Nanjing gold foil forging technology

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Nanjing gold foil forging technology

Applicant: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Item No.: 386

Project No.: VIII - 36

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Jiangsu Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Protection unit: Nanjing Jinxian gold foil General Factory

Brief introduction of Nanjing gold foil forging technology:

Applicant: Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Nanjing gold foil forging industry originated in Longtan garden, Qixia District, which once belonged to Jurong county and Jiangning County. It is said that GE Xianweng (Ge Hong) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was the ancestor of gold foil forging. The legend that "the immortal family made gold foil" has been spreading among the gold foil makers. Ge Hong is a man of Xiayin in the north of Jurong county. In the old days, those who made gold foil in Longtan were dedicated to ge Xianweng. He offered incense all the year round and knelt down on his knees during the Spring Festival. He also put a hammer beside the incense table to pray for God's blessing.

According to the old artists, the first people to make gold foil in Nanjing were all Longtan people, with three surnames of Liu, GE and Yin. Liu made gold foil, Ge cut gold foil and printed gold thread. Before the founding of the people's Republic of China, there were gold foil workshops in liuziqiao and siduanwei around Longtan.

The earliest record of gold foil production techniques can be found in Song Yingxing's Tiangong Kaiwu of Ming Dynasty: "when gold foil is made into thin pieces, it is wrapped in black gold paper, and it is hard to beat it with a short handle (about eight Jin weight) Nanjing gold foil is made of real gold through more than ten processes, such as rewinding, slitting, patting, twisting, opening, decorating, playing, producing, cutting gold foil and inspecting packaging. Among them, the most difficult process is to make a piece of gold into a 0.1 micron thin piece. When two people fight face to face, they have to fight tens of thousands of times. According to folklore, one or two pieces of gold can cover three parts of an acre. According to scientific calculation, 943 pieces of gold foil are only one millimeter thick, and 10000 pieces of gold foil weigh only 178.125 grams, which shows the fine craftsmanship.

Nowadays, all the temples in China, as well as China Hotel in Moscow, the Imperial Palace in Thailand, the archway in Osaka, Japan, and the official residence of President Zaire are shining with the brilliance of Nanjing gold foil. The gold foil used in the fields of food, makeup, architecture, art, decoration and so on is also mostly made by Nanjing craftsmen.

Nanjing gold foil is an outstanding representative of traditional handicrafts. At present, Nanjing Jinxian gold foil General Factory, located in Longtan street, and Jiangning gold foil group, which moved to Jiangning in the 1980s, are still engaged in this industry. However, foil making is a labor of high skill and high physical consumption, and few young people are willing to join the industry. Therefore, there is no successor in the whole gold foil industry. At the same time, the derivatives of gold foil have been replaced by a variety of alternatives, resulting in the shrinking market. In addition, the traditional process of gold foil is constantly squeezed out by foil making machines, and the forging technology of gold foil is facing the risk of loss, which needs to be protected.