian also went to Shandong, Tianjin and other places to learn the pyrography technology and the intensive processing technology of gourd crafts.
Xue gailian's gourd pyrography gradually attracted the villagers in the same village. The villagers often came to inquire and learn. In order to facilitate the teaching of skills, she and her family set up a gourd planting and processing base in the local area to lead the villagers to increase their income together.
"Regular training twice a year, hands-on free teaching of gourd planting and branding technology. Now there are more than 10 gourd processing plants in the village, and more than 100 villagers master the gourd branding technology." Xue gailian said that under her own influence, her two daughters returned home to start a business after graduating from university and also participated in the research and development of gourd art.
In order to better inherit the old craft, Xue gailian continued to innovate, adding decoration methods such as Le Zha, model making, fire painting, flower escort and needle drawing in the production of gourd, and integrating some modern elements to attract more young people to pay attention to gourd branding. At present, Xue gailian is also cooperating with activities such as intangible cultural heritage into the campus and community to display gourd pyrography, so as to promote this traditional culture.
"In the next step, we will actively introduce modern planting technology, improve the scientific and technological content of gourd planting, continue to study gourd crafts, help improve the villagers' gourd processing technology, and let everyone make a fortune with small gourds." Xue gailian said.
