Ｓｃｕｌｐｔｏｒ’ｓ Ｆａｓｃｉｎａｔｉｏｎ ｗｉｔｈ Ｒｏｏｔｓ

Kaihua County is where the mother river of the Zhejiang province starts. The Qiantang River starts in the mountains of the county and crisscrosses from west to east before emptying into the East China Sea. However， Kaihua has more than the river to boast about. The county also boasts a unique park dedicated to the art of root carving. Proudly， the Park of Chinese Root Carving Art is probably the only one of its kind in the world.

Naturally， the 2.4-hectare park displays spectacular root sculptures. At the cost of 150 million yuan， the park combines and highlights such essential Chinese cultural elements as Buddhism and Taoism. It also displays some stone carving marvels.

Behind the story of the unique park is a legend of a unique man: Xu Guqing， a local carpenter-turned root-carving artist. It is fair to assume that the day the 17-year-old youngster began in 1983 to do something about his dream of becoming a master of root carving， the first blueprint of the park took shape in his mind. It is another story about how a dream changes a man.

After his graduation from junior high school， Xu followed his father’s advice and began learning how to be a carpenter. In his spare time he studied woodcarving， mural and calligraphy and he copied drawings from picture-story books. A winter day in 1983， the 17-year-old youngster’s father brought home a New Year Picture he had purchased at the county capital. The junior was so fascinated by the shapes of the tree roots in the picture that he could no longer hold back from trying his hand at something artistic of

his own. It rained the next day and he did not need to work. So with the burning creative urge， the young man set out to collect roots which he had seen in the mountains by the village. For a day’s labor of love， he brought back a huge pile of roots. Of course， he did not forget the huge root of a dead camphor tree at the entrance to the village. The root had been there for years.

He studied the huge root night after night. Before long， he applied what he learned as a carpenter and amateur sculpting artist to the root. In the spring， the creative youngster turned the root into a set of chairs with carefully carved designs.

Thus Xu Guqing got himself started on a long journey toward the art of root carving. In the spring of 1989， he exhibited “A Long-Tailed Rooster” at a provincial folk art exhibition and was awarded for the originality of his carving. The recognition set the enthusiastic artist on fire. In 1990， the 24-year-old attended a training class in Wuxi where he studied the art of root carving and bonsai. By 1997， Xu Guqing had already been experienced in root carving. But he wanted to be better and he knew there was still a long way to go. After he gave a three-day lecture， he started taking private lessons from Xiao Feng， then professor and president of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts， and Hu Renfu， an experienced root-carving master in Shanghai. The teachings from the two masters transformed the self-made folk artist into a master. Xu Guqing came home and started a root-carving business in his home county Kaihua.

The life with roots has never been easy for Xu. One rainy day， he was searching roots in the mountains near his village. He trekked and searched， wearing a bamboo hat， a cape-leaf rain cloak， and straw shoes， and carrying tools. He ran into a rare root， dug it up， and wrapped it with plants and vines. On his way back， he slipped and fell off a steep slope. When he woke up， it was dark and he was totally drenched with rain. The rice ball he had carried for lunch was nowhere to be found， but his hands still clung to the tree stump. He forgot the pain and hunger and staggered toward home with the root. When his mother finally saw the son come home， she wept and relieved.

For villagers in deep mountains， tree roots are nothing but firewood. But Xu Guqing sees them as treasures. In October 1996， he learned that there was a huge dead tree somewhere in Fujian Province. He set out immediately that night. After a journey of hundreds of kilometers， he finally came to the towering elm that was more than 1，000 years old. He wanted to sing and dance for the godsend there and then，for what he saw in the tree was a huge statue of Sakyamuni. He began to get all the red tape done for transporting the tree back to Kaihua. But there he ran into trouble. The elm was so huge that all his plans to move it failed. The last resort was to build a road so that the tree could be transported to the nearest highway. Five years and 170，000 yuan later， a road was completed and the elm was home in Kaihua. The road was more than 30 kilometers long and just wide enough for a tractor to ride through.

His root-carving business has seen huge losses and big bucks. In the spring of 1993， he met a businessman from Taiwan at an art exhibition. The Taiwanese loved Xu’s works so much that he placed an order worth 500，000 yuan and made a down payment of 10，000 yuan. Xu was excited. He got a loan， assembled a team of sculptors and began to produce. The businessman came to visit his workshop twice during the production period. But when Xu was ready to deliver， the businessman vanished. With such a large quantity of carvings on his hands and a huge loan to pay back， Xu was at a loss literally and figuratively. He spent a night drinking to make the distress and stress go away. But he recovered and took things into his hands again. He took stock of the carvings， sold the staple goods to pay the loan back， and saved unrepeatable sculptures for the future. And he assorted the raw materials at the warehouse and classified the roots for different uses. This way， he successfully cut the loss and restarted his business.

Today， Kaihua is designated by the state government as the home of root-carving in the country and the county is home to a huge root-carving industry composed of hundreds of businesses. Nearly half of the woodcarving artists in the county once worked and received training in Xu’s business. Xu’s business， naturally， is the largest carving enterprise in the province. As a master， Xu Guqing has won numerous honors and professional titles. Many of his works have earned him big bucks. In the central square of the county capital stands a 10-odd-meter-tall bronze sculpture. The landmark is a blowup of a root-carving prototype by Xu. Xu is now president of Zhejiang Arts and Crafts Association.