Inkstone making skills (Helan inkstone making skills)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: inkstone making technique (Helan inkstone making technique)

Applicant: Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Item No.: 916

Project No.: VIII - 133

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Protection unit: Yinchuan culture and Art Museum (Yinchuan Mass Art Museum)

Brief introduction of inkstone making technology (Helan inkstone making technology)

Applicant: Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Helan inkstone is produced in xiaogunzhongkou, Helan Mountain, 40 kilometers west of Yinchuan city. As early as the 45th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1780), it was recorded in the geographic mountains and rivers section of Ningxia Fu Zhi: "Bijia mountain, at the mouth of the small rolling bell in Helan Mountain, three peaks stand up, just like a penholder, under which purple stone can be used as inkstone, which is commonly called Helan end." It has been mined since it was discovered in Qianlong period. Helan stone has fine and uniform structure, fine texture, hardness and softness. It has bean green and deep purple color superimposition. It is also inlaid with stone eyes, jade belts, cloud patterns, eyebrows, etc., forming various pictographic patterns. Therefore, inkstone makers pay attention to the use of "Qiao color" carving patterns. Helan stone inkstone has the characteristics of fast ink, fine ink and no damage to the pen. Helan stone inkstone has a very high artistic value, there is a saying in the late Qing Dynasty that "one end two she three Helan".

During the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Yunting, a native of Hubei Province, went to Ningxia as a soldier and passed on the inkstone making skills to Yan Wanqing and Yan Wannian. As adults, they were well-known in Yinchuan because of their good inkstone carving. Yan Wanqing has three sons: Yan Zijiang, Yan Ziyang and Yan Zihai. Before liberation, Yan Family inkstones, which were famous in Yinchuan, were all made by Yan's father and son, among which Yan Zijiang was the most skillful.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, Yan Zijiang's three apprentices, Chen Meirong, Shi Kejian and Yan Linlin, were able to design and produce Helan inkstones independently and became craft artists. In the later stage, Yan Shuying, Yang Wu, fan Qingyun, Zhang Fengling, Ma Jihong and other apprentices were added. In addition, Yan Ziyang's apprentices Shi Biao, Wang Wenhua, and Wang Yi also became craft artists one after another. So far, the production technology of Helan inkstone has been passed on to the fourth generation.