工艺之旅（英）

The folk handicraft arts of China are an important part of ancient Chinese culture and arts,They are characterized by long history,wide-ranging elements,many varieties,and unique styles.Let's start our journey! 

在中国成千上万的手工艺中，本书仅从东西南北不同的地域和种类中选了二十多个品种。数量自然很少，但一滴水可以折射出璀璨的阳光，从中，我们能领略到中华手工的博大与精美。

The Puppets of Quanzhou, FujianIn southeast Fujian Province, Quanzhou faces Taiwan Island across the Taiwan Strait. Quanzhou is a city with exquisite scenery, beautiful mountains, rivers, numerous tourist resorts and cultural relics. As far back as the Tang Dynasty, it was one of China’s four foreign trading ports and the starting point of the Silk Road on the sea with a unique human geography and a long history of business and trade and rich cultural development.The monolithic statue of Laozi, founder of Taoism, and the local dramas and martial arts have imbued this city with traditional culture and native flavor. Meanwhile, foreign influences can be found everywhere. There are China’s earliest Islamic mosques, and the world’s only surviving stone sculpture of a Manichaeism Buddhist.Another wonderful art is the puppetr y of the most charming city of Quanzhou.It is said that puppetry originated in the Han Dynasty and became prosperous in the Tang Dynasty; the wooden puppet of Quanzhou has a long history of over 2,000 years. At first, it evolved from figurines of musicians and dancers that were buried with the dead. After the Northern Qi Dynas t y (550–577), they were used in song and dance performances in contemplating stories as a companion to the dramas. The wooden puppet of Quanzhou has kept the rich artistic traditions and exquisite performances, and they are well-known. They can be divided into stringdrawn puppets and palm puppets.Among the wooden puppets of Quanzhou the most famous are the string-drawn puppets, which belong to a rare ancient theatrical variety known as “suspended silk puppets” or “thread plays” popular in south Fujian Province.With regard to string-drawn puppets is this interesting story: Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu (256–195 BC), was surrounded at Pingcheng (Datong of Shanxi Province of today) by the army of King Modu (?–174 BC) of the Huns, whose strong troops were led by his wife Yanzhi. After over a month, the Han army in Pingcheng ran out of supplies and Liu Bang was extremely anxious. When Lieutenant Chen Ping of Liu Bang’s army learned that Modu was fond of women and that his wife Yanzhi was very jealous, he ordered mechanics in the army to make many wooden figurines of beautiful women—each attached with several silk threads —and ordered the soldiers to carry the puppet beauties to dance at the openings of the city wall. The puppet beauties were graceful and attractive. Yanzhi mistook them for real beauties and worried that after conquering the city her husband would choose the beauties to be his concubines. She ordered her troops to withdraw and as a result the besiegement was broken. In recognition of the meritorious service of the puppet beauties, Liu Bang granted to them titles of high-ranking imperial concubines and collected them in the imperial warehouse as state treasures. By the time of Emperor Wendi, the Music Office of the imperial household made copies of the puppets and gave performances with them.