Visiting Masters＞ Visit with Master Wen-chih Lin

Visit with Master Wen-chih Lin

Today, after lunch, we, including our director and two instructors, take the school bus to a Buddha shop for an interview. Our conversation is as follows:
Teng-hung Huang: “Is this Zhongkui?”
Master Lin: “Yes!”

Director: “He is a ghost catcher!”

Ming-hsien Hsu: “Are there standard sizes for heads of Shenjiang statues?”
Master Lin: “There are three sizes of heads for Shenjiang statues: 1.3 feet, 1.5 feet, and 2 feet. These are the three most common sizes.”
Ming-hsien Hsu: “What’s the length of a small-sized Shenjiang head?”
Master Lin: “The standard size of a small Shenjiang head is 1.3 feet.”
Ming-hsien Hsu: “What’s the length of a large-sized Shenjiang head?”
Master Lin: “The standard size of a large Shenjiang head is 2 feet.”
Ming-hsien Hsu: “What’s the weight of a Shenjiang head?”
Master Lin: “It depends. Some sculptors can make a head up to 6 kg, but I can only make ones that are about 2 kg.”
Yen-chun Hu: “Why can General Qi’s tongue move?”

Master Lin: “We make it movable. It makes the statue look lively, so we improved it in the later years.”

Shun-wei Huang: “How do you paint the Shenjiang statues?”
Master Lin: “After carving and modifying, I smooth the surface with sandpaper. Just like with cars, I paint it, smooth it, and repeat the procedure for three times.”
Shun-wei Huang: “How long does it take to paint a statue?”

Master Lin: “After modifying the statue, I repeat the smoothing and painting three times; then I paint the surface with a final touch-up. It takes 3 days in total.”

Po-hung Wang: “Can you correct a mistake while caving it?”

Master Lin: “Certainly! We don’t want to make any mistakes, so we have to focus very well while working on the statue. If we make a mistake, the entire process will become troublesome.”

Ming-hsien Hsu: “How many Shenjiang statue heads have you fixed?”

Master Lin: “I did not count. It should be more than one thousand.”

Po-hung Wang: “Where did you learn the skills?”
Master Lin: “I learned it from a Shenjiang sculptor in the Hualian and Taidong area.”
Po-hung Wang: “What’s your masters’ name?”

Master Lin: “His last name is Lin too.”

Ming-hsien Hsu: “Is the lip color of a statue the same as the face color?”

Master Lin: “The face color is related to the historical stories of the Shenjiang, and so the lip color is different because of that too.”

Pin-yu Wu and Nien-tzu Huang: “Do you surf the internet for the historical stories of Shenjiang?”
Master Lin: “Of course! I do it from time to time. I need to know the stories of Shenjiang to catch the charm of the Shenjiang.”

Master Lin was introducing his tools (tool for spray paint).

Master Lin was answering our questions seriously.

 

Wow! It looks hard but feels soft, since this is camphor wood.

Whose head is this? It’s Qianliyan.

 


The Shenjiang culture is Luzhou’s local traditional spirit. We did not know anything about Shenjiang culture at all, but after interviewing Master Lin and watching his demonstration on carving statue heads, we learn a lot. In his demonstration, we see his serious eyes as he worked. He answers our questions about carving confidently in good detail. For example, when we ask about the sizes of statue heads, he answers without thinking: “There are three sizes for Shenjiang statue heads. They are 1.3 feet, 1.5 feet and 2 feet. These are the three most common sizes” He remembers these so clearly. If we were him, we would have forgotten this a long time ago. Also, when Shun-wei asks: “How do you color these statues?” Master Lin answers: “After modifying the statue, I use sandpaper to sand it down, and then apply the base paint three times before painting the surface. In total, it needs 3 days to be completed.” Master Lin is very clear about the historical story of each Shenjiang statue, since he needs to know the characteristics and special story of each statue while sculpting the statue head. He reads the history carefully in order to figure out the romantic charm of each Shenjiang statue. This tells us that he requires high standard on his work, and also teaches us that a simple job requires so much time to accomplish. It requires 3 days to paint. If we were him, we would not have such patience. It is said that a “slow job delivers delicate work”. We can tell how much effort he puts in on his work when we see it.
Mr. Lin has a deep passion for sculpture techniques and Shenjiang culture, and hopes to pass on the skills of traditional culture to the next generation. However, Mr. Lin feels helpless with the problem of carrying this on. Since carving statues is too a burden for young people in modern days. Also, due to the continuous improvement in technology, most young people like modern things, and do not want to pay attention to these traditional skills. There were some people learning sculpting tens of years ago, but as time evolves, no one wants to learn this anymore.

Give me a smile… He he he.

 

Master Lin lets us feel the hair material of the statue.

Afterthoughts:
Pin-yu Wu: Today, we learned many things about making Shenjiang statues. During our time together, Master Lin mentioned: “Young people today do not want to learn this skill anymore!” I think, “Even though I cannot help pass this on, I can introduce him to more and more people, so that they will know more about Shenjiang culture”
Shun-wei Huang: Today we went to interview an instructor at a Buddha shop close to Lujiang Elementary School. When we entered the store, we immediately sensed Mr. Lin’s passion. He started to learn carving when he was 14 years old, and then 30 years passed. I remember he said: “You cannot accomplish one thing immediately. You need to develop the skills gradually, and keep working hard for your whole life to reach success.” He said his apprentices dropped from 20 to 7 or 8 people. He said that young people in this generation couldn’t bear hard life, so they cannot keep going. When Master took us to his personal studio, I could see his hard work and contribution. I saw General Qi, General Ba, Qianliyan, and Shunfenger. These are the statues that the master made by spending time and energy. In detail, Mr. Lin introduced all the materials used to make a Shenjiang statue, including tools for making the head, engraver, spray gun, sandpaper, paint, and electric saw. Master Lin simply explained the steps of making statue heads. First, you need to pick a good trunk and then get an idea to start working. The hardest part is to hollow out the wood; otherwise the statue would be too heavy for people to carry. The next step is the sculpting. One thing that needs to be noticed is that a statue with one horn represents the leader, and two horns represent the second leader. From this trip I learned that one’s insistence could bring back the hope for a disappearing traditional art. Everyone should have a responsibility for passing on these traditional arts, since we own these treasures together. We need to work harder in the future.

Yuang-ting Tseng: Today, we went to interview Mr. Lin in a Buddha shop. He is a master for making and maintaining Shenjiang statues. Mr. Lin started to learn the skill when he was 14. He has been in this industry for more than 38 years. He is a senior sculptor. There are many sculpture tools in Mr. Lin’s studio including a hammer, electric drill, sandpaper, paint, and spray gun. Mr. Lin showed us many skills of carving statues, and taught us a lot as well. We all admire his passion on this. His insistence on his expertise and skill help him to achieve his success. This is what we learned the most from his interview.

Po-hung Wang was learning how to make a statue head.

Ming-hsien Hsu: Today, our director took us to visit an excellent and very experienced master of fixing Shenjiang statues. He is Mr. Lin, who owns a Buddha shop. Mr. Lin likes Shenjiang culture, and started to follow another Master Lin in Hualian to learn the sculpture of Shenjiang statues. Mr. Lin has spent most of his time on sculpting Shenjiang heads for 38 years. Mr. Lin has shown some pictures for the Shenjiang heads he sculpted before. There was General Qi, General Ba, Yinyangsi, Third Prince and many more. After viewing the pictures, we started to ask him questions. I asked him many questions in the interview. After answering all our questions, Mr. Lin took us to see three statue heads that he was fixing in his studio. There were various of tools in the studio, such as an engraver, sandpaper, spray gun, paint, electric saw, and electric drill. Mr. Lin showed us how to install the hair onto the statue head. It was very fancy to us. Unfortunately, Mr. Lin said that young people today are not patient and cannot bear hard work, so his apprentices left one by one. It’s a big problem that skills cannot be carried on. I think if Mr. Lin is willing to teach in school, there will be many people being willing to learn. I feel Shenjiang statues are very mighty and powerful, but after hearing Mr. Lin explain how to fix these statues, I feel much closer to the Shenjiang statues. Now, I’ve learned that the distance between Shenjiang statues and people can be so close.
Po-hung Wang: Today, we learned lots of valuable knowledge from the interview with Mr. Lin. I saw the three statues being carving by Mr. Lin (these are the heads of Nazha, Qianliyan, and Shunfenger). I respect him much more after seeing these perfect works. If he let me do this, I could not even carve a human shape, and definitely cannot carve as well as Mr. Lin. I learned some procedures and details about making Shenjiang statues. It seems to be easy to make, but after learning about it, we know there are lots of complicated details in between. It requires a lot of patience. Sculpting is not easy at all. After interviewing with Mr. Lin, we know people today can no longer bear hard work; so young people today do not want to jump into this industry. Therefore this culture is gradually dying.
Kuan-ting Ho: After interviewing Master Lin, we learned the fact that carving Shenjiang is very labor insensitive and time-consuming. This does not even include the production of Shenjiang clothes. Most of the cloth is ordered from outside areas. For a period of time, cloth was ordered from China. Right now, most of these are ordered from Jiayi. They order the cloth to assemble with other parts here. We can see how complicated the details are. Master Lin said that young people in modern days are not willing to do such hard work. I think if young people are willing to learn the skills of carving Shenjiang statues, Luzhou Shenjiang culture will be able to be passed on.

Wei was secretly touching the statue’s lower jaw.

 

We learned that Shenjiang statue’s arms are made of white steel.

Po-hung Wang exchanged eye views with the Third Prince.

Master Lin was teaching us how to install hair for the statue.