Gaoligong Museum of Handcraft Paper

Xinzhuang Yunnan Province, China, 2017

A beautiful sunny day welcomed me on my arrival to the Gaoligong Museum for Handcraft Paper in the village of Xinzuang. The museum is located on the road entering the village, and its distinctive architecture provides a window onto the history and process of local paper making and to the artisans of that village who take pride in their 700 year-old tradition of making paper by hand.

What drew me to visit the museum was how the desire to preserve a unique tradition of paper making had brought people together to empower the local community to create positive social changes that redefined the relationships between the paper making process, the integrity of the local community and the natural environment. The article shares the story of this unique undertaking.

During the Ming Dynasty in the seventeen century, the Long tribe was sent as guardians of China's western frontier in what is now Xinzhuang village. Their main income came from agriculture, while handcraft paper had always provided a subsidiary income. With the emergence of the modern paper industry, paper making by hand gradually began to disappear. 

While few villagers realized the cultural value of their craft, Long Wen, an expert in traditional culture protection understood its potential. He discovered Xinzhuang on his travels among villages in the area as he researched local intangible cultural heritage.

Fascinated by the villagers traditional paper making skills, Long Wen realized that something had to be done to save the art of handcrafted paper from dying out. Together with his friend and graphic designer Yi an, they came up with the idea of a museum. Their rationale was that paper could find its place among the established milieu due to Its’ originality and historical value.

With a group of friends from Beijing, and Long Zhanxian the leader of Xinzhuang and former curator of the museum, and financially supported by Yi an, the ambitious project was launched. Designed by architect Hua Li graduate of Yale University and founder of the Trace Architecture Office (TOA).

The museum was conceived as a micro-village with its cluster of six small buildings built to blend in with the village landscape. Each room is dedicated to displays demonstrating the paper making process in a simple yet inspiring sequence starting with the display of various ancient craft tools, the raw material from which the pulp is made, the traditional boiling of the fiber, the nets and tub where the paper is manufactured, wooden platforms for drying the paper, block prints conveying the traditional custom of bestowing blessings, and ending with historical documents. At the heart of the museum is the tea room overlooking the fields and their families  cemetery, which is used by the villagers for special ceremonies. In the entrance to the museum there is a gift shop and library. The second floor functions as an open work space and an outdoor stairway leads up to the guest rooms and a terrace with a panoramic view of Gaoligong Mountain, the villagers’ homes and picturesque fields. The building was designed using traditional local materials of wood, bamboo, volcano stone and handcraft paper and was skillfully built by local builders. between each display there are large windows that frame the landscape outside, provoking an awareness of the inseparable relationship between paper making and the environment.

at the time of my visit, Liu Kankan, who has long been concerned about China's rural cultural construction, was the curator of the museum. Prior to this, Kankan had worked as a translator in Canada. She formed good relationships with the villagers, created a bilingual website and created initiatives  to encourage artists to incorporate local handcraft paper into their work.  Chen Qi, a young apprentice at the museum is currently experimenting with various dyes and binding techniques. Jun Wu, a product designer has designed chic lampshades and paper bags. Liang Liangren, a paper cutting artist has given a paper cutting workshop to the village children. Artists from abroad like Jarrod Becker, an outdoor installation artist from the U.S., and Adriana Cagigas, a fashion designer from Spain, have come to learn and experience the uniqueness of the village museum.

The villagers' paper is made from the bark of mulberry trees and produces sheets that are suitable for tea packaging, religious ceremonies and calligraphy. The nets used for paper making are handmade from bamboo and solid wood by Xuan papermakers in Anhui Province. The raw mulberry fiber is harvested and distributed by mountain tribes. Large ceramic vases are used for softening the fibers and a Chinese beater has been recently introduced to optimize the manual process. After the paper has been piled and pressed, it is dried by systemically layering it onto wooden boards or onto the walls using a large brush.

When the Italian photographer, Mattia Marinolli photographed the village in 2010 shortly after the museum opened, only eight families were still making handmade paper, and the façades of the villagers’ homes were sealed on the side of the main street. Seven years later on, there are now eleven families dedicated to paper making, and some of their workshops are now open along the main road for visitors to purchase paper and observe the paper making process.

  

          

Clockwise: Architect Hua Li at the museums library & gift shop: Long Zhanxian (photo by Xu Jing), Liu Kankan with Orna Hatzor: the tea room: the cemetery, a paper cut by Liang Liangren: the museum display of traditional peeled branches, boiling of fibers, beaten fibers rolled into pulp balls and paper making room: woodblock prints: indigo preparation: indigo effect on hand made paper and envelopes.   

 

Photograph from 2010 by Mattia Marinolli, and a photo taken on October 2017 by Orna Hatzor