China is a country with a long history, a profound culture, the arts blossomed, especially some of the folk crafts handed down from generation to generation are even more ingenious, breathtaking. In Yangzhou during the tour, we called 486 in a local non-heritage cultural gathering park to see a lot of colorful, colorful folk art only we are impressed, such as this article to introduce you to the Tongcao flower is one of them.

Ancient Yangzhou economic development, cultural prosperity, urban and rural ladies like to decorate, to wear flowers for beauty. Song Wang Guan "peony genealogy" cloud: "Yangzhou people no noble and lowly all wear flowers." Folk festivals and temples are also often decorated with a variety of craft flowers. Therefore, Yangzhou flower industry has deep roots in the folk, rapid development, and become one of the national craft flower production center and distribution center.

Tongcao flower is a kind of craft flower, which is the intangible cultural heritage of Jiangsu Province, and its production technology is one of the earliest crafts of artificial flower production in China. According to the record of "Yangzhou Floating Boat Record", Tongcaohua became famous in Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, and then declined in the Republic of China. Until 1953, through the grass flower artist Qian Hong only the first through the grass chrysanthemum bonsai, opened up a new field of creative production of the grass flower, and later developed to have peony, azalea, plum, plum and so on dozens of kinds, become a popular indoor decorative displays, and began to export abroad.

Turning over the dusty old volume of history, as early as in the period of Tang and Song Dynasty, it has appeared, and it is y loved by the people, Su Dongpo, a great writer of Song Dynasty, said in his Four Flowers Similarity that there are related records: "tie up the tie up flower is like the flower of Tongjia, peach blossom is like the flower of wax, begonias are like the silk flower, poppies are like the paper flower." And "The Alarming Story - Three appearances of Baolongtu to break the injustice" said: "I only saw two women, eating with red cheeks. The upper hand was carrying a bottle of wine, and the lower hand was holding two Tongcao flowers." Modern Guo Moruo also mentions in the second chapter of Before and After Anyway: "On each side of the temples, there is a Tongcao flower stuck upside down." And so on all describe it.

We saw in Yangzhou 486 non-heritage park is the first in the fifties through the grass flower bonsai Qian Hongcai's brother - Qian Hongren, a gray-haired old man nearly eighty years old, according to the old man, he began to contact with the grass flower in his early teens, when the family's father and older brother are artists in this area, and then gradually learn from experience and also like this folk art, from the time of his father and his brother, and then he began to enjoy this folk art, and then he began to enjoy this folk art. Like this folk art, from the family took up the baton of inheritance.

Tongcao flower material taken from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau of the precious herbs of Tongcao (pictured above), made out of the craft of soft texture, elegant tone, comparable to the real flowers, and never wither, as a decorative object can be placed for a long time, the ancient times as a tribute to enter the court, and some even do it as a headgear to wear a short time ago, "Yanxi Raiders," the Emperor filial piety Hyun Chun Empress Fuchsia, they will be advocate thrift, not imperial bead and jade, but to Tongcao velvet flower for decoration.

Tongcao flower production process is complex, first of all, the root of the Tongcao wood through a special process of twisting into a paper-like sheet, and then according to the needs of the flowers made, cut into the appropriate shape, twisted by hand into petals, and then string rods, twisting leaves and other twelve processes, the roots, stems, leaves, spit flowers are all purely handmade out of these flowers.

Bleaching, framing grass pieces, dyeing, pinching petals, making leaves, passing rods, planting pots, framing, finishing ...... These processes are simple to say, but one by one, it is a very cumbersome and boring thing to do, and also need a lot of skills, such as making petals, the through the grass pieces need to be humidified to have the toughness, to be suitable for pinching, twisting and kneading it into various petal shapes, otherwise it will easily crumble.

Even the seemingly ordinary leaves of the Tongzhu flower are not easy to make. In the process of operation, the strength of the hand strength size is very critical, but also very difficult to grasp, need to be very patient and careful, too small force, the petals are not easy to form, too much strength, Tongchao piece will be crushed. In order to let the flowers and leaves have the characteristics of natural leaves and veins, the traditional Yangzhou Tongcao flower leaves are carved out on the brick leaves, and then pressed with Tongcao, in accordance with the reasoning that each kind of flower should be accompanied by a different kind of special bricks for the leaves. In order to these leaves, they can not less effort, walking on the road to the leaves and flowers are memorized in mind, go back and then use the carving knife a pen carved in the bricks, such as engraved seal. At most, the family has accumulated hundreds of brick leaves look, no one repeat.

Master Qian said, to do a good job of Tongcao flowers, need to learn a lot of things, such as the most basic paper-cutting must be able to, first of all, in accordance with the need to cut out the shape of the requirements, some of which look simple, but if there is no paper-cutting skills, cut out a lot of paper is waste. Another example, the degree of water absorption for the flowers should also have a grasp of the grass, it is not a day or two can master, the need for a long period of time, depending on the experience of the craftsmen, poor half a moment can not be shaped: not enough water absorption, the grass a pinch on the brittle; too much water, the petals will be pinched directly flat. Pinching, twisting and rubbing are the best techniques in the production of Tongcao flowers. This set of procedures may seem simple, but to pinch and roll out the petals and leaves of different shapes, all depends on the artist's heart and hand feeling, which is definitely not simple to follow the gourd can be completed.

Tongcao flowers are known as the "white snow" of craft flowers, and require the maker to be attentive and precise in order to make a fine product that is both beautiful and vivid. Sitting down to try a little, complex technology requires great concentration, and sitting is a day, many people will feel back pain a day down, no stamina and patience, is definitely not good. Thinking about this, I can not help but once again to the eyes of the old man who insisted on this skill for half a century deep admiration.

Nowadays, the inheritor of the National Tongzhuohua technology only left Dai Chunfu and Qian Hongren two octogenarian, they have also tried various methods of free apprenticeship, to the senior university lectures, to find him to learn the people are also endless. However, go away, come away, there is no one quiet to learn properly, a few years ago there is a 90-year-old girl followed the study for four years, last year or left.