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China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News introduced and reported Master Ni Dongfang!

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Ni Dongfang, a famous stone carving artist, known as the "Qingtian Stone Soul", was awarded the Asia-Pacific region's handicraft master, the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage project Qingtian stone sculpture representative inheritors, and Zhejiang Province model worker.

▲Ni Dongfang

Born in 1928 in a stone carving family in Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province. Destiny makes Ni Dongfang inseparable from the mountains and stones throughout his life. His mother is a master stone carving craftsman in Qingtian. He learned stone carving skills from his mother when he was 15 years old. Since then, his father died, his sister married, orphans and widowed mothers, "holding stones with blue lanterns day and night, relying on each other for life and hope for the dawn." Shankou Town established a stone carving cooperative and a stone carving factory, and since then, he has an external environment in which he can display his talents. While working as a sawing masonry, Ni Dongfang insisted on his hobbies and kept learning stone carving from the people around him. Later, in order to concentrate on learning stone carving, he gave up the high salary of sawing masonry and voluntarily downgraded to become a masonry carver.

"At that time, we didn't have any electric lights here. At night, I would light candles and conceive and carve these stones in the room alone..." Ni Dongfang couldn't help being excited when he recalled the time he was carving.

When the stone is carved, it shows its own beauty. In Ni Dongfang's view, the stone itself is very beautiful. Good materials are not easy to carve. You can't use a knife to carve before you think about it. He once made a joke with a painter, saying that painting can be painted repeatedly, but stone carving has only one chance, because there is no second exactly the same stone.

But cherishing the stone does not mean not dare to take the knife. In this respect, Ni Dongfang has aloof courage and self-confidence: "Be careful when you move the knife, but you must be bold. If you should stay, you should stay. If you should remove it, then remove. Carving stay The lower part is like the flesh on the body. The part removed from the carving is like the mud in the ground." If you dare not choose, it is a taboo to carve it all.

One night in 1991, Ni Dongfang bought a stone at a high price despite the objections of his family and friends. There are hard rocks on both sides of this stone. If you are not careful, you will damage the frozen stone inside, which is very risky. His dedication to stone carving and his confidence in his own skills made Ni Dongfang determined to take this risk.

The creation of stone sculptures emphasizes peace of mind. After working behind closed doors for three days, Ni Dongfang decided on the theme of "Flowers and Full Moon". After more than seven months of meticulous creation, the work is completed. The whole work has beautiful lines, flexible shapes, superb technique and profound artistic conception. It is not only a three-dimensional painting, but also a silent poem. In 1992, " Flower and a Full Moon" was selected as a special stamp pattern by the State Post and Telecommunications Department, and was publicly issued nationwide.

When Ni Dongfang talked about his masterpiece, the corners of his mouth were smiling, just like the love and satisfaction that can not be concealed from the heart when a mother talks about her children， Although proud, she never boast. Being able to be selected as a stamp design is not only the supreme honor for the individual, but more importantly, through this method, the Qingtian stone carving has entered the art palace of the whole people from the folk craft with a higher starting point.

" Flower and Full Moon" was again identified as a "civilian national treasure" by the "Treasure Hunting Program" of CCTV in 2010, and was subsequently donated to the permanent collection of Qingtian Stone Sculpture Museum free of charge. The famous cultural scholar Yu Qiuyu once wrote an article: "Mr. Ni Dongfang's carved stone carvings carry the destiny of nature and culture at the same time, and he decided to inherit the destiny of culture with the destiny of nature.”

▲Work "Flower and Full Moon"

The blockbuster of "Flowers and Full Moon" has brought Qingtian stone carving skills to the world, and there is an endless stream of stone carving enthusiasts from all over the country who come to learn. Will Ni Dongfang "have reservations"? Or use your reputation to "earn" a fee? the answer is negative. In the eyes of the artist, there is only inheritance. He not only teaches each other, he also humbly learns different styles of stone carving skills from various places.

Ni Dongfang himself also accepts a lot of disciples. When spreading art, he pays attention to "teach students in accordance with their aptitude" and does not hand in hand to tell his disciples how to do it, but he will guide the idea and creation. Stone carving needs to be created in change, and only by passing on all the skills can we create more brilliant works.

Ni Dongfang has 5 sons and 2 daughters. The second son also set up his own carving room, but Ni Dongfang did not distribute his works to his children. "These works are the property of the people of Qingtian and should be used as business cards and signs of Qingtian." Ni Dongfang said with a smile.

In 1988, the personal exhibition hall "Xishi Shizhai" was established, becoming the first stone carving hall in Qingtian to receive foreign guests.

Good works and good inheritance should be appreciated by more people. Ni Dongfang donated “Bayberry” and “Aoshuang Qiuju” to the China Arts and Crafts Museum. Among them, “Aoshuang Qiuju” won the first prize of the 6th Hundred Flowers Award of China Arts and Crafts. In the Qingtian Stone Sculpture Museum, there are more works donated by Ni Dongfang in addition to "Flowers and Full Moon". It is this kind of mind and this kind of artistic feelings that let more people understand the art of Qingtian stone carving.

▲Work "Bayberry"

▲Work "Qiuju Aoshuang"

In 2016, Ni Dongfang's personal exhibition hall "Xishi Zhai" was transformed and upgraded to "Ni Dongfang Art Museum", becoming a large-scale, professional folk stone carving museum integrating comprehensive display, research and dissemination of Ni Dongfang's stone carving art and Chinese stone culture , Well-known at home and abroad.

▲Ni Dongfang Art Museum's main entrance and interior view

Now, although Ni is more than 90 years old, he still gets up early to carve stone three hours a day. He has strong hands and feet, strong body, and he lives and learns and is old. He has achieved stone carving, and stone carving has also achieved him. In his later years, he pursued great beauty by reforming the law and was able to integrate the craftsmanship of Qingtian stone carvings. Through inscriptions, poems, white space, composition, drawing materials and other channels to penetrate the literary atmosphere, he assumed an important role in the process of transforming tradition to modernity. The new soul of Qingtian stone carving. He is not only intoxicated and ingenious, but also pays more attention to the cultivation of skills by literature, so that the folk aesthetics and the taste of the literati are combined into one. He can be called a modest gentleman, and he is actually a Qingtian stone soul.

▲Ni Dongfang

As an artist who has never left Qingtian, Ni Dongfang has a unique regional affection and social responsibility. "My things will stay in Qingtian. This is my root." He is passionate about public welfare, has social responsibility, and promotes the industry. 'S consciousness is very strong. After 60 years of retirement, he spent 28 years building roads, building Arhat Walls, and building forests of steles in Qingtian Qiansiyan Scenic Area. Now it has become a four-A-level scenic tourist area. "He is in Qiansiyan when he is not at home. Most of the money sold for the works is invested here."

He is not only highly skilled, but also moral. Lin Aiping, Ni Dongfang's high student, said: "Others' master teaches art and accomplishes tasks, and my master teaches me how to be a human being."

After two and thirty years, I have always adhered to the "two loves". For sixty years, my heart has entered poetry, writing and painting, and my hands are not separated from the beautiful stone and ingeniously carved. The hard work is in the same vein with thousands of stones and in harmony with thousands of stones. Boldly explore, keep innovating, and use Eastern wisdom to carve Eastern culture and Eastern stories... (Yan Xinwen, Wang Guowei, Chen Mo)