Liuqing Bamboo Carving, the newest chapter of Jiangsu Culture is officially launched

In June, “Jiangsu Culture” series of micro-documentaries produced by the Information Office of the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government released the newest chapter: Liuqing Bamboo Carving.

To view the video, please click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-UlAXQpc&ab_channel=CharmingChangzhou

The documentary is based on three parts: “Prepare materials”, “Inherit skills” and “Develop civilization”. It presents the national intangible cultural heritage — Jianhu acrobatics, by carving of knife on bamboo, it is the footprints of human civilization, which is well-known both at home and abroad.

There are great expanses of bamboo forests along the Yangtze River in China. It produces abundant Moso bamboo in Changzhou, Jiangsu, so local people take the advantage, they choose the straight bamboo with flat and smooth surface, no spot and few joints, to make Liuqing Bamboo Carving, boiling bamboo to clear up the oil, then taking them out and wipe the surface at once, exposing them to the weather for 3-5 years, and finally getting perfect raw materials for bamboo carving.

Most bamboo carvers are skilled in painting, they draw their imagination on the bamboo surface, then present their works on the Liuqing, the surface of bamboo by pushing, carving, lifting, and stroking of knife as pen on bamboo as paper. It takes much time to practice completing the works smoothly by the knife technique. After the bamboo skin peeled off, landscapes and poems are gradually presented on the bamboo surface.

The bamboo skin is in a light color and turns yellowish over time, the bamboo body turns darker after a longer time. The different color levels tell folk anecdotes and record ancient culture. The descendants can see the prosperity and restoration of Jiangnan culture from only a short bamboo ruler. Liuqing bamboo carving, the carvings record history and passing of civilization and the civilization was nurtured in this land.

Source: Information Office of the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government