Research On Huizhou Residential Woodcarving Art

The Huizhou residential woodcarving art reached its zenith in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Taking a unique static form while supporting dynamic activities,it constitutes one of the classics of Chinese woodcarving art.It embodies the ethical values,ethnic folklore,ecological awareness,belief tradition,artistic character and other cultural forms of Huizhou ancestors.It is the cultural symbol of auspiciousness and aesthetics and its basic characteristics lie in inheritance and expression.The tactics of hiding and exposure,vertical and horizontal space,enclosure and openness,separation and connection are used to highlight the static sculpture of the courtyard,halls,doors and windows,railings,etc.,as well as the dynamic activities in terms of carving and its utility,creation and appreciation,imparting and inheritance and so on.In terms of the decoration theme of the Huizhou residential woodcarving art,the Ming Dynasty style mainly features traditional local art symbols,supplemented by a small amount of adapted alien themes.The indoor and outdoor woodcarvings in the Ming Dynasty,mostly auspicious objects,are abstract and subtle,simple and elegant.The outdoor woodcarvings in the Qing Dynasty mostly serve as talisman while indoor ones,mostly auspicious objects,are meticulous and intricate.In terms of style,the Huizhou folk house woodcarving focuses on imagery expression,supplemented by realistic reproduction and abstract symbols.This style highlights symmetric equilibrium,rhythmic echo,contrast of the virtual and real world,and simple metaphor.The imagery of the Huizhou residential woodcarving art usually forms a combination of artistic conception,or represents a series of single "mental images" that are combined into a plurality of superimposed aesthetic imaginations.The subjective feelings of the house owners are projected on concrete objects,which generates aesthetic pleasures in the visual expression and the viewing process and allows the viewers and the owners to have different interpretations of the same images.The Huizhou folk woodcarving art has profound cultural connotation and rich layers of cultural information.It contains the ceremonial culture of ancestral tutors and famous scholars,the yin and yang synergy,the folk culture of exorcizing evil spirits and retaining auspiciousness,the official business culture that values Confucianism and integrity and boasts rich content inside a simple form,as well as the philosophical ideas of time and space correspondence,the harmony between human and nature,etc..The themes include doing good deeds,filial piety and harmony,near fortune and distant misfortune,bringing honor to one's ancestors,carrying on the family line,and wealth and rank.From a historical perspective,the retirement of the established families accounted for the legend of the Huizhou region.The Huizhou merchant economy has led to the prosperity of the residential woodcarving art in this region.The literati's involvement has fed the Huizhou merchants exceling at appreciation of calligraphy and painting with more inspiration in the design of folk building woodcarvings.The integration of the clan system with folk culture enables the synergy of the folk art and the established clan culture.Nature,society,history and ethics are all framed into the structural pattern of the residential woodcarving art,which presents both reality and mentality on the same image.The continuous advancement of the "craftsmanship" and "skills" of the artisans in the Ming and Qing Dynasties has retained and refined the Huizhou residential woodcarving art and made it a classic.In recent years,owing to misplaced beliefs in the residential woodcarving art,the absence of inheritance,excessive developmental restoration,and the surge of reconstruction outside the region,the inheritance of the Huizhou folk woodcarving art has been very difficult.The local people leveraged the woodcarving art of folk houses to create a "Peach Garden" style home,as a way to sooth mental stress and cherish the aesthetic ideals of love for life and our lives.They also used art as a way of education among their descendants.These practices are enlightening and still deserve our in-depth thought.Their rich cultural characteristics and profound national sentiments have been deeply embedded into the blood of the Chinese people,and still contribute to the ongoing rural and urban development drive.