徐建元

生于1967年，临川区罗湖镇良溪村人，江西省《临川篾编技艺》传承人，擅长采用在竹编经纬篾上“取雨点”做编画法进行创作。

徐建元手工技术高超，先后创造出《清明上河图》、《临川四梦花瓶》、《兰亭序》、《隐形八骏图》等诸多精品力作，其中不少作品曾参与全省和全国工艺美术展并获得多项金银铜奖，多件作品亦被当地博物馆收藏。

在他长达30多年的竹编生涯中，付出了超常的心血和汗水。他在传统技法的基础上进行改良，将平面竹编和立体竹编相结合，更精确的立体展示不同的作品画面。

他擅长把竹子破成细如发丝、薄如蝉翼的篾丝，编织出的人物栩栩如生，惟妙惟肖。在他众多作品中，最引人注目，且最为人们喜爱的，当属竹编巨作《清明上河图》。这是他耗费了三年时间，用竹子编制出的宏篇巨制，整幅作品长20.13米、宽1.1米，是目前国内最长、最大的竹编《清明上河图》。

徐建元教授竹编技艺

“竹艺轩”是徐建元竹编事业的另一高峰。如今，这里已成为了一家小型的“网红竹编 博物馆”，四处摆放着造型各异的竹编生活用具和美不胜收的工艺作品。这既丰富了文昌里非遗文化，传承了传统工匠精神，也有更好地吸引了年轻人的加入。

《 汤显祖故里寻梦之旅 - 英国友人眼中的抚州 》

小地方，大故事。

关于中国北上广深等一线城市，外国人写作和报道的内容不少。近年来，外国人讲中国非一线城市的故事，而且是基于连续几年的访问经验来写的，很是难得。

本书收录了在过去六年中，来自英国的学者、文学家和艺术家在中国著名戏剧大师汤显祖的故里-江西省抚州市的访问经历和实录，涵盖了抚州的风土人情、历史古迹、艺术活动、宗教信仰，以及当代社会经济生活等多方面内容，较全面展示了海外友人视角下的抚州风貌。相对超级国际大城市和大背景题材，这本书展现了不同层面的中国故事，是一场很有价值的文化之旅。

在欣赏了这篇关于抚州古巷中的手工作坊的文章之后，欢迎您在文末点击链接，阅读我们在近期已发布的其他有关抚州的行记。

上期回顾

点击以下链接，

露西·汉密尔顿在抚州采访

本期看点

我们将分享

由康河出版社资深文学编辑

露西·汉密尔顿（Lucy Hamilton）

为她的抚州之行撰写的第9篇文章：

《与竹编大师的会面》

让我们一起走进江西特色古街，

玩转手作工坊

感受新晋的网红竹编艺术

12期

在文昌里与竹编大师的会面

Meeting the Master Weaver

作者：

露西·汉密尔顿（Lucy Hamilton）

翻译：

李玥

文昌里夜景

历史文化街区位于江西省抚州市北部的文昌里。文昌里曾经是老城区最繁华的商业区，坐落在抚河三角洲的西侧。现有26000位居民在这里生活和工作，占地面积约980亩（约65公顷）。

The Historic and Cultural Block is a district of Wengchangli in the northern part of Fuzhou City, Jiangxi province. Wengchangli was once the most prosperous commercial district of the old city, and lies on the west side of the delta carved out by the Fuhe River. It has 26000 residents who live and work in an area of 980 Mu (about 65 hectares).

2019年10月，我作为来自剑桥团队的一员拜访了抚州。古巷是我们一天里到访过的最吸引人的地方。在那里，可以探寻到技术精湛的大师级工匠的手工作坊。古巷中的三条主要小巷被诗意地命名为横街、三角巷和竹椅街。在我看到的各式各样的手工作坊中，最有趣的要数竹编手工作坊和名为“竹艺轩”的精品店了。店主是工艺大师徐建元，他被公认为是中国文化中极其重要且里程碑式的传承人物。自古以来，炊具、容器、扫帚和席子都由竹子制成，一向都是中国人生活的必需品。游客们还可以在聂村、竹桥古村等古村落的谷仓里，看到例如锄头和簸箕等老式的竹制农具。

In October 2019 I was part of a group from Cambridge visiting Fuzhou and staying at the Grand Honor Hotel. The main attraction of the day would be the Ancient Lanes, an area where the workshops of skilled and master craftsmen are to be found. The three principal lanes are the poetically-named By Street, Triangle Lane and Bamboo Chair Street. Among the various workshops I saw, the most interesting was the bamboo-weaving workshop and boutique called Zhu Yi Xuan. It is owned by the master craftsman Xu Jianyua who is recognised as an inheritor of an important and deeply-felt aspect of Chinese culture. Since ancient times cooking utensils, containers, brooms and mats ― all made of bamboo ― have been a necessity of life for the Chinese people. Visitors to the region can also see old-style bamboo farming implements, such as hoes and winnowing-sieves, in barns at the ancient villages of Nie, Bamboo Bridge and Zhuqiao.

竹艺轩

竹编大师在编竹

遗憾的是，传统舢板在中国东部的上海和西部的成都之间穿梭于长江的壮观景象已经不复存在了。十九世纪的探险家伊莎贝拉·伯德，将这些舢板描述为“由一排竹子撑起的用编织的藤条或粗糙的帆布制成的帆”。她还提到，“承载着福州和闽江回忆的巨大舢板，从福建省驶来，船上高高堆砌着竹子和木杆，船两边绑着的相同的东西，将其延展到了一个荒谬的宽度”。如今，游客仍然可以选择乘坐舢板在河上游览。

Unfortunately, the majestic sight of traditional junks plying the Yangtze between Shanghai in the east and Chengdu in the west is no longer to be witnessed. The nineteeth-century explorer Isabella Bird described the junks as having ‘sails of knitted cane or coarse canvas extended by an arrangement of bamboo’. She also spoke of ‘huge junks from the Fukien province, bringing recollections of Foochow and of the Min river, piled high with bamboos and poles, and extended to a preposterous width by masses of the same lashed on both sides’.Today, travel by junk on the river can still be an option for tourists.

清明节的传统

回到徐先生的话题上。我了解到，有趣的是，自进入二十一世纪以来，竹编艺术以创新的方式获得了创造性的开发。在他的工作室里，我的注意力被一根延伸到一面墙的竹条所吸引。这是一幅名为《清明上河图》的竹编画，根据著名古画《清明上河图》创作而成。我恰巧遇上过清明节。清明节可以追溯到2500多年前，大约在公元前636年，当时的晋文公为纪念他忠诚的仆人介子推，而设立了为期三天的哀悼。

Returning to Mr Xu, it was interesting to learn that, since the turn of the 21st century, the art of bamboo weaving has been creatively exploited in innovative ways. At his workshop my attention was caught by a bamboo frieze stretching the length of a wall. It is a ‘weaving-painting’ called ‘Ascending the River at Qingming Festival’, and it is based on a celebrated ancient painting ‘Along the River at Qingming’. I had already come across the Qingming festival, which is also known as the Ching Ming Festival, and is sometimes called Tomb Sweeping Day or Day of Pure Brightness. Qingming can be traced back more than 2500 years to around 636 BCE, the time of Duke Wen, who declared a period of three days mourning for his loyal servant Jie Zitui.

竹编《清明上河图》

清明节处于每年的4月4日至4月6日期间，是为了纪念祖先而设立的。如今的节日通过除草和扫墓来表达对祖先的崇敬，并通过摆放鲜花和柳枝来驱除邪灵。如同我在从上海到抚州的火车上看到的那样，坟墓上都放置着祭品。尽管节日已经结束了，但在枯萎花朵的映衬下，原本不过只是一堆堆土丘的墓地，却仍然显得有些色彩。

清明节不仅仅是为了纪念死者。它起于春天伊始，是对生命、美景和季节更新的庆祝。到了晚上，作为庆祝活动的一部分，人们会提着彩灯放风筝，在夜空的映衬下闪闪发光；还会与家人一同进行户外活动，通过例如野餐、运动或种花等一些其他的方式庆祝节日。

Falling between April 4th and April 6th each year, the Qingming Festival is set aside to remember and honour ancestors. Modern-day festivals demonstrate reverence for ancestors by the weeding and sweeping of grave sites, and by the laying of flowers and willow branches to ward off evil spirits. Offerings are placed on the graves, as I witnessed when travelling on a train from Shanghai to Fuzhou. The festival itself was over, but the grave sites, often little more than mounds of earth, were still colourful with wilting flowers.

Qingming is more than honouring the dead. It falls at the beginning of spring and is a celebration of life, beauty, and seasonal renewal. In the evenings, as part of the celebration, people fly kites carrying coloured lanterns, bright against the night sky. Outdoor activities with the family, such as picnics, sports or planting of flowers, are other ways to celebrate.

娴熟的手作竹编技艺

徐先生的竹编画相当精美，但随后，我的注意力就转移到了他当前手头上的工作——编织一个容器。他坐在一把高脚椅上，熟练地将外面的竹条编织成一个显然是肖像画的图案。这个器皿（如图）长3米多，最宽处直径约为2米，重量超过40公斤。它侧身横卧在地板上的垫子上，瓶口边缘由竖在未完工的瓶颈上的竹条镶成。

Mr Xu’s weaving-painting is beautiful, but later I was distracted by watching him at work on his current project, which was the weaving of a vessel. He sat perched on a high chair, skilfully weaving the bamboo strips of the outer surface into a design which was clearly a portrait. The vessel itself (pictured) was over three metres long, about two metres in diameter at its widest point, and weighed more than forty kilograms. Tipped on its side, it lay on a mat on the floor. The lip was rimmed by strips bristling at the unfinished neck.

徐建元与他的竹编花瓶

当被问及如何将竹子切成细条时，徐先生给我们做了一个示范。他通常是手拿小刀，横着切割竹竿。接着，便是在手摇转轮和刀片机器上把竹条分成极细的篾条。同样，他也亲手为我们做了演示。不过，由于经验丰富，他更倾向于通过手工去完成这个步骤。最后的准备工作，是在水中软化这些细细的篾条，使它们足够柔软，从而得以编织成这个非比寻常的花瓶。他从头到尾需要花费一年的时间完成这部作品。更令人惊讶的是，他在制作时完全不需要模型和助手的协助。

When asked how he sliced the bamboo into thin strips, Mr Xu gave us a demonstration. He always cuts the bamboo canes cross-wise by hand, using a small knife. The next stage is to split the canes into strips on the hand-turned wheel-and-blade machine, which he also demonstrated. However, he is so experienced that he prefers to do this by hand. The final preparation is to soften the strips in water, rendering them supple enough to weave into this remarkable vase. It would take him a year to complete from start to finish, and is all the more astonishing for being crafted without the use of a cast or the help of assistants.

正在编织竹制艺术品的徐建元

引发我对中国象形文字的思考与《易经》的研究

后来，我发现了一些代表容器的甲骨文象形文字（如下图所示），外形类似于徐先生所做的花瓶。根据我的资料来源所示，这个图像的意思是：“填满，充盈（丰富）”。就像“酒”这个字一样，它代表着一个长颈的容器，也意味着“幸福、繁荣”。我问徐先生，是什么促使他开始编织花瓶的工作的，这对他来说又有什么样的意义。他解释说，中国人通常会在家里放两个花瓶，用于保护亲戚们的平安并带来好运。“‘花瓶’在汉语中读作‘HUA PING’”，他说道，“‘平安’的发音是‘PING AN’。显然，‘花瓶’和‘平安’都有‘PING’的发音。”

Later, I was able to discover oracle bone pictograms of vessels (drawn below) resembling Mr Xu’s vase. According to my sources, the image means: to fill in, fullness (abundance). Like the character for ‘wine’, it represents a long-necked vessel, and it can also mean happiness, prosperity. I asked Mr Xu what prompted him to weave his vase and what significance it had for him. He explained that the Chinese put two vases in the family home to keep their relatives safe and to bring good luck: ‘“Vase” in Chinese is pronounced HUA PING’, he said, ‘while the pronunciation of “safeness” is PING AN. Thus, both “vase” and “safeness” share the pronunciation PING’.

“丰”字的象形演变

这与《易经》中，用盛物丰满的豆型容器图形来表达“富足”之意的象形文字“丰”（左图所示）是相互关联的。我很高兴地注意到，伸长出来的茎与徐先生所做花瓶上竖着的竹条事相呼应的。

This corrolates with the I Chingideograph of Feng(drawn on the left), which takes the image of beans flourishing to express abundance. I was pleased to note that the protruding stemsecho the bamboo strips bristling from Mr Xu’s vase.

Hexagrams in the I Chingare combinations of two trigrams (three-line symbols), used to identify each of sixty-four ideographs for the purposes of divination. Alfred Huang explains that the Fenghexagram’s broken top line (shown under the accompanying poem) means: Abundant, his house. Sheltering his household. This chimes with Mr Xu’s explanation of families keeping vases in their houses as symbols of safety.

“丰”字的金文

《易经》中的丰卦

在另一篇文章（《做客南丰馆：与面具艺术家共享美食》）中，我研究了代表“食物”和“吃”的容器的甲骨文象形文字。看象形文字和它们的含义在不同的语境中是如何重叠或变化的，是一件相当有趣的事。这反映了《易经》本身是基于变化之道的――即变化的真理。据阿尔佛来德·黄所说，古代先贤在观察天空中的天文现象和地球上的地貌特征，以及研究万物之间的关系时，认识到一个普遍的原理，即一切事物都是存在于不断变化的过程当中的。产生变化是必然的。只有变化的原则，是永远不会改变的。

For another essay (Lunch at the Mask-Maker’s Restaurant) I looked at oracle bone pictograms of vessels that mean ‘food’ and ‘eat’. It is intriguing to see how pictograms and their meanings can overlap or change in different contexts. This reflects the I Chingitself, based as it is on the Tao of change―the truth of change. According to Alfred Huang, as the ancient sages watched astronomical phenomena in the sky and topographical features on earth, and studied the relationship among all beings, they realised that a universal principle exists whereby everything is in a continuous process of change. Change is certain. Only the principle of change never changes.

最后，多亏了樊亮亮先生（我们都称他为Tom），我才得以加深自己对抚州那些游览之地的了解。汤姆是抚州幼儿师范高等专科学校的英语老师。这是一所经中华人民共和国教育部批准开办的公办院校，专为城市和地方政府培养幼儿园和小学教师。同样作为一名教师，我对于他在教学职责之外致力于文化创新活动而感到钦佩不已。在这周晚些的时候，我捕捉到了他和他的一些学生在一起相处的欢乐画面。

Finally, it is thanks to Fan Liangliang, known to us as Tom, that I have been able to develop my understanding of the places I visited in Fuzhou. Tom is an English teacher at Fuzhou Preschool College. This is a state-owned college, approved by the People’s Government of China, which prepares kindergarten and primary school teachers for the city and local authority. As a teacher myself, I felt an admiration for his dedication to cultural initiatives beyond teaching duties. I caught happy images of him with some of his students later in the week.

在此，为竹编大师献上一首我写的现代诗歌：

工艺大师编织竹瓶

The Master Craftsman

Weaves A Bamboo Vase

右手握着刀和竹子

在他的左手边 | 徐先生纵向劈开了木头

Gripping the blade in his right hand and bamboo

in his left| Mr Xu splits the wood lengthways

让那两块碎片落在脚下的堆砌物之上

在墙的上方 | 清明上河图

and lets the two pieces fall onto the pile at his feet

On the wall above| Ascending the River at Qingming

唤起我在抚州火车上看到的古老景象

有着铺满鲜花的坟墓 | 这编织的竹条

evokes ancient scenes I saw from a Fuzhou train

of graves strewn with flowers| This weaving frieze

像河流一样流过作坊墙壁的宽度

舢板曾经在那里运送大量的篾条

flows the width of the workshop wall like the river

where junks once heaved abundant cargos of cane

他将竹条置于水中软化并编织着

穿入侧躺着的三米长的容器中

He softens the strips in water and plaits the supple

threads into a three-metre vessel which lies on its side

长须围绕在它张开的瓶口边缘

好似象形文字中伸出的豆茎

Stubble-ends bristle around the lip of its open mouth

mimicking the jutting bean stems in the ideograph

他将以古老的中国传统方式展出这个花瓶

在他的家里 | 用一对花瓶中的一个庇护他家人的安康

In the old Chinese tradition he will exhibit the vase

at his house| one of a pair to keep his family safe

此刻他拿起一根染成黑色的绳子收尾

先帝的面孔 | 交织着他的记忆

Now he takes up a black-dyed strand to complete

the face of the First Emperor| interlacing his memory

—— 露西·汉密尔顿

Lucy Hamilton

end

出品：抚州市文广新旅局

来源：北大文化传承与创新研究院-抚州

编辑：抚小七

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