Root Art Museum

　　The Root Art Museum is situated in the northeast corner of Hongmei Park, covering an area of 2,000 square meters. It is a complex of antique-style courtyard buildings with white walls, black tiles, carved beams and painted rafters, curved bridges over ponds, and lush green trees, offering a very beautiful environment. The interior is elegantly decorated, with display stands arranged at varying heights and exhibits presented in an orderly fashion.

　　In the 1980s, the Changzhou Municipal Government invested several million yuan to build the Root Art Museum, permanently preserving and exhibiting the rare masterpieces of Tu Yidao. A half-length bronze statue of Mr. Tu Yidao was erected in the exhibition hall of the Root Art Collection Museum, making it a new scenic attraction in Changzhou. The museum displays over 200 root carving masterpieces created by Mr. Tu Yidao, who devoted his lifetime skills and passion to the craft. It is currently the largest and richest collection of root art in China. Tu Yidao's works have been collected by multiple art museums both in China and abroad, and he has donated more than 200 of his finest root art pieces, which he painstakingly created, to his hometown of Changzhou. Party and state leaders have given full recognition and high praise. The former Vice Premier of the State Council, Gu Mu, personally inscribed the words: “Ingenious craftsmanship, naturally formed art.”

　　Tu Yidao’s works are renowned nationwide and celebrated overseas, hailed as “treasures of the world.” Party and state leaders have given them full recognition and high praise. The former Vice Premier of the State Council, Gu Mu, personally inscribed the words: “Ingenious craftsmanship, naturally formed art.” His works have been exhibited in dozens of countries and are permanently housed in the municipal “Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museums” in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province; Jingzhou, Hubei Province; Fuzhou, Fujian Province; Wuxi, Jiangsu Province; as well as in museums in 28 other countries including the United States, Japan, Canada, and Singapore.

　　As a form of sculptural art, root carving uses old tree roots as raw materials, with the sculptor’s unique discoveries and creative vision as its soul. It simulates the images of flowers, trees, birds, beasts, lingzhi mushrooms, and even Taoist and Buddhist deities to create artworks that blend object and self, form and meaning. There are grand creations over ten feet tall, as well as delicate miniatures no larger than a square foot; there is the thrilling "Eagle Capturing Snake," as well as the gentle melodies of "Rain on Lotus." Each piece is vivid and lifelike, combining the resonant strength of bronze with the resilient subtlety of aged wood, giving viewers a sense of almost tangible vitality and instant admiration. Their artistic quality reaches almost the pinnacle of perfection. Gu Mu’s spontaneous inscription truly captures these extraordinary root art masterpieces and their creator. Viewing the treasures in the collection makes it even clearer that while Gu Mu’s praise is lofty, it is in no way exaggerated. “When heaven and man unite in root carving, and heart and eye delight in art.” It is because root carving creates an artistic realm where heaven and man are one that viewers feel as if they are hearing the music of the heavens, experiencing a serene joy, and receiving aesthetic shocks and happiness.