Nuo mask in northern Guangxi: "god appearance" carved from a piece of wood

China news agency, Guilin, September 14, by wire: Nuo mask in northern Guangxi: "divine appearance" carved from a piece of wood

Author: Tang Weiqing, Ou Huilan, Li Wei

"In ancient legend, Lei Gong was a mythical figure with a pointed beaked monkey face, so I made Lei Gong into a pointed beaked bird face when making Nuo masks, using dark brown to represent solemnity as the overall color of Lei Gong's Nuo masks, gold to represent auspicious to decorate official hats and noses, and red to represent dignity as ears and eyebrows." Tang Jiangfeng, the representative inheritor of the Nuo mask making technique in northern Guangxi, recently described three Lei Gong Nuo masks to reporters at the "Guilin Xiufeng Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Experience Station".

Guilin, Guangxi, was once a place where the Chinese Nuo culture was very prosperous. The Nuo masks made in Guilin during the Song Dynasty were even more famous as the capital. Lu You, a patriotic poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, once mentioned in the first volume of Notes of the Laoxue Temple: "The government is in harmony with the middle and large exorcism. Go down to the Gui Mansion to enter the mask, and call it 'a pair'. At the beginning, he was surprised that it is less than 800 pieces. It is a big surprise that there is no similarity between the old and the young in beauty and ugliness. Up to now, the Gui Mansion has become rich, and the world and foreigners cannot match this."

The "thirty-six gods" exorcism masks in northern Guangxi are based on 36 characters in folklore and historical stories, including Pangu, Linggong, Li Jing, Lu Ban, Wu Po, and Kailu God. They are passed down according to the clergy, status, skill, character, and people's praise and criticism of them. They are classified according to their looks. The main tone of their faces is red, white, and gold, representing majesty, Kindness, kindness and ferocity. The tusks represent the animal gods in the nature, the variant facial contours represent mythical characters, and the exaggerated facial features are deformed to distinguish occupations and characters' unique temperament, which is the so-called "old and young are beautiful and ugly, without any similarity".

On September 6, Tang Jiangfeng, the representative inheritor of Nuo mask making techniques in northern Guangxi, was carving Nuo masks. Photographed by Ou Huilan

Tang Jiangfeng grew up in a carpenter's family in Shaoshui Town, Quanzhou County, Guilin City, Guangxi Province. His ancestors were mainly carpenters, and they could do furniture, flower and bird carving and other folk handicrafts. When he was young, he also followed his elders to learn the production skills of Nuo masks. When he grew up, Tang Jiangfeng has been engaged in wood carving industry all over the country. Years of precipitation also allowed him to accumulate a superb wood carving skill. In 2011, he chose to return to his hometown, Guilin, Guangxi, to start his own business.

"I hope that exorcism masks with traditional folk culture in northern Guangxi can be sorted out," said Tang Jiangfeng with emotion. At the 2014 China (Guangzhou) Folk Arts and Crafts Expo and the 3rd Guangdong Folk Arts and Crafts Expo, Tang Jiangfeng took his own wood carvings to the exhibition. The Peking Opera masks on display at the Expo greatly inspired Tang Jiangfeng, "Because I know masks, I think we also have Nuo masks in Guilin." So Tang Jiangfeng began to organize and make Nuo masks in northern Guangxi.

Since 2015, Tang Jiangfeng has spent more than three years traveling back and forth to his hometown, Quanzhou County, to consult with old folk artists and "teachers". When he is lucky, he can still see the Nuo masks they used. After taking a lot of photos and searching for information, Tang Jiangfeng completed the carving of the exorcism masks in northern Guangxi based on 36 characters from folklore and historical stories, and named these exorcism masks "thirty-six gods" in northern Guangxi.

On March 24, 2018, the exorcism mask of "thirty-six gods" in northern Guangxi was displayed at the 53rd "National Crafts Fair" held in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Photograph provided by respondents

Through continuous exploration and creation, Tang Jiangfeng and others created the arts and crafts work "Thunder Duke of Northern Guangxi Nuo Mask", which won the bronze medal of the "Eight Guangxi Heavenly Crafts Award" for Guangxi arts and crafts works in 2016. The whole set of northern Guangxi Nuo masks were also exhibited in Nanning, Xi'an and other places.

As the traditional exorcism masks are only used for traditional festivals, sacrificial activities, performances and other scenes, the market demand for exorcism masks is small, and the production of traditional exorcism masks of "thirty-six gods" in northern Guangxi is only a sideline of Tang Jiangfeng. In his spare time, Tang Jiangfeng also made some customized "special masks". Tang Jiangfeng recalled that a customer in Haikou once customized about 30 Chinese Nuo masks and traditional ethnic Nuo masks with African culture to him. Another Beijing customer saw a three-layer Nuo mask made in Guilin, China, when he was traveling in South Korea, and took a photo for him to reproduce it.

"Nuo mask belongs to the 'cold' intangible cultural heritage." Tang Jiangfeng sighed, "It is unrealistic for young people to wear this mask again, and it is not often used." In the future, he would like to make Nuo mask into a small souvenir such as a key chain, so that everyone can buy and carry it according to their favorite mythological characters. (End)

key word: Thirty-six gods Notes of Laoxue Temple Lei Gong of Nuo Mask in Northern Guangxi Wood carving Folk Handicraft