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A China Carved and Collected: Ningbo Whitewood Figurines in the Long Twentieth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2019
Abstract
How is the craft history of ordinary woodcarvers different from the political and economic history of elites and literati? This article tells a transnational history of Ningbo miniature whitewood figurines that were first collected by Western travelers as souvenirs from the 1870s to 1940s and then shipped to the West as export craft from the 1950s to 1980s. The examination of the makers, buyers, and collectors of these figurines reveals a dialectic process between carving and collecting. Focusing on both the making and circulation of these figurines, the article uncovers a new layer in modern Chinese history: with the political regime changing from the imperial state to socialist state, the carving and business practices of local artisans continued at its own rhythm. Less than three and a half inches tall, Ningbo whitewood figurines represent a miniature China carved and consumed on a global scale during the long twentieth century.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 , Volume 3 , Special Issue 2: History of Material Culture , July 2019 , pp. 381 - 407
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019
References
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53 They are from the Phoebe Hearst Museum, catalogue number: 9-17292, 9-17297, 9-17303, 9-17304.
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71 See Ninghai xian difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui 宁海县地方志编纂委员会, Ninghai xianzhi 宁海县志 (Ninghai, 1993), 181–82, 185.
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76 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, June 10, 2015.
77 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
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82 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, June 10, 2015 and March 6, 2016.
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85 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
86 “1963 nian Shanghai shi chukou shangpin tongji nianbaobiao” 1963 年上海市出口商品统计年报表, Shanghai Municipal Archives.
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90 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
91 In 1957, whitewood figurines were sold to the Shanghai Import and Export Company of Arts and Crafts for three RMB per set, a considerable price for toys. Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
92 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
93 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
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95 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
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98 Cooper, The Artisans and Entrepreneurs of Dongyang County, 65.
99 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, June 10, 2015.
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101 Xu Yongshui, interview by Shi, March 6, 2016.
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111 Sun Weirong 孙伟荣, the manager of a Ninghai artwork company, first encountered wooden figurines during his investigation of local cultural heritage in 2010. But it is said that his real intention was not to preserve the all-but-vanished handicraft but to gain government subsidies, if he could succeed in applying the intangible cultural heritage to the wooden figurines. “Ninghai baimu xiaojian disidai chuanren: Xu Yongshui.”
112 Qiu Yanping, interview by Shi, June 10, 2015.