In June, "Jiangsu Culture" series of micro-documentaries produced by the 
Information Office of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government released the 
newest chapter: Liuqing Bamboo Carving. 

To view the video, please click: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-UlAXQpc&ab_channel=CharmingChangzhou

The documentary is based on three parts: "Prepare materials", "Inherit skills" 
and "Develop civilization". It presents the national intangible cultural 
heritage -- Jianhu acrobatics, by carving of knife on bamboo, it is the 
footprints of human civilization, which is well-known both at home and abroad. 

There are great expanses of bamboo forests along the Yangtze River in China. It 
produces abundant Moso bamboo in Changzhou, Jiangsu, so local people take the 
advantage, they choose the straight bamboo with flat and smooth surface, no 
spot and few joints, to make Liuqing Bamboo Carving, boiling bamboo to clear up 
the oil, then taking them out and wipe the surface at once, exposing them to 
the weather for 3-5 years, and finally getting perfect raw materials for bamboo 
carving.

Most bamboo carvers are skilled in painting, they draw their imagination on the 
bamboo surface, then present their works on the Liuqing, the surface of bamboo 
by pushing, carving, lifting, and stroking of knife as pen on bamboo as paper. 
It takes much time to practice completing the works smoothly by the knife 
technique. After the bamboo skin peeled off, landscapes and poems are gradually 
presented on the bamboo surface.

The bamboo skin is in a light color and turns yellowish over time, the bamboo 
body turns darker after a longer time. The different color levels tell folk 
anecdotes and record ancient culture. The descendants can see the prosperity 
and restoration of Jiangnan culture from only a short bamboo ruler. Liuqing 
bamboo carving, the carvings record history and passing of civilization and the 
civilization was nurtured in this land.

Source: Information Office of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government