Chaozhou, an ancient cultural city with a history of more than 2000 years, has been known as "the first city in the east of the Five Ridges" since ancient times. Surrounded by three mountains and with Han River, Chaozhou has a continuous culture and profound heritage.
In October 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to Chaozhou to investigate, pointing out that "Chaozhou culture has distinctive regional characteristics, is an important part of Lingnan culture, and an important branch of Chinese culture", and earnestly urged "to protect the historical and cultural relics of the city, continue the urban culture, and make history and contemporary complement each other".
Time is the life dialectic of Chaozhou people, which is extremely subtle and broad. Embroidery needle picks out thousands of worlds, and there is a universe under the carving knife. The fragrance of Gongfu tea embodies the traditional cultural connotation of "harmony, respect, refinement, and joy".
17 national intangible cultural heritage projects, 47 provincial intangible cultural heritage projects, 139 municipal intangible cultural heritage projects... Chaozhou is a hot land bearing a heavy history and culture.
Chaoxiu Embroidery belongs to the Guangdong Embroidery School among the four famous embroideries in China. Its biggest feature is three-dimensional padding. It is famous for its exquisite embroidery, balanced and full composition, bright colors and three-dimensional sense.
"The Painting of Hundred Children" The tide embroidered screen has a full, balanced and symmetrical composition. One hundred children are either frowning or laughing, or fighting crickets or playing football, or beating gongs and drums. It is a noble and elegant folk art treasure with different shapes, vivid and vivid.
Chaozhou wood carving originated in the Tang Dynasty, and its craftsmanship is exquisite and exquisite. It is especially famous for multi-level carving techniques and gold paint decoration techniques, giving people exquisite and interesting artistic enjoyment.
The shrimp crab basket is the essence of Chaozhou wood carving art. It depicts the perfect combination of lobster, crab and bamboo basket with multi-level hollowed out carving and round carving techniques, which is lifelike. It is amazing to see the spirit in the big place and the spirit in the small place.
From traditional porcelain bottles to modern living porcelain to electronic ceramics, ceramics has developed into the first pillar industry in Chaozhou.
The hollowed out porcelain of Tonghua can reach as many as 5 layers, which can be painted on the glaze, or combined with reliefs and standing sculptures, or decorated with colored clay, etched gold, etc., which is exquisite and beautiful. Some porcelain petals do not sink in the water or break on the ground.
It is the characteristic of Chaozhou arts and crafts to be skillful, which can be best reflected in straw paintings.
The feather on the tail of a peacock in the painting needs to be cut for ten thousand dollars. The feathers on the neck are cut as thin as hair, vivid. Such a work will take nearly a year to complete.
Clay sculpture is one of the ancient folk arts in China. Among the three clay sculptures, Chaozhou Dawu clay sculpture is unique.
The clay sculpture in front of me has both figures, gods and shapes. It mainly focuses on the combination of characters in drama stories, and "plastic" talks about the vicissitudes of life in the history books of the stage. The biggest feature of Chaozhou clay sculpture is pasting. Craftsmen make clay figurines first, and then make clothes for them. They press the clay into pieces and fold pieces to make clothes. They "wear" the clothes to the clay figurines layer by layer, making the characters three-dimensional and textured, and finally achieving the effect of "living".
Chaozhou is a city with tea fragrance. "Sit down and eat tea." This is the most popular saying in the ancient city of Chaozhou. Ordinary people, a tea table, two moves of "Guan Gong patrolling the city" and "Han Xin ordering troops" came down, and three cups of tea were arranged. The aroma was dense, which most comforted ordinary people.
Chaozhou Gongfu Tea is a typical representative of Chinese tea culture. In November 2022, Chaozhou Gongfu tea art, as an important part of the project of "Chinese traditional tea making techniques and related customs", was successfully included in the representative list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind by UNESCO.
"Chaozhou craftsmanship is very particular, regardless of materials and working hours, and has rich characteristics. It runs through the whole social life of Chaozhou people. It is the inheritance of attention and refinement in Chinese traditional culture, the materialization form of Chaozhou cultural spirit, and an important medium for Chinese culture to transmit Chinese aesthetic charm to the world." Chen Xianwu, a scholar of Chaozhou literature and history, said.
The Han River is surging, the tide is flowing back and forth, and the fingers are in their prime for thousands of years. After thousands of years, the ancient city is full of intangible cultural heritage. Standing at the gate of the ancient city, we can still hear the thousand year old charm and the eternal pursuit of art told in the wind. Spring comes and autumn goes, and time is spent in Chaozhou people's life. The ancient city is more glorious in the creative transformation of culture and innovative development. We are also constantly writing new chapters of Chinese aesthetics with non legacies.
[Editor in charge: Yu Bijia]
