(Ecns.cn)--Today few foreign tourists or even younger generations of Chinese have even heard of the folk art of gourd pyrography, never mind considered adopting it as a career. Depressing as it is, this is the reality for this folk art around the country, said Chinanews.com on Monday.
Using small, heated iron pokers, the burning of images into materials like wood, leather and gourds was once a novelty that thrived in ancient times and still casts its elegant shadows in many places. A flexible craft, it was adapted to a variety of materials, including silk,rice-paper and chopsticks... in fact pyrography is pretty much everywhere you look when traveling around China. But, gourd pyrography is seen less and less, retreating from mass popularity to independent workshops.
The decline is unexpected. "The gourd has always been an auspicious cultural image for the Chinese, thus poker-pictures on dry gourds endured as a popular craft for hundreds of years," said Chen Sheng, a Shanxi-based folk art master.
But now, lifestyle changes have driven the popularity of such pieces down. In a time dominated by high-tech products, who wants modest, low-profile folk art? At the speed we live, who has the patience to read between the lines burnt into a dry gourd? In a society where slick lawyers, engineers and even taxi drivers make more money than a craftsman, who would even think of taking up the art?
This is exactly what vexes Chen Sheng. His workshop, located on the outskirts of Shanxi's capital of Taiyuan in North China, is a treasure house of exquisitely executed pyrograhy gourds of various forms, custom-made for differing usages. Business is fine, he says, but extra hands are badly needed. Chen is willing to tutor students, but has only one so far - a woman surnamed Gao.
"It's really hard to find more successors to the craft. Burning pictures into the dry gourd requires talents on painting and most importantly, patience," Chen complained, who added such requirements excluded many young artists.
As probably one of the most professional workshops of its kind, Chen's wins and earns wild attention. This coming Spring Festival, one of Gao's one piece of work- a thousand-hand Kwan-yin pictured gourd is to present in local temple fair.
If you have already interested, drop by when traveling in China at Chen's, and even learn a piece or two from the master to burn pictures into a dry gourd.
Address: 115 Xinjian Road, Taiyuan, Shanxi.
Tel: 0351-5628889
