Lanzhou Carved Gourd

Lanzhou carved gourd rose in the late Qing and early Republic, said to begin with folk artists such as Li Wenji, who lightly incised the gourd with a needle, before the master Ruan Wenhui in the 1980s took knife for needle and invented openwork, ink-painting and coloured styles that made Lanzhou its own school. Counted with beef noodles and the sheepskin raft among the "Three Treasures of Lanzhou," it entered the first Gansu provincial ICH list in 2006.

Artists incise landscapes, flowers, birds, figures and calligraphy onto the skin of a small gourd with needle or knife, then rub pine soot into the lines so the picture stands clear and flowing; the composition follows the scattered perspective of Chinese painting, uniting calligraphy, painting and seal-carving to unfold a whole world within a few inches, praised as "art upon the edge of a knife."

Uniting the natural gourd with the traditional Chinese arts of poetry, painting and calligraphy, Lanzhou carved gourd is a singular micro-carving tradition of the northwest, carrying the folk aesthetic and ingenuity of Lanzhou and holding considerable craft and connoisseur value.

Carved gourds are shown and sold along the climbing path of Baita Mountain and in craft shops across the city, with finer pieces at the Jincheng Pass Cultural Expo Park.