Miao Lusheng production techniques

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Miao Lusheng making skills

Applicant: Leishan County, Guizhou Province

Item No.: 383

Project No.: VIII - 33

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Guizhou Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Leishan County, Guizhou Province

Protection unit: Leishan County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center

A brief introduction to the making techniques of Lusheng of Miao Nationality:

Applicant: Leishan County, Guizhou Province

Lusheng is an important producing area of Miao Nationality in Leishan County, Guizhou Province. Lusheng craftsmen live in paika village in Danjiang town of Leishan County, Pingxiang village and queniao village in Fangxiang Township, taoliang village and nianshu village in Taojiang township. All these villages are located in the mountains, and the traffic is very inconvenient.

To make Lusheng, one should not only know music theory, but also physics and mechanics. There are many kinds of Lusheng, with different sound quality and size. To make Lusheng that meets the needs, the craftsman should have long-term production experience. Miao masters who inherit Lusheng making skills only use bellows, hammers, brass, axes, chisels, saws, drills, bitter bamboo, tung oil and lime (some have changed to latex) to make exquisite and practical Lusheng. Lusheng made in Leishan area is famous for its pure sound quality and beautiful appearance.

Lusheng is a symbol of Miao culture. In the aspect of performance and playing, Lusheng integrates Ci, Qu and dance, maintaining the primitiveness and simplicity of Miao history, culture and art. Lusheng production technology has always been taught by the master himself, and there is no written information left, and the technology is exquisite, so it is difficult to inherit.

The technique of making Lusheng of Daguan Miao Nationality in Zhaotong City of Yunnan Province mainly exists in Tianxing Town, Daguan County, Zhaotong City. The Lusheng in Tianxing town is made of bitter bamboo, birch bark, Chinese fir and copper, and is made of knives, saws, planers, chisels, drills, hammers, scissors and furnaces. Lusheng is usually composed of three parts: Sheng pipe, Sheng bucket and reed. The common Lusheng pronunciation pipe is generally six. Wang Jiefeng, the successor of Lusheng in Daguan County, made an innovation on the basis of inheriting the ancestral secret skills. He changed the pronunciation pipe into eight or ten, and added a certain proportion of lead when smelting brass Sheng reed at high temperature, which enhanced the elasticity and toughness of Lusheng reed Wang Lusheng, the Tianxing Lusheng that has been handed down for more than a hundred years, has become the Miao village at the junction of Yunnan and Guizhou, adding luster to Daguan Tianxing Lusheng. But now, there are fewer and fewer artists like Wang Jiefeng who can skillfully make Lusheng, and there is no successor for their exquisite skills. They are in danger of losing their skills and need to be rescued and protected.