Bamboo Carving (Wuxi Liuqing Bamboo Carving)

Bamboo carving in Wuxi has a long lineage. In the Ming dynasty the Wuxi-born carver Zhang Xihuang created the liuqing relief landscape technique that set a model for later generations, and in 1915 Zhang Ruizhi opened the Shuangqixuan studio in Wuxi, carrying the craft forward.

Liuqing carving exploits the color contrast between the bamboo's green outer skin and its inner flesh to build pictorial depth in shallow relief. From incised line-work it developed into retained-skin relief and several raised-ground techniques, prized for fine, antique elegance.

Wuxi liuqing carving is a major school of Chinese bamboo art, celebrated across the Shanghai-Nanjing corridor, and entered the second batch of the national intangible heritage list in 2008. With few practitioners remaining, its transmission is especially precious.