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2012年4月，从联合国教科文组织总部传来让所有杭州手工艺人都大为振奋的好消息——杭州成为以“工艺与民间艺术之都”加入“全球创意城市网络”的城市。这意味着，杭州传统的手工艺和民间艺术有了新的发展空间。
两个月以后的6月上旬，我们迎来了自2006年来，中国第七个“文化遗产日”。“手工技艺”自然成了今年文化遗产日系列活动的关键词之一。6月8日，在位于西湖文化广场的浙江自然博物馆里，我现场领略了专门为文化遗产日举办的“吴越天工”杭州都市经济圈民间手工技艺展盛况。
现场的火爆情景出人意料。主办方在现场安排了十多个项目的艺术家或传承人进行技艺表演，每个表演点都被前来观看的市民挤满。
本土艺人：传承地方特色
杭州本土艺人是此次大展挑起大梁的一支队伍。被称为“最后的男工绣”的杭绣艺人赵亦军，是现场人气最旺的大师。现场展出赵亦军的作品《观经图》，高1.8米，宽1.6米，作品正面有532个人物，背面7721个字，充分展示南宋宫廷绣的风采。
杭绣，起源于汉代，南宋时为鼎盛时期，清末民初杭州的后市街、天水桥、三元坊、弼教坊一带有刺绣作坊近20处，刺绣艺人200余人，以男工为主，行业中有只收男工不收女、只传媳妇不传女儿的规矩，并一直沿传到民国，成为杭绣的一大特色。
但如今，杭州从事男工绣的只剩下赵亦军一人。
在攀谈中，我得知，赵亦军生于1946年，是土生土长的杭州人。他的师傅叫张金法，是一个非常有名的杭绣老艺人，曾经为京剧大师周信芳绣过戏服。赵亦军从13岁开始学刺绣，一枚绣花针拿了整整半个世纪，从英俊少年到满头华发。
“1960年，我考入杭州首届工艺美术学校刺绣班，当时的30多位同学中有6位男生；1964年毕业分配到杭州市工艺美术研究所从事刺绣工作；1999年因病提前退休，一直在家搞创作。”赵亦军话不多，简简单单几句，就总结了整个艺术人生。旁人告诉我，这些年，他每天除了吃饭、睡觉外，几乎都在忙着刺绣，每天都要坐在绣架前十来个小时。
不过，即使争分夺秒地做，赵亦军积累的作品也不太多。他说，从1999年到现在只做了3件作品，一幅《大日如来》他绣了整整3年。这次现场展出的《观经图》用了8年，是他最新完成的，也是最得意的作品之一。
在一本画册里，我看到了很多赵亦军之前的作品。内容大多是佛教题材。他说：“我对杭绣有感情，总想把杭绣最有特色的一面推广出去。杭州男工绣最典型的就是彩线绣和盘金绣相结合的一种针法，就像工笔画，一横一划都交代得很清楚，就是柔中有刚，结构非常严谨。内容方面，过去在龙袍上绣，光彩夺目，现在不绣龙袍了，用什么载体才能把这一特色充分表现出来呢？想来想去想到了绣佛像，我觉得杭绣与佛教题材有天然的共通之处，用历史悠久的杭绣来创作金碧辉煌的佛像，这种表现形式是最适合不过了，所以就创作了一系列佛教题材的作品，推出后反响果然不错。”
现在，赵亦军是浙江省非物质文化遗产项目代表性传承人。他告诉我，学杭绣是件苦差事，对学生的要求又高，又没有什么经济效益。创作一幅杭绣作品，成本高，成效慢，一件东西要做好几年，像他做一辈子都可能办不了一个展览，更谈不上发财，所以当年一起在杭州工艺美校学杭绣的5个男同学都陆续改行了，只剩他一个人坚持了下来。所以，他现在最想要做的事，就是把杭绣的技艺传下去，“如果有人真心愿意学，我非常愿意教。”
周边艺人：融入大杭州艺术
如果说赵亦军和他的杭绣，让杭州人对本土工艺分外自豪的话，那么姚秀林手底的苏绣，则让观众大开眼界，了解了周边艺人的高超水平。
今年46岁的姚秀林是江苏吴县人。她的家乡是苏绣之乡，母亲、奶奶、外婆都是绣花女。“虽然出身于苏绣之家，但是我想学艺时正赶上‘文化大革命’，那时候谁也不敢绣牡丹、龙凤、波斯猫之类的东西，因为这些都是‘资产阶级情调’。”姚秀林回忆。
“文革”结束后，姚秀林才开始拜师学艺。有母亲、外婆的指点，加上自己努力，几年功夫她就练就了手艺。1987年余杭黄湖镇办起了工艺雕刻厂，雕刻厂到吴江招聘师傅，姚秀林就应聘来到黄湖，之后正式落户余杭。
姚秀林说，她的作品被人接受，也是融入大杭州的艺术圈带来的好处。就在几年前，著名服装企业“斯凯菲尔”的芬兰籍总经理JoukoVesalaineu先生来杭州考察时，偶然看到了姚秀林的作品，大加褒扬之后，才被更多的人知晓。杭州市工艺研究所所长陈水琴最为推崇姚秀林绣的牡丹花，她说姚秀林一枚针、一缕线，竟能绣出508种不同姿态、栩栩如生的牡丹，堪称“苏绣第一枝”。
这几年，姚秀林绣的牡丹花远销澳大利亚、韩国、日本等国家，近销全国各地，被北京、上海、天津等许多大都市的星级宾馆购买。目前，有几名年轻的农家女拜姚秀林为师，潜心学习苏绣技术，绣花产业在黄湖渐成气候。
看姚秀林绣花，是一种乐趣。工作台蛮简陋，是用几条木棍做的，中间紧绷着一块绸缎，绸缎上已经画上了牡丹花的底纹。姚秀林身边摆着一缕缕丝线，五颜六色的，仅红色丝线就有30多种。姚秀林穿针走线极快，但不一会就要换丝线，换丝线的时间要多于走线时间，就在十分的耐心中，她绣出了天姿国色。
集体创作：让艺术走出去
在现场，68岁的房金泉制作油纸伞，引来了许多市民的围观。
有人告诉我，正是这位老艺人制作的余杭纸伞，去年夏天在米兰工艺展上大放异彩，成为第一批成功“走出去”的杭州本土艺术品之一，也让一直在寻求传统保护和延续油纸伞生命的几个余杭老艺人破茧成蝶。
很多人都觉得，似乎所有与油纸伞相关的影像，比如烟柳画桥、断桥相会、长亭相送……都与那让人难以忘怀的情感有关。随着历史的发展，油纸伞不可避免地成为一种记忆。
可是，正是老艺人房金泉的双手，把记忆变成了货真价实的真金白银。
房大师很谦虚，他说，纸伞的手艺，是集体智慧的结晶。上世纪50年代后期，随着市场上钢制骨架的晴雨两用伞的出现，代表着传统制伞工艺的“余杭纸伞”慢慢退出了历史舞台，手工制伞师傅们也纷纷改行换业。 家住瓶窑镇塘埠村的制伞师傅刘有泉、房金泉他们，在当时就萌生了把这种传统手艺留下来的念头，这几位手艺人不声不响地买回了100把竹伞骨架，藏在家里。因为制作一把传统的油纸伞，需要好几个工种几十道工序，另外也迫于生计，这100把伞骨架在几位老艺人的家里，一放就是30多年。
直到2007年，已近退休之年的刘有泉找到了几位志同道合的老朋友—当时63岁的房金泉和62岁的陈月祥老师傅，准备“重操旧业”；他们各自分工负责锯竹、刮青、平头、劈骨、锯槽、削骨……60岁的沈丽华负责排伞骨、穿伞……73岁的孙水根则负责糊伞、装柄……衣食无忧的几位老人家，这一次是真想把这传统的油纸伞制作工艺复活，并传承下去。
一把“余杭纸伞”要历经70多道工艺，而且每一道都是手工，尤其是精密度极高。
四位老师傅都是10岁出头便开始学艺，70多道工艺各有所精，几经揣摩、改良、完善，终于，一把铺满历史韵味的油纸伞呈现在大家面前。
尽管每把伞都严格按照传统工序制作，价格也只能卖到一两百元，完全不够人工成本。可即便如此，一年也只卖了20把，还是上海世博会上来的订单，大家忙了一个月，最后发现亏本。房金泉说，亏赚他倒是不太在乎，只要“余杭纸伞”能打响名堂，他也愿意。可是，一年才卖出去20把，这个打击够大，几位老师傅都闷闷不乐，“这手艺，恐怕迟早要丢掉了”。
走出去，成了几位老师傅共同的目标，就在去年夏天米兰展示时，他们终于找到了机会。有不少欧洲人对中国传统的手工纸伞爱不释手。房金泉说，余杭纸伞当时就出口到欧洲，一把伞能卖100欧元，比在国内高了四五倍，之前遇到的很多问题都能解决，而且也能吸引更多人来学制纸伞，对于“余杭纸伞”未来传承非常有帮助。
其实，除了刺绣、纸伞之外，这次从6月8日到6月10日的展会，还展出了杭州都市经济圈内的多项传统手工技艺的精品佳作，其中既有杭州本地的西泠印社金石篆刻、杭罗、杭绣、杭州铜雕、西湖绸伞、萧山花边、南宋官窑瓷、桐庐剪纸、临安农民画等充满杭州历史风情的传统手工艺术品，也展示了杭州都市经济圈内嘉兴、湖州、绍兴三城市具有当地特色的传统手工技艺项目，如嘉兴灶画、硖石灯彩、平湖西瓜灯；湖州风筝、制笔、紫砂工艺；绍兴的花雕、嵊州竹编、根雕等作品，加强了杭州都市经济圈非遗保护工作的交流，实现了都市经济圈的非遗资源共享。
Crafts and Folk Art Show on Cultural Heritage Day in Hangzhou
By Xiao Jie
On April 2012, Hangzhou was named UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art. The inscription means that Hangzhou is now a member of the Creative Cities Network, which connects cities who want to share experiences, ideas and best practices for cultural, social and economic growth. For artisans and folk artists in Hangzhou, the membership opens a door for new development and opportunities.
June 8 through 10, 2012 saw the city hold celebrations on China’s seventh Cultural Heritage Day since 2006. It was only natural that the city’s artisans and folk artists celebrated the day by showing off their best. The gala took place at Zhejiang Natural Museum at West Lake Cultural Square near Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
The organizers had arranged for more than ten masters or their disciples to demonstrate the beauty of the city’s best-known and most valuable crafts and arts. Every demonstration spot was surrounded by crowds of adults and children.
Hangzhou embroidery, a local art that is on the verge of extinction, was the major attraction at the celebration. Zhao Yijun is the city’s last master of the art. On display on the spot was a masterpiece he embroidered. The 1.8-meter-tall and 1.6-meter-wide double-sided embroidery shows 532 figures on the front side and 7,721 characters of a Buddhist scripture on the reverse side. The Hangzhou-styled art started about 2,000 years ago and climaxed in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) when the city was home to the royal house. In the last years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the early years of the Republic of China (1911-1949), Hangzhou had about 20 embroidery workshops with 200 embroidery artists in total. Most of these embroidery artists were men, as the industry followed the rule strictly: only males and daughter-in-laws were supposed to learn from masters. This was one of the distinctive characteristics of the embroidery art. Zhao Yijun, born in 1946, started learning embroidery at the age of 13. In 1960, he was enrolled into the first embroidery course at a craft and art school in Hangzhou. Of the 30 some classmates, 6 were male. Upon graduation, he entered Hangzhou Institute for Crafts and Arts as a specialist of embroidery. He retired in 1999. He has never stopped making embroidery. Nowadays, he spends more than 10 hours per day doing the embroidery. Embroidering is a painfully slow process. Since 1999, he has completed only three pieces and they are all about Buddhism. Zhao explains that the techniques and colored silk threads used in the embroidery are best for making dragon robes for emperors and Peking Opera costumes and that Buddhism-related subjects are therefore next best for the art.
Of the six male students at the city’s first public embroidery education course, he is the only one that has taken the embroidery as his lifetime career. The rest have defected from embroidery to other jobs over years. Zhao thinks it is understandable. It is extremely difficult to master the art and carry it on as a career, largely because it requires talent, total dedication, input of time and resources, but it produces little economic return. It usually takes years to create a piece. He has been expecting someone young and willing to learn the art. He does not care if a future disciple would have to be a male.
The 68-year-old Fang Jinquan was another eye-catching master at the demonstration fair. Fang is a master of oiled paper umbrella, which used to be a household piece in the past. He is a resident of Yuhang, now a district of growing city of Hangzhou. For years, Fang made oiled paper umbrellas for a living. In the late 1950s, the oiled-paper bamboo-rib umbrella was gradually replaced by the umbrella that used steel ribs. Fang Jinquan and his colleague Liu Youquan thought it worthwhile to retain the craft. They bought 30 bamboo skeletons for oiled paper umbrellas and stored them at home. In 2007, Liu Youquan was about to retire. Liu Youquan and his four former colleagues decided to make the traditional umbrella again. The umbrella takes more than 70 steps to make. One umbrella can sell no more than 200 yuan on the domestic market. The comeback proved to be difficult.
In 2010, they sold only 20 to an order for 2010 Shanghai Expo. They worked for a month to produce all the 20. At the end of the month, they calculated costs and there was a loss. They were unhappy about the numbers, but they decided to carry on.
In 2011, the umbrella attracted attention at Design Week in Milan, Italy. One umbrella sells for 100 Euro. Orders come their way. The masters believe the future export prospect might attract some young people to learn the craft and carry it on.
两个月以后的6月上旬，我们迎来了自2006年来，中国第七个“文化遗产日”。“手工技艺”自然成了今年文化遗产日系列活动的关键词之一。6月8日，在位于西湖文化广场的浙江自然博物馆里，我现场领略了专门为文化遗产日举办的“吴越天工”杭州都市经济圈民间手工技艺展盛况。
现场的火爆情景出人意料。主办方在现场安排了十多个项目的艺术家或传承人进行技艺表演，每个表演点都被前来观看的市民挤满。
本土艺人：传承地方特色
杭州本土艺人是此次大展挑起大梁的一支队伍。被称为“最后的男工绣”的杭绣艺人赵亦军，是现场人气最旺的大师。现场展出赵亦军的作品《观经图》，高1.8米，宽1.6米，作品正面有532个人物，背面7721个字，充分展示南宋宫廷绣的风采。
杭绣，起源于汉代，南宋时为鼎盛时期，清末民初杭州的后市街、天水桥、三元坊、弼教坊一带有刺绣作坊近20处，刺绣艺人200余人，以男工为主，行业中有只收男工不收女、只传媳妇不传女儿的规矩，并一直沿传到民国，成为杭绣的一大特色。
但如今，杭州从事男工绣的只剩下赵亦军一人。
在攀谈中，我得知，赵亦军生于1946年，是土生土长的杭州人。他的师傅叫张金法，是一个非常有名的杭绣老艺人，曾经为京剧大师周信芳绣过戏服。赵亦军从13岁开始学刺绣，一枚绣花针拿了整整半个世纪，从英俊少年到满头华发。
“1960年，我考入杭州首届工艺美术学校刺绣班，当时的30多位同学中有6位男生；1964年毕业分配到杭州市工艺美术研究所从事刺绣工作；1999年因病提前退休，一直在家搞创作。”赵亦军话不多，简简单单几句，就总结了整个艺术人生。旁人告诉我，这些年，他每天除了吃饭、睡觉外，几乎都在忙着刺绣，每天都要坐在绣架前十来个小时。
不过，即使争分夺秒地做，赵亦军积累的作品也不太多。他说，从1999年到现在只做了3件作品，一幅《大日如来》他绣了整整3年。这次现场展出的《观经图》用了8年，是他最新完成的，也是最得意的作品之一。
在一本画册里，我看到了很多赵亦军之前的作品。内容大多是佛教题材。他说：“我对杭绣有感情，总想把杭绣最有特色的一面推广出去。杭州男工绣最典型的就是彩线绣和盘金绣相结合的一种针法，就像工笔画，一横一划都交代得很清楚，就是柔中有刚，结构非常严谨。内容方面，过去在龙袍上绣，光彩夺目，现在不绣龙袍了，用什么载体才能把这一特色充分表现出来呢？想来想去想到了绣佛像，我觉得杭绣与佛教题材有天然的共通之处，用历史悠久的杭绣来创作金碧辉煌的佛像，这种表现形式是最适合不过了，所以就创作了一系列佛教题材的作品，推出后反响果然不错。”
现在，赵亦军是浙江省非物质文化遗产项目代表性传承人。他告诉我，学杭绣是件苦差事，对学生的要求又高，又没有什么经济效益。创作一幅杭绣作品，成本高，成效慢，一件东西要做好几年，像他做一辈子都可能办不了一个展览，更谈不上发财，所以当年一起在杭州工艺美校学杭绣的5个男同学都陆续改行了，只剩他一个人坚持了下来。所以，他现在最想要做的事，就是把杭绣的技艺传下去，“如果有人真心愿意学，我非常愿意教。”
周边艺人：融入大杭州艺术
如果说赵亦军和他的杭绣，让杭州人对本土工艺分外自豪的话，那么姚秀林手底的苏绣，则让观众大开眼界，了解了周边艺人的高超水平。
今年46岁的姚秀林是江苏吴县人。她的家乡是苏绣之乡，母亲、奶奶、外婆都是绣花女。“虽然出身于苏绣之家，但是我想学艺时正赶上‘文化大革命’，那时候谁也不敢绣牡丹、龙凤、波斯猫之类的东西，因为这些都是‘资产阶级情调’。”姚秀林回忆。
“文革”结束后，姚秀林才开始拜师学艺。有母亲、外婆的指点，加上自己努力，几年功夫她就练就了手艺。1987年余杭黄湖镇办起了工艺雕刻厂，雕刻厂到吴江招聘师傅，姚秀林就应聘来到黄湖，之后正式落户余杭。
姚秀林说，她的作品被人接受，也是融入大杭州的艺术圈带来的好处。就在几年前，著名服装企业“斯凯菲尔”的芬兰籍总经理JoukoVesalaineu先生来杭州考察时，偶然看到了姚秀林的作品，大加褒扬之后，才被更多的人知晓。杭州市工艺研究所所长陈水琴最为推崇姚秀林绣的牡丹花，她说姚秀林一枚针、一缕线，竟能绣出508种不同姿态、栩栩如生的牡丹，堪称“苏绣第一枝”。
这几年，姚秀林绣的牡丹花远销澳大利亚、韩国、日本等国家，近销全国各地，被北京、上海、天津等许多大都市的星级宾馆购买。目前，有几名年轻的农家女拜姚秀林为师，潜心学习苏绣技术，绣花产业在黄湖渐成气候。
看姚秀林绣花，是一种乐趣。工作台蛮简陋，是用几条木棍做的，中间紧绷着一块绸缎，绸缎上已经画上了牡丹花的底纹。姚秀林身边摆着一缕缕丝线，五颜六色的，仅红色丝线就有30多种。姚秀林穿针走线极快，但不一会就要换丝线，换丝线的时间要多于走线时间，就在十分的耐心中，她绣出了天姿国色。
集体创作：让艺术走出去
在现场，68岁的房金泉制作油纸伞，引来了许多市民的围观。
有人告诉我，正是这位老艺人制作的余杭纸伞，去年夏天在米兰工艺展上大放异彩，成为第一批成功“走出去”的杭州本土艺术品之一，也让一直在寻求传统保护和延续油纸伞生命的几个余杭老艺人破茧成蝶。
很多人都觉得，似乎所有与油纸伞相关的影像，比如烟柳画桥、断桥相会、长亭相送……都与那让人难以忘怀的情感有关。随着历史的发展，油纸伞不可避免地成为一种记忆。
可是，正是老艺人房金泉的双手，把记忆变成了货真价实的真金白银。
房大师很谦虚，他说，纸伞的手艺，是集体智慧的结晶。上世纪50年代后期，随着市场上钢制骨架的晴雨两用伞的出现，代表着传统制伞工艺的“余杭纸伞”慢慢退出了历史舞台，手工制伞师傅们也纷纷改行换业。 家住瓶窑镇塘埠村的制伞师傅刘有泉、房金泉他们，在当时就萌生了把这种传统手艺留下来的念头，这几位手艺人不声不响地买回了100把竹伞骨架，藏在家里。因为制作一把传统的油纸伞，需要好几个工种几十道工序，另外也迫于生计，这100把伞骨架在几位老艺人的家里，一放就是30多年。
直到2007年，已近退休之年的刘有泉找到了几位志同道合的老朋友—当时63岁的房金泉和62岁的陈月祥老师傅，准备“重操旧业”；他们各自分工负责锯竹、刮青、平头、劈骨、锯槽、削骨……60岁的沈丽华负责排伞骨、穿伞……73岁的孙水根则负责糊伞、装柄……衣食无忧的几位老人家，这一次是真想把这传统的油纸伞制作工艺复活，并传承下去。
一把“余杭纸伞”要历经70多道工艺，而且每一道都是手工，尤其是精密度极高。
四位老师傅都是10岁出头便开始学艺，70多道工艺各有所精，几经揣摩、改良、完善，终于，一把铺满历史韵味的油纸伞呈现在大家面前。
尽管每把伞都严格按照传统工序制作，价格也只能卖到一两百元，完全不够人工成本。可即便如此，一年也只卖了20把，还是上海世博会上来的订单，大家忙了一个月，最后发现亏本。房金泉说，亏赚他倒是不太在乎，只要“余杭纸伞”能打响名堂，他也愿意。可是，一年才卖出去20把，这个打击够大，几位老师傅都闷闷不乐，“这手艺，恐怕迟早要丢掉了”。
走出去，成了几位老师傅共同的目标，就在去年夏天米兰展示时，他们终于找到了机会。有不少欧洲人对中国传统的手工纸伞爱不释手。房金泉说，余杭纸伞当时就出口到欧洲，一把伞能卖100欧元，比在国内高了四五倍，之前遇到的很多问题都能解决，而且也能吸引更多人来学制纸伞，对于“余杭纸伞”未来传承非常有帮助。
其实，除了刺绣、纸伞之外，这次从6月8日到6月10日的展会，还展出了杭州都市经济圈内的多项传统手工技艺的精品佳作，其中既有杭州本地的西泠印社金石篆刻、杭罗、杭绣、杭州铜雕、西湖绸伞、萧山花边、南宋官窑瓷、桐庐剪纸、临安农民画等充满杭州历史风情的传统手工艺术品，也展示了杭州都市经济圈内嘉兴、湖州、绍兴三城市具有当地特色的传统手工技艺项目，如嘉兴灶画、硖石灯彩、平湖西瓜灯；湖州风筝、制笔、紫砂工艺；绍兴的花雕、嵊州竹编、根雕等作品，加强了杭州都市经济圈非遗保护工作的交流，实现了都市经济圈的非遗资源共享。
Crafts and Folk Art Show on Cultural Heritage Day in Hangzhou
By Xiao Jie
On April 2012, Hangzhou was named UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art. The inscription means that Hangzhou is now a member of the Creative Cities Network, which connects cities who want to share experiences, ideas and best practices for cultural, social and economic growth. For artisans and folk artists in Hangzhou, the membership opens a door for new development and opportunities.
June 8 through 10, 2012 saw the city hold celebrations on China’s seventh Cultural Heritage Day since 2006. It was only natural that the city’s artisans and folk artists celebrated the day by showing off their best. The gala took place at Zhejiang Natural Museum at West Lake Cultural Square near Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
The organizers had arranged for more than ten masters or their disciples to demonstrate the beauty of the city’s best-known and most valuable crafts and arts. Every demonstration spot was surrounded by crowds of adults and children.
Hangzhou embroidery, a local art that is on the verge of extinction, was the major attraction at the celebration. Zhao Yijun is the city’s last master of the art. On display on the spot was a masterpiece he embroidered. The 1.8-meter-tall and 1.6-meter-wide double-sided embroidery shows 532 figures on the front side and 7,721 characters of a Buddhist scripture on the reverse side. The Hangzhou-styled art started about 2,000 years ago and climaxed in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) when the city was home to the royal house. In the last years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the early years of the Republic of China (1911-1949), Hangzhou had about 20 embroidery workshops with 200 embroidery artists in total. Most of these embroidery artists were men, as the industry followed the rule strictly: only males and daughter-in-laws were supposed to learn from masters. This was one of the distinctive characteristics of the embroidery art. Zhao Yijun, born in 1946, started learning embroidery at the age of 13. In 1960, he was enrolled into the first embroidery course at a craft and art school in Hangzhou. Of the 30 some classmates, 6 were male. Upon graduation, he entered Hangzhou Institute for Crafts and Arts as a specialist of embroidery. He retired in 1999. He has never stopped making embroidery. Nowadays, he spends more than 10 hours per day doing the embroidery. Embroidering is a painfully slow process. Since 1999, he has completed only three pieces and they are all about Buddhism. Zhao explains that the techniques and colored silk threads used in the embroidery are best for making dragon robes for emperors and Peking Opera costumes and that Buddhism-related subjects are therefore next best for the art.
Of the six male students at the city’s first public embroidery education course, he is the only one that has taken the embroidery as his lifetime career. The rest have defected from embroidery to other jobs over years. Zhao thinks it is understandable. It is extremely difficult to master the art and carry it on as a career, largely because it requires talent, total dedication, input of time and resources, but it produces little economic return. It usually takes years to create a piece. He has been expecting someone young and willing to learn the art. He does not care if a future disciple would have to be a male.
The 68-year-old Fang Jinquan was another eye-catching master at the demonstration fair. Fang is a master of oiled paper umbrella, which used to be a household piece in the past. He is a resident of Yuhang, now a district of growing city of Hangzhou. For years, Fang made oiled paper umbrellas for a living. In the late 1950s, the oiled-paper bamboo-rib umbrella was gradually replaced by the umbrella that used steel ribs. Fang Jinquan and his colleague Liu Youquan thought it worthwhile to retain the craft. They bought 30 bamboo skeletons for oiled paper umbrellas and stored them at home. In 2007, Liu Youquan was about to retire. Liu Youquan and his four former colleagues decided to make the traditional umbrella again. The umbrella takes more than 70 steps to make. One umbrella can sell no more than 200 yuan on the domestic market. The comeback proved to be difficult.
In 2010, they sold only 20 to an order for 2010 Shanghai Expo. They worked for a month to produce all the 20. At the end of the month, they calculated costs and there was a loss. They were unhappy about the numbers, but they decided to carry on.
In 2011, the umbrella attracted attention at Design Week in Milan, Italy. One umbrella sells for 100 Euro. Orders come their way. The masters believe the future export prospect might attract some young people to learn the craft and carry it on.