Zhu carves out a piece of Jiading鈥檚 cultural history
Print Edition
Jiading’s bamboo carving is renowned throughout the country, and artists from the district have created many exquisite works that collectors are dying to get their hands on. Among those art enthusiasts is Zhu Yuanquan, a 73-year-old farmer from Anting Town. Over three decades, he has collected more than 400 bamboo carvings from all corners of the country, and he knows the story behind every one.
Born into a farmer’ family, Zhu’s father died when he was 14. As the eldest son in the family, he had to give up his studies and help his mother on the farm.
When China began its policy of reform and opening up, Zhu was among the first to see business opportunities, establishing the first chicken farm in his village.
Focused and determined to make a career out of it and provide for his family, he worked from dawn to dusk and hardly ever took a break.
Gradually, his chicken farm business got on track, and he was selling chicks to several other provinces. He was one of the first local farmers to get rich.
The money not only gave him a more comfortable life, but enabled him to look into hobbies he hadn’t been able to develop since he was a child.
Although he dropped out of school early, Zhu still had the urge to continue his studies. His curiosity about a lot of things made him fall in love with reading and he borrowed many books from the town’s library.
When his financial situation got even better, he took correspondence courses offered by Shanghai Open University and eventually got a diploma.
“I was really into reading books and newspapers when I was young, and I had to give that up for the sake of our livelihood,” said Zhu. “But once I got the chance to resume my studies, I took it without any hesitation.”
His enthusiasm for Chinese culture led him to start his own bamboo carving collection.
“I’ve always liked Chinese ancient stationery, writing brushes, ink sticks and all that,” Zhu said. “I didn’t know much about collecting back then, I just bought whatever looked good to me.”
His earlier purchases helped him a lot in terms of becoming a better collector. Often he had no idea if the items he was buying were authentic or not, but with frequent references to history books for details about the creator and the story behind ever piece, he started to learn about his collection.
Zhu’s collection began after he made a delivery of chicks to southwest China’s Yunnan Province. After the job was done, he was in an antique shop when he discovered a uniquely shaped bamboo carved pen holder. He liked it too much not to buy it.
When he got home, he looked through historical records and learned that it was a Jiading bamboo carving. He discovered that it was a cherished cultural heritage with a very long history that combined poetry, calligraphy, painting and carving.
As a Jiading native, Zhu was thrilled to find out about the bamboo pen holder. He started collecting bamboo products from then on, and made special trips to antique shops and markets to look for bamboo carvings whenever he was in another city on business.
When Zhu retired at 60, he began to devote all his time to expanding and perfecting his collection.
In Zhu’s house there are two tall steel shelves in a 20 square meter room, where his bamboo collection is stored. He owns more than 400 items, varying in function, shape and technique. The decorative patterns on them are also diverse, from portraits and scenery to flowers and animals.
The highlight of his collection is a stereoscopic carving pen holder, with the decoration of two dragons playing with a ball, symbolizing happiness in traditional Chinese culture. The pen holder is hundreds of years old and considered a rare piece.
Bamboo products are temperature-sensitive, and they swell during the summer, resulting in surface cracks. Zhu is familiar with this trait and tries his best to preserve these bamboo treasures.
“You won’t see them on the shelves in summer,” Zhu said. “My house doesn’t have a fixed temperature and humidity. Therefore, I wrap them in clingfilm and keep them in refrigerators. When winter comes and the temperature drops, I would do some dusting and waxing.
“I know these bamboo carving works take a lot of time and effort to maintain, but it makes me feel fulfilled and joyful when I look at my collection,” he said.
To learn more about bamboo, Zhu learned how to operate a computer. Now, he rarely has difficulty looking for information online and participating in auctions. Years of experience and persistent learning have made him an expert in the field.
But Zhu doesn’t stop at collecting. He is currently learning to make root carvings himself.
There is a workbench in his studio where he keeps his saws, wooden planes, brushes, cutting and polishing machines, all of which are the tools used in root carving. Zhu takes old roots which nobody wants and turns them into beautiful artworks that have earned the praise of his peers.
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