Bamboo museum celebrates ancient art form

Another center is in Jinling, Zhejiang Province.

Zhu Songling, a famous painter, writer and calligrapher from the era, developed the carving art form and passed it on to his son Zhu Xiaosong and grandson Zhu Sansong.

The most popular and traditional ancient patterns for bamboo carving were lotus flowers, trees, animals and Buddha figures, plus Chinese characters.

The works of one of China's greatest bamboo carving masters, Zhu Sansong, are displayed in the museum.

The outstanding exhibit is a brush pot which vividly depicts a story from "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms," showing expressions on the faces of people standing and sitting under the shadow of a big tree, chatting with each other.

The bamboo carving art works on display are widely different in form, including deep relief, low relief, transparent relief and full relief, techniques similar to wood carving.

Jiading native Wang Wei was the most famous carving master in the 1980s, training four apprentices and setting up a workshop. But bamboo carving is a time-consuming art and yields low profits.

With the art form facing extinction, bamboo carving was listed last year as a city-level Cultural Intangible Heritage, so more resources could be applied to protect artifacts and educate people about the craft. Jiading District also set up a bamboo carving association.

The initiative is paying dividends with evidence that bamboo carving in Jiading is gaining a nationwide reputation.

"It's the first time I've seen such a great variety of bamboo carving art works in Shanghai," said local visitor Yang Lin.

Source: Shanghai Daily