Zhao Yijun, The Only Descendant Of Palace Embroidery, 71 Years Old And 56 Years, Has A Clear Conscience.

Palace hang embroidery "Guan Jing Tu"

"In my whole life, I don't want to compare with others, I just want to quietly embroider my work."

Zhao Yijun is 71 years old this year. His hair is grey. A serious illness has left the old man in the gate of the devil. There is no sensation in his fingertips. "Strangely enough, the embroidery needles are so small that I can still keep them in embroidery."

Zhao Yijun is the only descendant of palace embroidery. Since he retired early due to illness in 1999, he insisted on embroidery in the studio for at least 8 hours every day, declined unnecessary contacts, and even declined the invitation of the exhibition.

"I only want to do as much as I can, embroider some works, and preserve as much as possible the techniques of court embroidery."

Lofty court embroidery, silent pass artists

The court embroidery of Hangzhou originated from the Southern Song Dynasty. It is the oldest court embroidery in history.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, the court set up "Wenxiu yuan", gathered two hundred or three hundred embroidery workers, and autocratic court.

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The palace embroidery, which is of noble birth, combines two skills of color line embroidery and gold and silver embroidery, so it is dazzling, magnificent and royal.

The embroidery workers in and out of the court are mainly men, and the the Imperial Palace court embroidery is also known as the male embroidery, and the industry rules of pmitting men to women do not extend to the early Republic of China.

Because it is embroidered for male workers, embroidered and soft, with a single needle and thread, must be regulated according to certain rules.

In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, there were more than ten embroidery houses in Hangzhou City, with the names of "super auspicious Spring" and "fan Yuan Yuan" remaining in the world. They were engaged in the official service atlas, the sedan chair curtain, the table round screen, the Buddhist Hall hanging banner, the costumes and costumes, and so on.

By 1920s, thousands of embroidery artists were mainly male workers.

On the twenty fourth of the Lunar New Year September, all the Hangzhou embroidery artists gathered in Hangzhou city.

After the turmoil of the times, the embroidery industry went from bad to worse.

Until 1955, the Hangzhou municipal government convened the remaining 7 old artists of Hangzhou embroidery, and established the Hangzhou beauty art brocade cooperative.

In 1985, Zhang Jinfa, one of Hangzhou embroidery's old entertainer, took the last pupil, Zhao Yijun. At this time, Hangzhou embroidery was like a deep valley, and it was hardly known.

"I learned the complete palace embroidery with Mr. Zhang. He taught me with his hands."

Recalling the past, Zhao Yijun is just like the young man full of ambition at the beginning.

The master and the disciples jointly embroidered the "Shakya Muni" of Hangzhou embroidery, and opened the only work left by the master, "the dragon of the eye". (eyes: the most exquisite embroidery technique, and the whole dragon had only one broken head), Zhao Yijun could not help feeling the master's unique skills, and sighed that there were too few works left behind.

Zhao Yijun is embroidering "White Tara".

Embroidered Buddha also embroiders the heart, the bitter taste saves the embroidery.

Among many works, the Buddha is a favorite theme of Zhao Yi Jun.

The characteristics of the palace hang embroidery brush are clear and magnificent, and the sacred dignity of the Buddha is more appropriate.

In the past, we embroidered

Embroidered costumes. Now, palace embroidery needs a new carrier.

Zhao Yijun said.

Zhao Yijun's studio was filled with his embroidery work, and each of them spent years of painstaking efforts.

"Tang Xuan Zang Xi Xing Tu", "forty-eight great wishes of Amitabha", "Bodhisattva Bodhisattva", "three saints" in the west, "empty hide", "Jingang Luo", "king of gold", "vishmen" and "the king of the gurgal dragon" and other works, combined with the combination of color line and plate metal, make Buddhist art and Hangzhou embroidery art integrated into one.

The largest one is the "Jing Jing Tu", which is 1.84 meters high and 1.67 meters wide. The front contains 532 characters. On the back, it has embroidered 7221 words. It has spent 8 years in the whole work. The large number of doors, the number of characters, the time consuming and the needle method are all unique in the history of Hangzhou embroidery.

"My biggest regret now is that I am very old, my body is not good, my eyes are not working."

After retiring from the unit, Zhao Yijun gave almost all his personal time to the palace court embroidery.

However, due to the complexity of the process, a piece of work often takes many years. Even if he embroiders it without interruption day after day, his works are still limited.

"My works are basically not sold. They are all references that are not available in the book and are not available in the market. I want to save them."

Zhao Yijun said that he saw money very lightly. "Ten square meters of cottage has been able to live in". As long as he gave him a embroidered case, he could immerse himself in the world of embroidery.

In this way, he embroidered the ceiling, in the 10 square meters of a small studio, sitting upright, wearing presbyopic glasses, thumb thumb pinch needle, a needle Yang.

A line can be split into 16 parts, the hand is like a tight spring, each action condenses his decades of effort.

Qi needles, trocars, virtual needles...

All these traditional techniques are applied to a new piece of work.

"The one I am embroidering is" White Tara "screen, and the White Tara is the embodiment of Avalokiteshvara.

Zhao Yijun told reporters that this work has a special meaning for him: "in this work, I combine palace embroidery with Tibetan culture Thangka art, because I think Thangka's style and artistic effect are very similar to palace embroidery.

Although I do not know how the final result of such a bold attempt is, I am very satisfied with the semi finished products.

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He thought that preserving embroidery alone is not enough for inheriting embroidery.

"The masters of our profession are mainly to support their families and have no culture. There are few materials left in Hangzhou embroidery history."

Feeling the weakness of Hangzhou embroidery theory, Zhao Yijun wrote a book on Hangzhou embroidery, "Hangzhou embroidery from the Southern Song court", hoping to leave some research materials for later generations.

Turning on a copy of Zhao Yijun's book, he is still in school, and is surrounded by red dots. Almost every page is clippings or supplementary information.

"Doing this business is not easy. It is hard and lonely."

The more than 30 classmates who studied palace Hangzhou embroidery in the same year were left alone by him.

For decades, he was dressed in silk, embroidered as a solemn face of Buddha, embroidered into a beautiful Bodhisattva dress.

The embroidery was becoming more and more beautiful under his hands, but he grew old and black.

Speaking of his wife who had always supported him, Zhao Yijun's brow stretched out: "in order to let me concentrate on embroidery, my wife took all the housework.

With her accompany me, this road is not hard. "

Half life to find friends, to the United States Hangzhou City

The years brought him another worry: his life has been dedicated to the palace embroidery, but after him, who should take the place of him and explore this ancient road? He has been searching for successors, hoping to give away his knowledge.

Besides embroidery, he opened classes for embroidery lovers in the community and taught in some universities.

It is easy for students to learn.

As a past man, he also knows the hard work of inheriting: "court hang embroidery has a high threshold and cumbersome craft. How many young people can live for years or even decades?"

He even regrets: "even if the young people do not want to engage in this handicraft, I have kept all kinds of stitches in the court hang embroidery in my work, and I have a clear conscience."

Fortunately, there is now a young generation of apprentice Zhao Yijun, hoping to learn the skills of court embroidery.

"Now I have a young apprentice. This little girl has a quiet mind. She has the idea of improving and never lax.

She came to learn from me. I taught her with my hands and arranged some homework for her.

Though she studied clothes

I may not embroider these traditional things as I do in the future, but I am satisfied with her heart of study. "

The little girl Zhao Yijun admired is He Yuhan, who is studying at the science and Technology College of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University.

"I was very interested in embroidery since I was young, and I was shocked after seeing Mr. Zhao's works. I think if you can learn Hangzhou embroidery with Miss Zhao.

Later, I was lucky enough to get to know Mr. Zhao. I found that he was not only skilled in embroidery, but also upright in character.

He Yuhan told reporters.

In her mind, it is truly a master who really deserves her admiration and pursuit.

Following such a teacher, He Yuhan also gradually regarded "inheritance" as his mission: "I think the court hang embroidery will not be lost after Zhao.

Now more and more people are paying attention to palace embroidery. Maybe they will encounter more good seedlings who are willing to inherit this skill.

Although I do not have the ability and skill level of a successor, I will try my best to achieve this standard and help teachers pass the palace embroidery.

"Grandpa is embroidering again!" woke up during the nap, and Zhao Yijun's little grandson rushed into the studio. I didn't know from time to time. Staring at every move of Grandpa embroidery has become his daily required course.

"Zhao's little grandson is very interested in embroidery. He saw that his works were really embroidered with patterns, and maybe he could bear the burden of inheritance later."

He Yuhan said.

Zhao Yijun mounted several works of his grandson and hung them on the walls of his home.

In those days, he wanted to pass his skills to his daughter, but his daughter thought that embroidery was too cumbersome.

"It depends on fate, and compelled is not forced."

Humanity is a rare friend in life.

To inherit ancient handicrafts, it should be "willing to hook up".

He did not want to force anyone to bear the pressure, even his own family.

"I think Hangzhou court embroidery is surnamed hang. As the three generation of Hangzhou people, I want to save the palace embroidery, so that the younger generation can see that Hangzhou has such beautiful things."

This is Zhao Yijun's lifelong aspiration and his 56 year's mission.