Red Internet Moment, Changde, July 30th (Correspondent: Xiaomao) Recently, as the sun set, we boarded the ferry boat at the Shuixi Pier in the Taohuayuan section of Yuanshui River and sailed to Bailinzhou, the largest river center island in the Yuanjiang River Basin. Standing on the bow of the boat, I felt as excited as attending a feast, full of imagination about the wooden buildings on the island.
Bailinzhou under the sunset.
's imagination of the wooden building originated from two conversations with the father and son wood carvers Wu Haiqing and Wu Zhoulong at the 6903 Waste Warehouse in the Taohuayuan Tourism Management Zone on April 28 and July 21.
The father and son were carving for Yun She in the 6903 scrap warehouse.
His mother grew up in a mountainous area and was used to living in a wooden house.
Wu Haiqing was born in February 1957.
"I studied in primary school for three years, and my schoolbag was only one card (five or six inches) long, containing a book of Chairman Mao's quotations." Wu Haiqing began to recall his journey since his schoolbag was very small when he was studying.
"Can you recite the third chapter?" As soon as I finished speaking, Wu Haiqing blurted out Mao Zedong's "Serving the People": "Our Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party are revolutionary teams. Our team is entirely for To liberate the people, we must work thoroughly for the interests of the people...We all come from all over the world and come together for a common revolutionary goal..." He continued without stopping what he was doing. "After a few years of idle time, I went to junior high school and graduated from Bagongqiao Commune Middle School in 1972. It can only be said that I graduated in time." With a little regret in his words, he continued to talk about his life. Experience:
After graduating from junior high school, he entered a commune agricultural machinery factory and studied blacksmithing for 3 years. He made farm tools and wielded a sledgehammer. At the beginning, he hit the master with a hammer and broke his index finger. He stayed there without daring to say a word. The master was in his 70s. (Multiple years old), I used Yunnan Baiyao to bandage it myself.
If you don’t want to forge iron, you will suffer a loss (very tired), and you will not be able to smoke the bituminous coal. Joined a nitrogen fertilizer factory as a contract worker for 2 years. Unconvinced, he ran away from the nitrogen fertilizer factory and Ding Ding Bang Bang went around looking for work. Life in Qinghai is difficult (I’m not used to it). Mutton and beef are half-cooked, without salt or oil. You can’t eat any of them.
arrived in Sichuan and learned to carve Bodhisattvas from his master. After carving all the way back, a Bodhisattva costs dozens of yuan, which is estimated to be 6 yuan a day. The temples are all on the mountains, and most of the time is spent in the mountains.
Learned carving in 1992, met Zhu Wen'an in 1993, and followed him to learn how to carve the eaves of a house.
Zhu Wen'an, the intangible inheritor of Taoyuan work, has participated in the restoration of the Forbidden City in Beijing, is a master of the Taoyuan Jade Society, and is a famous master of the Taoyuan generation.
worked in the Changde Changshenglu Pharmaceutical Factory owned by my nephew Jiang Songbai for 5 years. He carved figures and Western female heads, all of which were women, and placed them in the pharmaceutical factory. I worked at Mr. Li’s house in Huayanxi for six or seven years. I also did sculptures for Anhua Dark Tea . I work with a boss for several years.
My family is the most difficult one. I have lived in a 3-meter-wide hut for more than ten years and in a shed for more than ten years. (Father and son) spent all the money they earned from working outside on their daughter’s medical treatment. She fell ill before finishing the first semester of her freshman year of high school.
In 2006, when he (son Wu Zhoulong) was 18 years old, he was preparing to build a house. He wanted to give the mother and daughter a more convenient place to settle down, so he put in some bricks and steel bars. He (son) asked me ‘Can a brick house be carved? ’ A question struck a chord in my heart. Why don’t you want to build a wooden building? Don’t you have money on hand?
The love buried deep in Wu Haiqing's heart surged into his heart. After thinking about it, the wooden building plan was about to come out.
"Bailin Island is a river-center island. As far as the eye can see, people on the island are building brick-concrete buildings. Why do you want to build wooden buildings? Aren't you afraid of rising water?" I asked worriedly.
"His mother grew up in a mountainous area on the border between Anhua and Taoyuan counties, so she was used to living in wooden houses." Wu Haiqing's simple reason revealed a husband's deep love for his wife, the source of this love. Since his carving skills -
In 1982, Wu Haiqing was invited by Zhong Wanyou, a famous doctor who set bones and treated bruises and injuries in Yuanxi Village, Muzi Township, Anhua County, to carve Bodhisattva at his home. “There are no tigers in the mountains.There are not many people who carve Bodhisattvas, and only half of them are good at carving them. Even fewer people can carve the Bodhisattva's internal organs. It is a gift of culture and an intangible cultural heritage. "Wu Haiqing humbly stated the reason why Zhong Wanyou invited him, and also expressed the fate of two generations of folk cultural people.
2 Bodhisattva, Wu Haiqing carved it in 10 days, but he still lived in Zhong's house. It was 3 years until 1985 when he married Zhong Chufeng, the fifth son of the Zhong family.
In 1985, Wu Haiqing took his bride back to Bailinzhou. Soon, the water rose and his wife couldn't bear to live there, so the couple returned to Anhua. 10 She gave birth to their daughter in her parents' home in 1988. In the first month of 1988, her son Wu Zhoulong was also born in Anhua. The town was later placed under the Taohuayuan Tourism Management Area. Wu Haiqing said that the wooden building should be turned into a tourist attraction in Taohuayuan, which would be good for Taohuayuan and the local farmers. This is a craftsman’s love for this land.
Close and distant views of the wooden building.
Wu Haiqing started learning sculpture at the age of 20. In his own words, “I learned it late, but I learned it quickly and I have a good memory. I can draw and carve anything at a glance. He also said modestly: "There are no sculptures that cannot be carved, but few that are carved well." "In fact, he thinks that the root carvings of "Journey to the West" carved in Huayanxi, including the depiction of four characters, are comparable to the giant root carvings of "Peach Blossom Spring" in Taohuayuan Art Museum. In Wu Zhoulong's eyes, his father is The best, so far I have no intention of admiring the giant rock willow root carving "The Story of Peach Blossom Spring".
Wu Haiqing is carving.
Wu Zhoulong has been influenced by his father's carving skills since he was a child. He has shown his talent and interest in carving since he was in elementary school. According to his father's drawings, he carved his first wood carving on a wooden board. In his own words, "a flower with leaves", he gave it to his good teacher - the teacher of Anhua Muzi Central Primary School. Teacher Wu Boye. He said that the teacher was very happy at the time and kept praising him for his intelligence. It was when his sister became ill that he wanted to make money for his family. He followed his father in Huayanxi before graduating from high school. A boss named Li built a house by the reservoir and carved patterns on the house and corridor. It was because he participated in the construction of the Li Family Wooden House in Huayan River that he wanted to have a beautiful wooden house for his family in the Taohuayuan tourist area
. Wu Zhoulong is carving.
Taking the Huayanxi wooden building as a model, he appropriately reduced the size and invited a carpenter who specializes in building houses from Anhua County to visit Huayanxi. The father and son thought about how the wooden building should fit in with the scenic spot. Make some designs on the corridors and siding. Wu Hai calculated how much wood was needed and went to the mountainous area to select different materials such as fir, camphor, chestnut, etc.; Wu Zhoulong recorded every expense and daily labor. In 2009, a building was 28 meters tall. A wooden building with a height of 15 meters, two floors, and a total of 10 rooms was built on Bailin Island.
This is just a frame, and it is burdened with debts. Complete supporting facilities still require a lot of time and funds.
In order to accumulate funds, Wu Zhoulong went to Guangdong alone to do ivory fruit small carvings. He said, "Ivory fruits come in different shapes, including eggs. It's (dialect, meaning very white), it looks good when carved. Carving small pieces, for more than 2 years, I have carved dozens of small handles and pendants such as Pixiu, dragon, bat, cicada, toad, etc. I started practicing for half a month, from three to five carvings a day to more than ten carvings a day. ”
In 2014, Wu Zhoulong returned home and began to draw and carve flower panels . For a whole year, he built 22 carved panels on the outside of the first floor, 4 on the inside, and 22 on the outside of the second floor. Under the guidance of his father, the Eight Immortals, Officials, and Gods were , landscape paintings, flower and bird paintings... 48 wood carvings appeared on the wooden floor. Wu Zhoulong looked at his works and said to his mother: "Others don't want to come and live now, but in the future, guests will not want to leave. "
In order to accumulate funds to complete the construction of the wooden building attraction in his heart, Wu Zhoulong was introduced by an agency in 2016 to work in Zhejiang, where he worked for 4 years until he came back in 2020 to repair the kitchen behind the wooden building.Last year, he came to 6903 Waste Warehouse - Zeyun's wood carving workshop, and participated in the construction of "Yun House" with his father, while also taking care of the improvement of the wooden building on Bailin Island. In addition to maintaining the family's livelihood, the father and son's income was spent on improving the wooden building and supporting facilities.
wooden building carving works.
Under the cover of night, I sat in the wooden building and once again listened to Wu Haiqing and Wu Zhoulong’s father and son’s thoughts about the wooden building -
"There is another idea of building a wooden building that cannot be realized. Recruiting apprentices, people with lower limb disabilities, as long as their hands can work, If they are willing to learn, let them learn a craft and have a bowl of food (have a way to survive)." Wu Haiqing said that because there is a disabled person in the family, he wants to set up a studio in the wooden building. Anyone with a disabled person can, as long as they are willing, You can come to learn, or you can work in the studio, and you can support yourself by learning a craft. However, he sighed: "A dream to help the disabled cannot be realized for a long time because of limited funds."
Wu Zhoulong is currently in good condition: "Going out facing the rising sun and returning at the sunset, every day has a different taste. In the early morning, the sun and the moon are the same. The sunset is as bright as a rose. In the great mountains and rivers, in the sun and the moon, I have made great achievements and promoted the quintessence of my country." He also gave himself a clear position: "conceive the drawing, carve the pattern and fill in the painting, mill the bottom and clear the edge, carve it carefully, and polish it. Our skills and beautiful things are behind countless hard work. We are: 'Taoyuan workers' in this beautiful era."
Aerial photo of Bailinzhou. Photo by Liu Boyuan.
Wu Zhoulong said: "This is the first time I saw the full topography of my hometown. It looks very similar to the 'dragon with phoenix' pattern we carved on it!" This is his understanding of Bailinzhou from the perspective of a craftsman. He also said: "I like Peach Blossom Spring, I like Bailin Island, I like carving, and I will engage in carving in the future to make the wooden building a scenic spot with culture and connotation."
At present, the work of the father and son on this wooden building on Bailin Island has not yet been completed. ; In this wooden building, the career of father and son has not yet been achieved. They are still struggling and working hard. They said that after everything is completed, the whole thing will be polished and painted with transparent protective paint. Then I will be invited to the wooden building as a guest.
Stayed at Bailin Island for the night, listening to the croaking frogs and cicadas, I couldn't help but sigh: A wooden building speaks of great love!
