Folk Traditional Art: Hangzhou Oil Paper Umbrella

Oil-paper umbrella is one of the traditional handicrafts of Han nationality, and it is a kind of paper umbrella or cloth umbrella which originated in China. Hangzhou is a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, with abundant rain in four seasons and abundant bamboo and wood resources. As an important rain gear in ancient times, oil-paper umbrella has been made in Hangzhou for more than 230 years. According to the investigation, the earliest oiled paper umbrella shop in Hangzhou was opened by Jiufang in Dong Wenyuan in the thirty-fourth year of Qing Qianlong (1769). At that time, there were many kinds of oil-paper umbrellas in Hangzhou, including fishing umbrella, Civilization Umbrella and Red Umbrella, which were indispensable rain gear for Hangzhou people.

The most famous story of Hangzhou oil-paper umbrella is the legend that the white snake broke a bridge to borrow an umbrella: The legend of the white snake, also known as the legend of the white snake and the legend of Leifeng Tower, is one of the four great folk legends in China.

It tells the story that the white snake who practiced for thousands of years turned into a white snake (White Snake) and came to the West Lake in Hangzhou with the green snake Xiaoqing. In Hangzhou West Lake, the bridge was broken, and Xu Xian, a drugstore buddy, lent White Snake a red oiled paper umbrella. Since then, the two met, fell in love, got married, and were repeatedly interfered by the monk Fahai, and interpreted a love story of joys and sorrows between people and ghosts, which has made people yearn for and miss.

Oil-paper umbrella is a traditional daily umbrella of Han nationality, which has been used for more than 1000 years. The umbrella ribs are made of hand-cut bamboo strips, and the umbrella surface is made of flannel paper coated with natural waterproof tung oil. Oil-paper umbrella is the earliest umbrella in the world. Handmade, all made of natural materials, it is the crystallization of the wisdom of ancient people in China.

In 2008, the production technology of water-dividing oil-paper umbrella was listed in the "National Intangible Cultural Heritage List". Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella Factory is the only paper umbrella manufacturer in China that retains the traditional craft of Tung oil and lithograph. The traditional production technology of water-dividing oil-paper umbrella is praised by experts as "the living fossil of China folk umbrella art", which is the only "national intangible cultural heritage" in the oil-paper umbrella industry at present.

In 2009, Bi Liufu, the sixth generation descendant of Fenshui Oil Paper Umbrella, was listed as the representative inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage project by the Ministry of Culture, thus becoming the only representative inheritor of handmade oil paper umbrella in China.