Skills And Emotions:A Study Of Guilin Wood-root Carving Artisans

Folk crafts embody people’s life emotions,folk beliefs,and artistic ideals,as individuals create objects to satisfy their inner desires.Handicrafts are not only the physical remnants of material folk culture,tangible entities for classification,description,and inheritance,and carriers of culture,but also a manifestation of human behavior on a material level.This paper,based on the perspective of material behavior research in folklore studies,focuses on handicrafts as a complex interweaving of technology and emotion.Starting from the dimensions of tradition and modernity,technology and production,and emotion and experience,this paper comprehensively explores the rise and current status of Guilin wood-root carving,focusing on the practice of Guilin wood-root carving artisans and the multiple meanings they gain from their manual labor,such as achievement,creativity,identity,and spiritual satisfaction.This paper aims to go beyond the "heritage perspective" to explore the value and significance of manual labor in modern society.This study is divided into three parts: introduction,main body,and conclusion.The main body consists of three chapters.In the first chapter,the paper systematically reviews the rise of Guilin wood-root carving.The abundant wood carving materials in Guangxi provide a stable external condition for the development of Guilin wood-root carving.Wood carving skills infiltrate people’s daily lives,making wood carving a cultural transmission mechanism in Guilin.Since the reform and opening up,the prosperity of the tourism industry has promoted the growth of the Guilin farmer’s root carving stall group,which has gradually evolved into workshop production.After the 1990 s,wood carving artists from Fujian brought exquisite round carving skills,injecting new vitality into the development of Guilin wood-root carving.In the second chapter,the paper discusses the current status and overall characteristics of Guilin wood-root carving in detail.After thirty years of development,a complete wood-root carving industry chain has been formed in Xiangshan District,Guilin.Driven by diversified development forces,the practice of wood-root carving artists has given Guilin wood-root carving its unique regional characteristics,mainly featuring "large volume," "valuing nature," and "root wrapping stone." Technology,as the pivot of creative culture,has revolutionized the bodily techniques in wood-root carving production.Folk art elites have gradually embarked on a distinctive,individualized creative path,indicating that in contemporary society,handicraft production is moving toward higher levels of artistic forms and artistic production.In the third chapter,through the recording of the life history of artisans in the Guilin wood-root carving industry,the paper returns to the essence of handicraft manual creation and explores the emotional attributes of handicrafts.In the manual labor process,skill mastery forms the basis for artisans to construct their identity.Handicrafts,as a creative act,can support life in aspects of emotional expression,personal growth,and spiritual satisfaction,helping artisans find a sense of purpose.In addition,manual labor plays an important role in adjusting mentality,helping artisans cope with anxiety and experience a sense of achievement,pleasure,and happiness in the process.