Essay on Craftsman's Spirit Prose

Time flies, things are different. With the improvement of people's quality of life, Chaozhou traditional crafts have mushroomed, and a number of skilled craftsmen have emerged. Exquisite and high-quality products glow with new vitality and vitality, and its unique taste for both refined and popular tastes is favored by literati and the general public.

Out of my love for Chaozhou woodcarving, the author often strolls along Zhongshan Road in Chaozhou Craft Street, shuttling between woodcarving studios, exhibition halls and workshops, meeting many famous practitioners and artists, and being deeply attracted by the exquisite skills of Chaozhou woodcarving. Whether it's re-carving, relief carving, round carving, through carving, saw carving, figures, flowers, fish, shrimps and crabs, birds and animals, etc., it reflects the local complex of Chaozhou artists advocating "slow work and fine work" and "rather short than excessive", which is amazing.

It is said that the former granary of Zhongshan Road has been re-transformed into a creative center in the county, which covers some Chaozhou "non-legacy" master studios and works display, which gives me a new goal of curiosity. Stepping into the granary that once carried the heavy responsibility of filling people's stomachs, I didn't expect it to be full of a strong "tidal" cultural atmosphere.

Intoxicated by the high-quality garden, a woodcarving studio caught my attention. A girl inside is "working hard" and sees her profile, with her hair covering half of her cheeks. It looks simple and delicate, and there is a feeling of "hibiscus emerging from water". The girl has a chisel in her left hand and a hammer in her right. Through the gap in the embryonic crab basket, the knife kept fiddling with the wood. Under the hammer's beating, she dug up a piece of her own world bit by bit, and she was as skilled as a craftsman. The girl else, absorbed, as if she had an indissoluble bond with wood. After a while, she stopped her work, wiped the sweat from her face and stretched herself. During the break, the author accosted her and curiously asked her if this work was made by her own hands. The girl nodded affirmatively, unambiguous and domineering. Multi-layer three-dimensional carving is a relatively high-end skill in wood carving, and it can't be done independently without certain skills. It takes years of painstaking tempering and persistence to bear rich fruits. The girl's superb skills are impressive.

The girl's name is Chen Jia. She is only 24 years old this year, but she has been an artist for seven years. She is the granddaughter of Chaozhou woodcarving master Chen Shunqiang. Uncle Chen is a master of arts and crafts in China and one of the representative inheritors of the first batch of national "intangible" Chaoshan woodcarving projects; My father, Chen Peixi, is a senior craftsman and a municipal "non-legacy" Chaozhou woodcarving inheritor. It is the influence of family and her own efforts that have made her today's skills.

Woodcarving is a hard work, and many artists have personal experience. It takes a lot of energy and time to complete a satisfactory work, and the income is not much. Therefore, young people are generally reluctant to join this business, and this girl can be said to be the only remaining female woodcarver in Chaozhou, but she is silently sticking to the position occupied by this man. Her bones are permeated with the pride of a woman who can't let go of a man, which is really admirable and commendable. Since last year, "artisan spirit" has become a hot topic of concern to the whole society, and the pursuit of girls just shows what the real "artisan spirit" is.

Miss Chen Jia, who is unmarried, wants to inherit the family craft in Chaoshan woodcarving industry and let Chaoshan woodcarving be passed down from generation to generation.