Yangzhou jade carving, one of the traditional folk carving arts in Yangzhou of Jiangsu province, is one of the major schools of Chinese jade carving craft. Yangzhou city in Jiangsu province is an ancient city with a history of more than 2,000 years and rich cultural heritage. Especially since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been one of the three important jade carving sites in China.
The craftsmanship of Yangzhou jade carving has a long history. For thousands of years, the jade artists of elder generations have created a large number of jade treasures with various forms and exquisite craftsmanship. Dozens of boutiques from Yangzhou Jadeware Factory have been either awarded prizes at home and abroad or collected by the state as treasures. On May 20, 2006, Yangzhou jade carving was approved by the State Council to be listed in the first national non-material cultural heritage list.
Yangzhou jadeware is divided into six categories with great varieties and wide selection of colors and designs, including furnace bottle, person, flower and bird, beast, antique and Shanzi carving. The jade is hard and dense in texture, and its manual carving technology is more complex. The feature of its craft is carving and polishing, which means“carving jade”and “grinding jade”. Its craftsmanship has maintained the characteristics of Yangzhou traditional culture in several thousand years of inheritance. It’s integrated with various techniques such as Yin-line carving, deep and shallow relief, three-dimensional circular engraving and hollow engraving to form the features of being vigorous, round, elegant, delicate and exquisite with beautiful, elegant, dainty and exquisite artistic style.
The current jade carving artists of Yangzhou have fully inherited excellent craftsmanship of traditional Yangzhou jade carving and become more innovative. In practice, they follow the carving craft rule of “confirming the theme after the choice of material and carving based on the texture and feature of material”. To combine with the requirements of the times, they keep improving the ability of “jade appreciation”and carving skills, creating a large number of products with novel composition, beautiful and elegant design, and exquisite workmanship.
