Guangzhou Brick Carving

Guangzhou Brick Carving

Guangzhou Brick Carving is an intangible cultural heritage of Guangdong Province.

　　Brick carving is one of the ancient architectural decorative arts that flourished especially during the Qing Dynasty, producing many renowned artisans. Craftsmen selected high-quality small blue bricks and employed superb techniques to carve various figures from stories, flowers, birds, landscapes, and antique patterns. These were then assembled into a complete picture and inlaid onto blue brick walls, creating an excellent decorative effect. The large brick carvings at the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall are masterpieces by famous brick carving artisans of the time, including Huang Nanshan, Yang Jianting, and Li Bizhu from Panyu, as well as Chen Zhaonan, Liang Cheng, and Liang Jin from Nanhai. They represent the essence of Guangdong’s brick carving art.

　　As early as the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the prototype of Guangzhou brick carving—Han Dynasty bricks engraved with patterns—appeared in the royal gardens of the ancient Nanyue King’s Palace (now Zhongshan 4th Road, Guangzhou), indicating its long history. By the Ming Dynasty, the use of Guangzhou brick carving in residential buildings had become widespread, forming a unique style of folk architecture in the Lingnan water towns. Its influence even reached Southeast Asia. During the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou brick carving art gained the appreciation of the imperial court. Li Wen Yuan, a master of sculpture and mural painting from Shawan during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns of the Qing Dynasty, was summoned to the capital by Empress Dowager Cixi to decorate the Summer Palace and was appointed to the position of “Imperial Court Artisan.”

　　In the late Qing Dynasty, with the rise of modern architecture, the art of brick carving was gradually replaced by modern sculptural decoration. By the early Republican period, the use of brick carving for decoration had become quite rare. Following artisan Han Zuoxuan from the ancient Guba Village, brick carving in Shawan faded into obscurity. Currently, there are very few practitioners of Shawan brick carving, with only He Shiliang, a young artist who is self-taught, still passionately pursuing this traditional craft that is gradually being forgotten by the world.

　　Unlike brick carvings from other regions, Guangzhou brick carving uses construction bricks as raw materials, fully reflecting the practical nature of the art serving architecture. In terms of technique, Guangzhou brick carving interweaves high relief, low relief, and line engraving, creating a natural and vivid effect with crisp and decisive carving strokes. It carries on the delicate artistic characteristics of Lingnan carving art, emphasizing fine knife work and meticulous detail, with clear, delicate, and refined lines. In terms of subject matter, Guangzhou brick carving favors depictions of lush flowers, dragons and phoenixes bringing prosperity, and celestial beings offering auspiciousness. It also skillfully incorporates historical and theatrical figures, portraying a lively and grand scene of prosperity—this is precisely a reflection of the distinctive style of Lingnan arts and crafts. Additionally, Guangzhou brick carving values form and layering, with compact patterns and overlapping layers, creating a strong sense of three-dimensionality, and has developed carving techniques represented by hanging-line carving.

　　Guangzhou Brick Carving is not only an important branch of China’s millennia-old brick carving art but also a traditional folk craft of the Lingnan region, forming a significant part of Lingnan’s intangible cultural heritage.

　　Currently, due to the complexity and high cost of the brick carving craft, coupled with low economic returns and the rarity of buildings using brick carvings, there are fewer and fewer artisans proficient in this craft, with little to celebrate. This folk art is on the brink of extinction, and its current situation is concerning.