Up in Flames: The Ephemeral Art of Pasted-Paper Sculpture in Taiwan 9781503617834

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UP IN FLAMES

UP IN FLAMES The Ephemeral Art of Pasted-Paper Sculpture in Taiwan

Ellen Johnston Laing and Helen Hui-ling Liu

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 2004

Stanford University Press Stanford, California

© 2004 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. Assistance for publication was provided by The Chiang Ching-kou Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Laing, Ellen Johnston. Up in flames : the ephemeral art of pasted-paper sculpture in Taiwan I Ellen Johnston Laing and Helen Hui-ling Liu. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN o-8047-3455-0 (alk. paper) I. Paper sculpture, C hinese- Taiwan- 2oth century. 2. Taiwan-Funeral customs and rites. I. Liu, Helen Hui-ling. II. Title. NBI 270.P3 L35 2004 745.54-dc22 Original Printing 2004 Last figure below indicates year of this printing: I3 I2 II IO 09 08 07 06 05 04 Designed by Rob Ehle Typeset by James P Brommer in I I I I 5 Bembo

This book is dedicated to Richard Alan Laing and Glenn Anthony May

Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Priface

IX XV XVll

Introduction I.

Chinese Funerary Beliefs

6

2. History

II

3· Ceremonies and Paper Sculptures in Late-Twentieth-Century Taiwan

24

4· Craftsmen and Suppliers 5· Materials, Tools, Parts, and Techniques: Old and New

II5

6. The Craft of Paper Sculpture as Art

ISS

74

Conclusion

I6S

Appendix: Price Lists of Paper Objects Glossary Notes WcJrks Cited Index

I7I I75 I79 I9I 20I

List of Illustrations

Maps Opposite Page I.

1

Map of Taiwan and China Coast

Plates Following Page 42 r. Sedan chair, by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, I989

2. Incomplete temporary altar, by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, I989

3. Soul figure in cloth Western garb, by Ch' en Jung-shan, Tainan, I 989 4. Soul figure in cloth dress, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 5- Two servants for the temporary altar wearing traditional dress 6. Five-bay traditional temple-style house by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989

7. Main hall of five-bay traditional temple-style house by Ho 8. Three-bay traditional temple-style house, Chia-i, I996 9- Western-style house by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, 1989 IO. I

r.

The Western-style house by Ch'en aflame Fantasy house with gold and silver mountains by Ho

I2. Palatial house, Taipei, I996 IJ. Shop photograph of paper model ofWu Huo-shih mansion

in Yang-ming Shan, Ho-hsing Paper-pasting Shop, Taipei, I996 I4. Airplane, by Hsiang Pao-t'ang. Taipei, I996 I5. Bicycles, by Lin Ch'eng-hua, Taichung, I996 I6. Automobile, by Hsiang Pao-t'ang, Taipei, I996 I7. Officer of Pardon, by Ho Lien-fir, P'ing-tung, I989 I 8. Officer of Pardon by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989

IX

X

ILLUSTRATIONS I9. Running horse by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 20. Running horse by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 21. Standing horse, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 22. Object used in Attack on Hell, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 23. Detail of object used in Attack on Hell, by Ho 24. Premature Death Fortress, by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, I989 25. Object used in suicide by hanging death ritual, by Ho Lien-fu,

P'ing-tung, I989 26. Supervisor of the Treasury, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 27. Side view of Supervisor of the Treasury, by Ho 28. Supervisor of the Treasury, by Liu Kuo-chang, Taipei, I996 29. Supervisor of the Treasury, by Huang Chung, Tainan, I989 30. Theater stage; lavatories, by Ch'en Chin-chung,Tainan, I989 3 r. A "Spirit" shopping street, Taipei, I974 32. A "Spirit" shopping street, Taipei, I974 33- Buddha Mountain, by Huang Chung, with figures by Hung

Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 34- Tripi taka, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 35- Pigsy, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 36. Sandy, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 37- Monkey, by Hung Hsin-fa,Tainan, I989 38. Ta-shih-yeh, by Hung Ming-hui,Tainan, I989 Following Page 90

39- Ta-shih-yeh, by Li T'u-sheng, Taipei, I996 40. Ta-shih-yeh under construction, Ho-hsing Paper-pasting Shop,

Taipei, I997 41. Ta-shih-yeh, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 42. Ta-shih-yeh flanked by the Mountain Spirit on the right and

the Earth God on the left, by Huang Chin-shui, Lu-kang, I989 43- Boat, by Hung Hsin-fa,Tainan, I989 44- Seven Sisters Pavilion, by Ch'enJung-shan for his son,Tainan, I989 45· Seven Sisters Pavilion on offering table in a private home, Tainan, I989 46. Ch'enJung-shan and his son burning the Seven Sisters Pavilion on a

special fire outside the Temple of the Seven Sisters, Tainan, I989 47. Marshal Kao 48. Chu-i, the Red-Robed God, by Li T'u-sheng, Taipei, I996 49- Object used in anticonflagration rite, by Huang Chin-shui, Lu-kang, I996 50. Ho Hsiu-tzu, Taipei, I997

ILLUSTRATIONS

5 I. Ho Lien-fu with paper figure of an Officer of Pardon, P'ing-tung, I989 52. Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 53· Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, 1989 54· Wang Ch'iung-lin, Tainan, 1996 55. Mrs.Wang,Tainan, 1996 56. Li T'u-sheng holding paper figure of the Heavenly Master,

Chang Tao-ling, made by Li's son. Taipei, 1997 57· Rolled paper fingers ofTa-shih-yeh illustrated in Plate 42,

by Huang Chin-shui, Lu-kang, I989 58. Bent tube fingers of a figure made by Li T'u-sheng, Taipei, 1996 59· Prefabricated light-weight cardboard figures with plastic faces.

Wang Ch'iung-lin's shop, Tainan, I996 60. Surnames cut from gold foil, Ho-hsing Paper-pasting Shop, Taipei, 1996

6 I. Finished product of "pulling" technique, note wrinkle in cloth 62. Detail of tail of animal seen in Plate 48, by Li T'u-sheng, Taipei, I996 63. Hand-punched, hand-painted phoenixes, on gold foil paper,

purchased by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 64. Hand-punched, hand-painted set of nine figures on gold foil paper,

showing perforated guidelines. Front and back views. Wang Ch'iung-lin's shop, Tainan, I996 65. Printed house facade panels with the God of Longevity, Ma Ku,

and auspicious motifs, Tainan, 1996 66. Incomplete figures by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 67. Female spirit image, front view, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989 68. Face ofTa-shih-yeh in Plate 41, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, 1989 69. Kuan-yin on head ofTa-shih-yeh seen in Plate 4I, by Ho Lien-fu,

P'ing-tung, 1989 70. Kuan-yin, from Buddha Mountain in Plate 33, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I 989 71. Face of Kuan-yin's lion, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 72. Hu-fa, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 73· Wei-t'o, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989 74· Wei-t'o, by Li T'u-sheng, I996 75· General Chin-chia, by Li T'u-sheng, 1996

Figures I.

Opening the Road God placed on mechanism that allows the figure to be rotated. Peking, early twentieth century

2.

I6

Life-sized figures of female musicians being carried in procession. Peking, early twentieth century

J. Gigantic god figures. Peking, 1917-18

17 18

Xl

xu

ILLUSTRATIONS 4· Horse and carriage. Peking, 1925

19

Ford Model- T. Peking, 1924

20

5·

6. Amitabha Buddha leading souls to the Western Paradise.

Late-nineteenth-century print

27

7· Soul banner, dismantled, by Ch'en Chin-chung,Tainan, 1989

28

8. Gold Lad and Jade Girl, by Lin Ch'eng-hua,Taichung, I996

29

9- Gold Lad and Jade Girl, Taipei, I 996

30

IO. Gold Lad and Jade Girl on cranes. Ho-hsing Paper-pasting Shop,

II.

Taipei, 1997

31

Burning a house in late-nineteenth-century Canton, by Wu Yu-ju

32

12. Lung-shan Ssu, Taipei

34

13. Contemporary flat-roofed house, 1996

35

14. Styrofoam core for flat-roofed house, Taipei, 1996

36

I 5· Ku Hsien-jung mansion in Lu-kang, 19I9; now the Lu-kang

Folk Arts Museum

39

I6. Bridge, by Huang Chung, Tainan, I989

6I

17. "Attaining the age of sixteen" ceremony, Tainan, 1989

67

18. "Scissors and mirrors," by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, I989

70

19. White tiger, by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, I989

71

20. Animals of the zodiac, by Ch' en Chin-chung, Tainan, 1989

71

21. Prefabricated tiger and dog, Taipei, 1996

72

22. Ch' en Chin-chung's sons working on an armature in the

open arcade, Tainan, I 989

84

23. Plaster-of-Paris mold for face ofTa-shih-yeh, Li T'u-sheng's shop,

Taipei, 1996 24. Brass mold for paper face, Su Hsii-lien supply shop, Chia-i, I996

89 109

25. Bamboo-slicing implement, Ho-hsing Paper-pasting Shop,

Taipei, 1996 26. Cutting bamboo into sections, Li T'u-sheng's shop, Taipei, I 996

II6 II7

27. Cutting bamboo sections into strips, Li T'u-sheng's shop,

Taipei, 1996 28. Armature of a house, by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, 1989

II7 II8

29. Armature of a messenger and a horse, by Ho Lien-fu,

P'ing-tung, I989

II8

30. Armature of a Buddha Mountain, by Ch' en Chin-chung,

Tainan, 1989

119

31. Armature of a Seven Sisters Pavilion, by Huang Chin-shui,

Lu-kang, I989

I20

32. Ho Lien-fu tying together parts of an armature, P'ing-tung, 1989

121

33· Tools used by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, 1989

I2I

ILLUSTRATIONS 34- Fabricated wire hands used by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I 989

122

35- Shoe molds, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, I989

123

36. Polyethylene blow-molded heads, used by Ch'en Chin-chung,

124

Tainan, I989 37- Polyethylene blow-molded heads, used by Ch'en Chin-chung,

125

Tainan, I989 38. Styrene vacuum-formed heads; molded-paper heads, and rolled paper tubes for legs, two sets of self-adhesive facial features (male and female), 1996

125

39- Molded-paper god face, used by Hung Ming-hui, Tainan, I989

!26

40. Male and female servants by Lin Ch'eng-hua, Taichung, I996, and

blow-molded polyethylene female form, Taipei, 1996 41. Cardboard figures of the Gold Lad and Jade Girl; guards. Taipei, 1996

127 127

42. Printed figures of guards, zodiac animals, cranes, faces with crowns. 128

Taipei, 1996 43-

Lefi: hand-constructed stove modeL Right: prefabricated stove modeL Ts'ai Fang-wen supply shop, Taipei, I996

131

44- Plastic telephone, bathroom, and tea set. Ts'ai Fang-wen supply shop, 132

Taipei, 1996 45- Mrs. Ch'en punch-cutting Seven Sisters Pavilion flowers,Tainan, 1996

136

46. Pads of designs cut by punching, Tainan, 1996

137

4 7. "Pulling" technique demonstrated by Wang Ch'iung-lin, Tainan, r 996: 138

folding and cutting gold foil paper 48. "Pulling" technique: cutting several sheets of gold foil to desired shape

138

49- "Pulling" technique: stack of paper cut to desired shape before pulling

I 38

50. "Pulling" technique: pulling position: grasping cloth firmly

139

5 I.

"Pulling" technique: pulling action

I:

pulls cloth toward left side of body

139

52. "Pulling" technique: pulling action 2: brings hand all the way around

to back ofleft hand 53. "Pulling" technique: finished product before unfolding

I39 I

40

54- Back of a house showing wiring for blinking lights installed on facade.

Wang shop, Tainan, 1996 55-

144

Armature for standing figures with additional newspaper support, by Hung Hsin-fa, Tainan, 1989

56. Two servants, by Ch'en Chin-chung,Tainan, I989

I

45

I46

57- Step-by-step fabrication of a figure, demonstrated by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, 1989: applying shoes 58. Fabrication of a figure: applying trousers 59-

Fabrication of a figure: applying coat

60. Fabrication of a figure: applying sleeves

147 I47

Xlll

XIV

ILLUSTRATIONS

6I. Fabrication of a figure: inserting plastic head 62. Construction of seated spirit figure, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989: applying red paper to chair armature

I49

63. Construction of seated spirit figure: adding rolled newspaper legs

I49

64. Construction of seated spirit figure: adding rolled newspaper legs

149

65. Construction of seated spirit figure: with head added

150

66. Construction of seated spirit figure: with upper garment added

I 50

67. Construction of seated spirit figure: detailing the garments

150

68. Side view of Supervisor of the Treasury of Plate 26, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung,I989

I5I

69. Construction of Supervisor of the Treasury: adding head

I 52

70. Construction of Supervisor of the Treasury: adding collar

I 52

71. Construction of Supervisor of the Treasury: adding sleeve

I 53

72. Construction of Supervisor of the Treasury: preparing tasseled frame

r 53

73- Male spirit image, three-quarters view, by Ho Lien-fu, P'ing-tung, I989

I 58

Acknowledgments

This research project owes much to many individuals and institutions. Among our professional colleagues, we thank the following for their interest in our project and for their gracious assistance: in the United States, Bennet Bronson at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago; Laurel Kendall and Anne Wright-Parsons, both at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; and Catherine G. Curran, president of the Sidney D. Gamble Foundation for China Studies in New York City, and her assistant, Madelyn Latimer. In Taiwan, Chen Kuo-ning, director of the Hwa Kang Museum, Chinese Culture University,Yang-ming Shan, was especially helpful. On the technical side, John T. Hayes, sales manager at Autoform, Inc., a plastics company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, patiently explained how plastic forms are manufactured. The hospitality of Christian and Alfreda Murck in Taipei made it possible for us to undertake the three-week session of fieldwork in 1996; without their generosity, this study simply would not have been possible. Ellen Johnston Laing's former student Ju-i Maxine Yuan, now professor of art education at the National Taipei Nor mal Academy, provided expert assistance in Taipei, as did her student Chen Ching-Pao, who accompanied us to several shops in Taipei. Nora Ling-yun Shih Liu did her best to set up an interview with a paper sculptor in New York City's Chinatown. Chou Fang-mei unsnarled some translation problems. Intrigued with our project, many colleagues brought references to our attention or shared their materials with us. Professors Beatrice Bartlett and Lothar Ledderose provided copies of slides of paper objects they had taken during the late 1960s and 1970s; Professor Karen Gernant sent us dupli-

XV

XVI

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

cates of slides of paper objects taken in Fukien Province. Professor Susan Erickson lent us for examination the wonderful papier-mache masks she acquired in Kueichou and guided us to several references; she was also an earnest advocate of this endeavor. Professor Hill Gates lent us her slides of a "Spirit" shopping street. Professor Jonathan Reynolds brought to our attention an important book on architecture in Taiwan. Alfreda Murck supplied several useful references. Carol Stepanchuk of Folk Art International Resources for Education provided endless encouragement. A great debt is owed to Professors Norma Diamond and Hill Gates, who read an early draft of this book. Their overall enthusiasm and critical comments spurred us to improve and complete the enterprise. Helen Hui-ling Liu specifically thanks her husband, Glenn May, for his encouragement and belief in this project; her parents, Eugene and Sue-chung Liu, for their moral and financial support and hours of babysitting; and her aunts and uncles in Taiwan-Dr. and the late Mrs. Wu Tsai-cheng, Mr. and Mrs. Liu Wei-jen, Mr. and Mrs. Liu Cheng-chiang, the late Mrs. Huang Su-chen, and Mr. and Mrs. Huang Yuan-chao-for their generosity and for putting up with many comings and goings in their households. She also thanks her daughter, Rachel, for being such a good sport throughout the process. Thanks go to Mr. and Mrs. Wu Yi-chung, who made a special trip to Ta-chia to obtain a copy of the volume commemorating the huge chiao ritual held there in 1988.We are grateful to ProfessorTung Chao-hui and his wife, Huang Chi-yuan, who took time from their busy schedules to accompany us to the shop of the paper craftsman, Li T'u-sheng, in Taipei.

Preface

The Communist government of Mainland China, in its efforts to eliminate unwanted superstitions of the past, endeavored to eradicate many elements of popular religion, including the making, using, and burning of religious paper objects. The government was successful in this effort for forty years. Today, the production of objects for burning at religious ceremonies and funerals is still frowned on by Chinese authorities as "superstitious." During the last decade, however, the heavy hand of government control over daily life has lifted somewhat. A religious resurgence and a renewed appreciation of popular culture have emerged, slowly reviving the paper-sculpture craft in Fukien and Hunan Provinces and elsewhere, although in certain areas it is still considered redolent of improper and illogical beliefs. 1 In Taiwan, fortunately, many customs and crafts have continued uninterrupted, but here modernization has made inroads into the demand for traditional crafts and has affected the way in which such objects are fabricated. Such paper goods are found not only in China and Taiwan but wherever there are large Chinese communities as well: Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi, and even New York City. Despite the prevalence of these objects and their importance in Chinese culture, they have received little attention, partly because of their ephemeral nature: all visual evidence of their existence disappears when they are burned soon after they are made. This book is about the figures and articles crafted from paper that are burned at ceremonial occasions, especially for funerals, as the tradition has survived in Taiwan. The bulk of the information comes from three

XVll

XVlll

PREFACE

sessions of fieldwork conducted with paper craftsmen throughout Taiwan: in Taipei, which is near the northern tip of the island; in Lu-kang and Taichung on the west central coast; and in Tainan and P'ing-tung in the south. Taipei is known today as a cosmopolitan city, but enclaves of the old city still exist. Lu-kang has for decades touted its position as a town that prides itself on preservation of craft traditions and the old ways. Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan. The first Chinese settlers came to Tainan from Fukien Province in 1590. For the next two centuries, Tainan was the center of culture, government, and economy until the central administration was moved to Taipei in the north in 1885, and Tainan began to decline. In 1895, after Japan emerged victorious in the Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was ceded to Japan and remained under the rule of Japan for fifty years. In 1945, the island returned to Chinese rule under the Kuomintang (Nationalist) government. Both the Japanese and the Kuomintang directed government spending away from Tainan, the center of traditional Taiwanese elites. Tainan continued to slump as an economic and mercantile center, although fishing remained a vital industry. Today, because of the silting of the harbor, the construction of the railroad, and the emergence of another, larger port in nearby Kaohsiung, little remains of Tainan's former commercial grandeur. Nevertheless, the old city's historic relics and numerous old temples attract many tourists. The Tainanese are noted for their conservative ways and their preservation of a rich cultural heritage. In the course of fieldwork undertaken by Helen Hui-ling Liu in the summer of 1989 for this study, emphasis was placed on gathering information about the types of religious paper objects constructed and how they were made. The craftsmen in Tainan proved to be especially accessible. There, at least nine craftsmen were interviewed, and two, Ch' en Chinchung and Hung Hsin-fa, were especially helpful. A third paper artisan, Ho Lien-fu, who lived in nearby P'ing-tung, was also extremely generous in answering requests. Much of what is in the book is owed to these three men. Although these artisans might not be representative, a study of them does illuminate certain significant developments in the craft. Once the craftsmen realized the seriousness of this quest, they, along with their wives (who sometimes shared in the production of paper objects) and families, extended a gracious welcome, answered our myriad questions, and even volunteered information. Since the craftsmen frequently work late into the night, care was taken to visit them at conven-

PREFACE

ient hours in the afternoon. Paper objects are generally delivered and burned shortly after they have been completed, often after private ceremonies and often late at night. To facilitate the viewing of objects, it was important to find out what was scheduled for production and when those items would be presented to the customer. After a number of visits, some craftsmen became aware of these limitations and began to show items recently completed and to make us aware of new or different upcoming events in which paper sculpture would play a part. The purpose of the second fieldwork session, conducted by Helen Hui-ling Liu and Ellen Johnston Laing for two weeks in March 1996, was to gather additional information on paper sculpture as a business and to fill in gaps in production methods. This second visit was envisioned as a return to the shops of the three main craftsmen mentioned above, but this proved impossible. Ho Lien-fu had died, and both Ch' en Chin-chung and Hung Hsin-fa were unavailable (although we did talk again with Ch' en's wife). Nevertheless, almost a dozen other shops that had not been included in the initial fieldwork were surveyed. Visits to some of these shops were brief if the owner was preoccupied with business, but most interviews were of some duration. Almost an entire day was spent at a recently opened shop in Tainan where the owner, his wife, and his assistants, despite rushing to complete a paper house for delivery to a funeral, congenially answered a barrage of questions and amiably moved around us (we of course tried to stay out of the way) as we observed them at work. Another craftsman, working alone in his shop in Taichung, took several hours from his tasks to answer questions and to show completed objects housed in his storeroom next door. Another goal of the 1996 fieldwork was to locate religious paper supply shops and interview their owners. Since they were not engaged in the business of fashioning a completed object of paper to meet a deadline and thus had perhaps a little more time on their hands, the proprietors of three such shops, one each in Tainan, Chia-i, and Taipei, were all extremely forthcoming, often volunteering much valuable information. The afternoon sessions with these shopkeepers proved to be of immense value. Furthermore, this second visit to Taiwan allowed for a more sustained survey of shops, both those associated with funeral parlors and those functioning primarily as independent craftsmen in Taipei. By far the most rewarding was the meeting with Li T'u-sheng, acknowledged as the most accomplished paper sculptor on the island. Now well into his

XlX

XX

PREFACE

seventies, he does not receive guests until two o'clock in the afternoon. On the occasion of our visit he devoted four hours to us, patiently explaining and demonstrating his extraordinary skills. In April 1997, Ellen Laing made a brief stop in Taipei to seek answers to some remaining questions and obtain clarifications of incomplete data, problems that surfaced in the course of writing this book. Again, the craftsmen were generous of their time and knowledge. We are grateful to

all those who took our project to heart and shared so much information with us. For centuries, the paper sculptor has been a businessman in a marketdriven economy; what he creates is dictated by the purchaser's preferences and ability to pay, by the cost and kinds of materials, and by the time spent on production. Today, technological developments have affected the craft. As a direct consequence of the growth of the printing industry and the abundance of plastics in Taiwan, craftsmen find at their disposal a host of new mass-produced items that can be used in place of those that were formerly produced by hand. These include preprinted ornamental designs that once were hand painted and plastic heads for figures that once were crafted from paper. Box-shaped objects that formerly were painstakingly constructed and pasted together now are preprinted and scored to be folded along the crease and stapled together. Most craftsmen have switched to using these new time-saving, cost-effective items. In fact, the fabrication process has been greatly simplified and facilitated, and craftsmen have been able to reduce production time. These very time-saving devices are changing the craft into a new industrialized metier, converting it into a formulaic mechanical assemblage of paper and plastic parts.Where the staple gun has replaced the paste pot, the ephemeral art of authentically pasted-paper sculpture is truly an endangered craft.

UP IN FLAME S

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200 km ::::::::=====:; I00 C ===::i: O

Map

1.

Map of Taiwan and China Coast.

P'ing-tung

Q

Introduction

The custom ofburning paper objects during religious rites derives from Chinese beliefs that a continuity exists between the world of the living and the realm of the dead, and that fire facilitates communication with this nether world. Burning of paper objects is carried out for two specific reasons: first, as a means of transmitting messages to the unseen, powerful spirit world; and second, as a method of supplying the deceased with whatever might be needed in the afterlife. This latter practice originated with the burial of actual objects along with people during the Shang dynasty (1766-1 121 Be); by the Han dynasty (207 BC to AD 220) miniature replicas of goods and servants, made of wood or clay, were buried with the deceased. During the Northern Sung dynasty (AD 906-1 125) wood and clay were largely replaced by paper as a cheaper medium for these burial objects. The craft of pasted-paper sculpture has received little scholarly attention.1 Many Chinese believe that traffic with objects having to do with death can have a dangerously polluting effect. Consequently, the Chinese themselves are rarely inclined to conduct detailed research on the subject. Paper sculpture and the paper artisans themselves are thus in an anomalous position. James Watson, speaking primarily of the paper money (also available at the shops selling paper objects) burned at funerals, says, "Villagers avoid keeping such paper items in their homes overnight. It is considered bad luck to do so.... The paper itself is not considered to be contaminating until it has been exposed to death pollution (after which it is burned immediately). Nonetheless, villagers are wary of spending too much time in paper shops." 2 This, however, does not explain why Western

2

INTRODUCTION

scholars, who are not bound by such assumptions, have ignored the craft. Nor does it explain the substantial amount of existing literature, both Chinese and Western, on ancient wooden and ceramic burial figures, which are just as "polluted" as the paper ones. 3 Undoubtedly another significant reason why the craft has received so little attention is that its material evidence is so ephemeral: consumed by flames, it becomes literally invisible shortly after it is produced. It is true, of course, that references to paper objects may be found in old writings. A handful of historical photographs of paper objects as well as of funeral processions or other ceremonies that include paper sculptures provide only a tantalizing glimpse into this ancient craft. Furthermore, a few examples of paper objects from earlier times have miraculously survived. But it remains virtually impossible to reconstruct a coherent visual history of the craft. This is not to say that the craft of pasted-paper sculpture had gone entirely unnoticed. The recent, worldwide recognition of the importance of old crafts and the necessity to preserve them in the face of industrial and technological advances (an appreciation that has touched both China and Taiwan) has led to recognition of paper sculpture in books on traditional folk arts and crafts. However, in this literature, the treatment of paper sculpture is spare. In English sources, only Tseng Yu-ho Ecke in her catalog of an exhibition of Chinese folk art mentions paper objects, remarking that "funeral paperworks" was a less familiar craft and listing the major objects burned at funerary ceremonies for the benefit of the deceased. 4 However, Ecke said nothing about other types and uses of paper sculptures or about how they were constructed. In Chinese-language studies of indigenous crafts aimed at the general audience, the coverage of paper sculpture is more extensive than that of Ecke, but it is still disappointingly superficial. One of these studies is by the late painter, Hsi Te-chin (Shiy De-jinn), who briefly introduces eighteen categories of folk art, including shadow puppets, woodblock prints, stone sculpture, embroidery, dough figures, furniture, and New Year's prints. His treatment of each craft is limited to a simple introduction. In the section devoted to paper cuts and paper sculpture, he writes about a young craftsman who works in the Wan-hua area of Taipei. There are three pages of text and seventeen pictures. 5 Hsi, however, makes no connection between paper cuts and paper sculpture, nor does he attempt to suggest the broad range of objects made of paper, nor does he say anything about how they

INTRODUCTION

are made beyond the most basic observations. Other than a brief reference to the religious beliefs underlying the practice of burning paper objects, Hsi does not deal with the religious context. A book by Chuang Po-he, on Chinese forms, has a similar format and aim. It is primarily a collection of essays explaining symbols and images in Chinese art and life. The articles were written for a popular magazine between 1985 and 1989. In part two of the book, the author considers what folk art is and discusses categories of folk arts and crafts, devoting only three paragraphs to paper sculpture. He asserts that although most people are reluctant to talk about the craft because of its association with death, it is well worth further attention. He provides no photographs of paper objects. 6 A publication devoted to the folk crafts of Hunan Province has a section dedicated to paper sculpture; the section is accompanied by twentyone large, color illustrations of the paper sculptor's art. The brief but informative text notes that in the late-Ch'ing-early-Republican period there were ten paper-pasting shops in Feng-huang alone. 7 Among the supplementary black-and-white illustrations are photographs of old craftsmen who can still create the paper objects. Two steps in the fabrication process are also illustrated. Another book, this one on folk crafts ofFukien Province, has splendid color illustrations of paper figures, animals, houses, and deities, some of which are comparable to the work done in Taiwan, but a meager two pages of explanation do litde justice to the paper-sculpture craft. 8 Literature explaining Chinese rituals, customs, and traditions sometimes includes references to paper sculpture. Most studies mention the paper objects as essential items in funerary rituals, and many go into some detail about the kinds of paper objects used and their functions. This literature has both a lay and a scholarly component. On the popular level is a five-volume overview of Taiwanese folk customs that is profusely illustrated with color pictures; the book covers weddings, funerals, the ghost festival, New Year's celebrations, religious images, and the like. The fact that there are seven pages devoted to the craft of paper sculpture is somewhat deceptive, however, since much of that space is taken up by fourteen photographs. 9 Although there are a few pictures ofbamboo armatures, there is no follow-through in either illustration or text providing a real detailed analysis of the production procedure. Only a few paper-sculpture items are described in the text, and litde is said about the craft as an art or as a business. Another popular-level book on folk cus-

3

4

INTRODUCTION

toms describes and illustrates funerals as observed in Shansi Province, but it omits any extended comment on the craft per se. 10 Considerably more scholarly is the treatment of paper sculpture in the r984 doctoral dissertation by Hsii Fu-ch'iian on funerary practices in Taiwan.U Hsii interviewed paper craftsmen in various cities, but unfortunately, in the text Hsii discussed only funerary paper objects and excluded paper objects made for other religious purposes. In Hong Kong, Janet Lee Scott became interested in the reasons Hong Kong residents still burned paper offerings at funerals. Her article, published in I 997, categorizes and describes funerary paper items used in Hong Kong and discusses reasons for the survival of this craft there. The I977 master's thesis by Shih Wen-ying on paper cuts contains the most satisfactory discussion of Taiwanese paper sculpture. 12 Shih recognized the connections between paper cuts and paper sculptures and collected much valuable data on paper-sculpture shops, primarily in Taipei and northern Taiwan. She did not, however, explain how the objects are actually made.

* Here we endeavor to document through descriptions and photographs some previously neglected aspects of the ancient craft of paper sculpture as it exists today in Taiwan, commenting in particular on the artisans themselves, the craft of paper sculpture as a business, and the materials and techniques used to construct paper objects. The first chapter briefly outlines fundamental beliefs important for understanding the functions of paper sculptures in Chinese funerary practices. The second chapter sets some historical background for pasted-paper sculpture drawn primarily from the accounts of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century observers of the Chinese scene. This overview provides a sense of the original scope of the craft. Chapter 3 surveys the important ceremonies in which paper products are employed. Chapters 4 through 6 are the heart of Up in Flames. Chapter 4 presents the craftsmen and the suppliers in their shops. Paper sculpture requires simple materials and tools: bamboo and various kinds of paper, a pair of scissors, a variety of knives, rulers, paste, plastic tape, and inexpensive cloth. Through the techniques of cutting, folding, and pasting, a veteran craftsman can produce myriad objects that exhibit imagination. The tools of the craft, along with the techniques used to produce paper sculptures are

INTRODUCTION

discussed in Chapter 5. Despite the impact of modern technology and the frequent need to quickly make paper sculptures, many paper artisans are committed to producing well-crafted and visually pleasing objects regardless of the fact that their creations are to be deliberately destroyed. Chapter 6 analyzes as art the work of three craftsmen. Careful scrutiny reveals differences in levels of workmanship between them, not only in the degree of care taken in fashioning the object but also in more subtle aspects such as use of color or amount of decoration. The final chapter addresses the question of whether the craft of pasted-paper sculpture will survive in modern Taiwan and, if so, in what guise. The Appendix presents the printed price lists for paper funerary objects from Taipei for two years: 1992 and 1996. We have supplied prices whenever possible. The exchange rate in 1989 was N.T.$1 1996 the exchange rate was N.T.$1

= U.S.$.04; in

= U.S.$.037.

Finally, we wish to point out that many of our photographs show paper-sculpture objects not in isolation but in the actual cluttered physical context of their construction at the artisan's shop.

5

Chinese Funerary Beliefs

Chinese religious practices are an extremely complex and highly eclectic synthesis of several belief systems. Consequently, this chapter presents background information only for those concepts directly relevant to understanding the function of certain objects produced by the paper sculptor. Scholars of Chinese religion and society argue whether a single Chinese religious system exists. 1 However, as Stephen F. Teiser points out, three major forms "practiced by almost all Chinese people, regardless of social and economic standing, level of literacy, region, or explicit religious identification" exist. 2 These three are funeral and memorial services, New Year's ceremonies, and consultation with a spirit medium or exorcist. Two of these customs-the funeral with its attendant memorial services and the consultation with mediums-are among the rituals that may require objects constructed of paper. The communal chiao, or offering ritual ceremony, is yet another occasion for the use of paper objects. The nature of the soul is central to the Chinese understanding of life and death. Common explanation holds that each person has two souls (in life and in death), however this is debated. 3 The p 'o soul, being the "material" part of the body is associated with the yin, femaleness and darkness; after death, the p' o is said to linger in the coffin and goes to the grave with the body, but soon expires, although it may return "as a ghost to haunt the living." 4 The hun soul, being the "energy" part of the body, associated with yang, maleness and brightness, is immortal and goes on to live in the yin world, according to some beliefS. However, Teiser observes, "They-notice that there is more than one of each kind of 'soul,' making a unique soul or even a dualism of the spirit impossible in principle-are

6

CHINESE FUNERARY BELIEFS

thought to be reborn in Heaven or as another being, to be resident in the ancestral tablets, to be associated more amorphously with the ancestors stretching back seven generations, or to be in all three places at once." 5 The shadowy yin world, where all souls of the dead must go, overlaps the living world, the yang world, in time and space. A high degree of fluidity and exchange is believed to exist between these two worlds, even though the yin world is one of chaos and the yang world is one of order. 6 Death does not terminate social and family relationships; rather, they continue well beyond it. The living may communicate with the dead through spirit mediums, and the dead may contact or make demands on the living in a number of ways. The exchange between the living and the dead is dominated by notions of reciprocity and retribution. Ancestral worship, a prominent feature of Chinese religion, is governed by these basic concepts, as is the transfer of money, food, and goods to the deceased. One is expected to honor one's deceased parents and other ancestors by worship and provision of daily necessities. In turn, the ancestors are expected to reward these filial acts with favors and fortune. Should appropriate acts of respect and worship not be carried out, supernatural retribution can be expected, even generations later. The hun soul in the yin world takes on three different forms-a god, an ancestor, or a ghost. 7 For an exceptionally meritorious person, becorning a god is a possibility, albeit a highly unlikely one. More often than not, a deceased person simply becomes an ancestor. A proper Chinese funeral will include announcement of the death and expression of grief by formalized wailing; dressing of mourners in white cotton and rough hemp clothing, which codes each family member's relationship with the deceased; bathing and dressing of the corpse; settling of the body securely in the coffin and carefully sealing it until burial, when an opening is made in the coffin to allow decomposition; offering of food, the essence of which is consumed by the deceased, while the actual food is eaten by the family; installation of a wooden tablet at the family altar; music to accompany the funeral procession; and disposal of the body. 8 An important part of the funeral ceremony is also the transfer, by burning, of paper counterparts of a house and its contents, clothing, servants, vehicles, and other daily necessities. Paper money is also burned, the reasons for which go back to at least the T' ang dynasty

(AD

6 I 8-906).

The Chinese hold that the soul of the deceased automatically goes to purgatory where it suffers torments for evil deeds committed when alive.

7

8

CHAPTER

I

This idea entered China with the arrival of Buddhism and was imitated by the Taoists. Purgatory was divided into eighteen (Buddhist) or ten (Taoist) hells, each headed by a judge or a king, sometimes with subdivisions to accommodate changing concepts of sins. The hells had an administrative bureaucratic structure similar to that of the government on earth. Suffering in hell, however, was not for eternity; rather, as noted by Anne Goodrich, "The Kings of Hell are interested in the saving of souls, in purifying them for a new and better life, not in luring them to the realm of damnation." 9 Nevertheless, according to Robert Weller, the living save the souls of the deceased "from the worst horror of the underworld ... by hiring priests who know how to bribe the appropriate underworld officials." 10 Offerings of spirit money to any of the kings of hell would reduce the suffering and help the soul obtain a rebirth into a happier situation. The notion of supplying money to the netherworld is based on the complicated idea that each spirit has a particular incarnation and fate, acquired by means of a loan from celestial treasuries. Part of the loan is spent on acquiring a body for rebirth, and part is spent for a future life. The amount one owes depends on the year of one's birth as figured according to the Chinese system of marking years by means of the zodiac animals in the duodenary cycle. There are twelve treasuries, and each year has a different sum. Thus someone born in the year of the boar owes a mere 9,000 strings of cash; someone born in the year of the rat owes IJ,OOo strings of cash; someone born in the year of the tiger owes So,ooo, and so on, with the person born in the year of the horse owing a whopping 26o,ooo strings of cash. 11 During one's lifetime efforts should be made to reduce the debt, though this proves to be an impossible task for it can never be completely repaid. Instead, at funerals, relatives, through the "Ceremony of Reimbursement of the Debt," must "pay off the account by burning great sums of spirit money if the spirit is to enter unencumbered into a new and presumably more fortunate incarnation." 12 Thus, one passed through various hells, eventually to be reborn on earth. Many funerary rites assist the deceased to get to the netherworld quickly and easily. Salvation rites performed at regular intervals for several years after the person's death are specifically designed to ease the soul's way through the hells. 13 The grave is swept at least annually, and incense and paper money are burned at regular intervals. All this, of course, is done for a person who lives prosperously to an old age, leaving behind

CHINESE FUNERARY BELIEFS

children, particularly sons, and grandsons. This is the Chinese view of the ideal family-one that is "round," or complete and harmonious, carrying on the descent line. 14 A full-length Chinese funeral is extremely complex and would be difficult to perform properly without the aid of paid professionals. 15 Specialists extend from Taoist priests and Buddhist monks who preside over the salvation ritual, to experts such as the geomancer who, among other tasks, determines an auspicious time for burial and location of the grave, to musicians, to pallbearers who have the dangerous job of being in close contact with the corpse, and to paper craftsmen who provide the paper objects for burning. This structure of funeral rites, which can be observed in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as in other Chinese communities, has changed little since the late-imperial era. 16 Mourning families are free to choose or eliminate details from a set of elaborate funerary rites. The family's economic resources, its status in the community, and its attitude toward life after death will determine its choices. Under normal conditions, when a parent lives to an old age, no resources should be spared in the performance of the funeral. A lavish and properly performed funeral not only publicly demonstrates filial piety but also displays and reaffirms the family's social position. The choice of rituals is also affected by the circumstances surrounding the death. Unusual deaths, such as that of a young unmarried woman or a childless man, for example, create much distress because their lives are considered incomplete. As a result, they receive only an abbreviated version of the rituals. An infant may not even get a coffin, and the tablet of an unmarried woman, rather than being installed in her father's home, may instead be placed in the care of a spirit medium. 17 Still, whether truncated or lavish, the funeral is a self-conscious expression of the surviving family's attitude toward death. Sometimes, much to the dismay of family and community, certain unfortunate souls become ghosts. Ghosts are spawned by schisms in the ideal pattern. A person who dies prematurely, unmarried, violently, or is neglected after death can become a ghost. Essentially, ghosts are the souls of those who die unhappily or become unhappy later. In contrast to gods and ancestors, who are honored and worshiped, ghosts, coming out of the chaotic yin world are feared, controlled, and propitiated. They represent a kind of social aberration and have been likened to beggars and

9

10

CHAPTER

I

bandits. 18 They make their demands known by revealing themselves to the living in dreams, or in a disruptive manner, by causing illness and occasionally even death. 19 When faced with a disruption by a ghost, people can consult with it, a feat facilitated by a spirit medium who determines what ails the unhappy ghost and relates its demands. Lack of sustenance or material goods is a common cause of a ghost's discontent, and this condition can be alleviated by the burning of paper-sculpture counterparts. Once a year, during the seventh-lunar-month Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as Universal Salvation (p'u-tu), the entire community prepares a great feast to feed all ghosts. 20 These hungry ghosts, euphemistically addressed as "good brothers," are those who have no one to care for them, hence their hunger. They are released from hell at this time to gorge on the food and drink and to enjoy the entertainment provided especially for them. Here also burned paper objects play a role. Much of religious life in Taiwan is shaped by ceremonial events that occur on an unpredictable basis, such as funerals and salvation rites as well as exorcisms, and those that are performed on a regular schedule, such as the Universal Salvation. Most of these ceremonies are public displays, and all require a wealth of paper objects, which keeps the paper sculptor in business.

2 History

Paper objects serve their function by being destroyed by fire. Given their ephemeral nature, only a loose history can be composed for them on the basis of sparse, incomplete written and visual records, along with a few rare examples of objects now preserved in museum collections. Popular Chinese legend maintains that the burning of paper houses began in the early seventh century, under the rule ofLi Shih-min, the EmperorT'aits'ung. This date has been ignored in favor of the belief that consigning paper replicas of objects to the flames was introduced in the early Sung dynasty (AD 906-I I25). 1 Recently translated documents, however, reveal that burning paper clothing was practiced by the mid-eighth century, thus there may be some truth to popular stories. 2 Later, the custom ofburning paper objects was commented on by both the Chinese themselves and foreign visitors. The production and sale of paper goods, including paper models used for religious events throughout the year, was a flourishing enterprise in the Sung dynasty. At that time the shops were known as paper shops (chih-ssu) or "paper-horse stores" (chih-ma p'u). 3 One such outlet is seen in the famous twelfth-century hand scroll "Spring Festival on the River" (Palace Museum, Peking). The shop can be identified by the small paper house placed in front ofit. 4 MengYiian-lao (fl. II26-47), in his reminiscences ofK'aifeng, the Northern Sung capital, noted that at the time of the Ch'ing-ming grave sweeping "paper shops made paper replicas of pavilions and buildings on the street;' and that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month during the Universal Salvation "offerings such as boots and shoes, head-dresses, hats, belts with decorations and colourful garments, made of paper pasted over frames, were sold in the market." 5

II

!2

CHAPTER 2

Marco Polo remarked on the paper effigies of" caparisoned horses, male and female servants, camels, armour, suits of cloth of gold (and money)," consumed in funerary fires. 6 Among Li P'ing-erh's funeral accouterments, described in the famous sixteenth-century novel The Golden Lotus, were paper maid-servants holding towels and wash basins, as well as "gold and silver mountains." 7 The making, using, and burning of paper objects in religious observances continued unabated throughout the centuries. However, it was not until the nineteenth century that a spate of informative written records became available. Later the written record was amplified by the photographic record and by the rare actual example. Photographs continued to be a major source of visual information throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Reverend Justus Doolittle, one of the more astute and sympathetic Western observers of life in China, was stationed in Fuchou, the capital of Fukien Province, directly across the straits from Taiwan and the homeland of the majority ofTaiwan's Chinese population. His book on social life in China is replete with references to the use of paper objects. If a wife has borne no children, or only girls, she may engage a specialist to enhance her fertility by performing the ceremony known as "changing the flower vase." It is believed that a woman is represented by a tree in the unseen world. Whether she will have children, how many, and what gender is indicated by the condition of the tree that represents her. According to Doolittle: Bearing children is fancied to have great resemblance in some respects to rearing flowers in flower-vases: much depends on the earth used in the vases. If no child is born, or if it dies, it is supposed to be like producing sickly flowers, the earth being bad. ... [The wife] hires some one to make a quantity of artificial paper flowers, which are then placed in two paper flower-vases. The sorceress or sorcerer first performs certain ceremonies over these vases, and then changes their relative positions. Afterward, the paper vases and paper flowers are burned. Changing their relative position is thought to indicate something like changing the earth in the flower-vases in the unseen world. The object of all this is to obtain male and healthy children. 8 The ceremony of "passing through the door" sustains a very important relation to the welfare of children, according to the sentiment and practice of many Chinese. Some families have it performed regularly every

HISTORY

year ... until the child is sixteen years old, or the ceremony of ''going out if childhood" is observed .... A day is usually spent in "passing through the door" and its attendant ceremonies. Several priests of the Tauist [sic] sect (never any of the Buddhist sect) come to the residence of the lad's parents in the morning, ... the "door" is finally passed through in the middle of the afternoon or near sundown. This door is made out of bamboo, covered with red and white paper, and is some 7 feet high by 2Yz or 3 feet wide, costing perhaps 12 or 15 cents. The furniture in the room is so arranged that the priests and the party which passes through this door can go around and around without doubling on their tracks. [Various ceremonies then ensue. At the end of the ritual] the door is hacked in pieces, and its parts set on fire and burned in the open court of the house, or in the street in front of the house where the ceremony is performed. 9 If an illness was believed to be caused by a "grudge or enmity of a spirit of some person, now deceased," the family would prepare several suits of paper clothes, a miniature paper umbrella, several pairs of small straw sandals, and a large sheet of paper, as well as meat, mock money, candles, and incense. Taoist priests will be called in "to repeat the formula for dissolving or

untying grudges," burning the paper articles and offering the food "according to established custom." According to Doolittle, "The object of this is to propitiate the inimical spirit, or cause it to take its departure," lest the family be saddled with this malevolent spirit forever. 10 During the seventh lunar month, usually about the fifteenth day, a married daughter was expected to "present a gauze trunk" to her surviving parent, if only one has deceased, and to her brothers, if both have deceased. This "trunk" is made in the shape of a wardrobe, some five or six feet high and three or four feet wide, with shelves in it. It is made out of bamboo rods, covered with paper on the back side and the two ends, the front side being left open. On the shelves is placed a variety of minute household utensils, made out of bamboo splints and paper, as bedsteads, chairs, lanterns, plates and bowls, and paper images of servants, besides miniature clothing of various sorts cut out of paper. This wardrobe and contents are to be duly burned on the premises where her parents live, and for the benefit of the deceased. 11 A number of special paper objects associated with funeral observances in nineteenth-century Fukien deserve mention here because they reveal

13

14

CHAPTER 2

the extent of the paper sculptor's craft more than a century ago. These particular pieces of funeral apparatus, some of which must have been truly impressive, not to say, spectacular, are not used in Taiwan today. The paper sedan chair burned at the very beginning of funeral ceremonies, was, in nineteenth-century Fuchou, provided with wheels. "In front of the sedan, and connected with it by means of two pieces of bamboo, which keep it three or four feet from the ground, is a paper image of the crane, just as though the crane was to act the part of a flying pony and drag along the sedan." 12 Although Doolittle does not comment further on the crane-powered sedan chair, the use of the crane is a clear reference to the carrying of the deceased to the Isles of the Immortals, because in Taoist lore this bird was often a vehicle for adepts who achieved immortality and rode off into the empyrean on the back of a crane. When the deceased was a high mandarin, special paper sculptures were carried at the head of the funeral procession to clear the road. These, according to Doolittle, were "two immense likenesses of men, one dressed to represent a civil, and the other to represent a military officer. These are very light compared with their size, being made out of bamboo splints, covered principally with red paper. Each is borne in a horizontal position by two men. They are from ten to fifteen feet long, and four or five feet in diameter." 13 The usage, according to Doolittle, refers to the practice of mandarins having lictors, or runners, precede them to clear the way when they ventured into the streets. With the advent of the camera, a few fascinated foreigners captured images of paper objects on film, as did several Chinese. Surviving photographs are very scarce, but they provide tantalizing glimpses of the paper images constructed in the first half of the twentieth century. Perhaps the most awesome figure in the traditional funeral was the Opening the Road God (k'ai-lu shen). According to].]. M. de Groot, in Hsia-men in the late nineteenth century, such figures could be small (three-quarters of a meter high) and carried in a pavilion. One illustrated by de Groot is described by him as well-fitted to strike the whole host of evil spirits with terror. The face, of a blood-red colour, has two large white eyes, from which black, protruding eye-balls cast about terrific looks; a third eye stands perpendicular in the middle of the forehead, and a long purple beard of woolen threads heightens the intimidating aspect. The dress is that of a warrior: a helmet covers the head, a coat of mail the breast, thigh-plates the lower limbs.

HISTORY

A long red gown hangs down from underneath the armor; the broad girdle, which encircles the waist, bears the character "King," to make manifest to the evil sprits that they have to do with a being of great importance and power. This image is always made to stand, as an erect attitude renders it more formidable, martial and imposing. Its right hand brandishes a trident, its left hand, which is stretched out aloft, holds a red seal as a token of authority. Variegated ornaments like flowers and stars are affixed to sundry parts of its body. On the whole, the figure is a motley mixture of colours, amongst which, besides gold and green, red, which is so much feared by the sprits of darkness, is most conspicuous. 14 In some instances, continues de Groot, "its size is enormous. It is then often wheeled along the road on an open cart, no pavilion being large enough to contain it." A photograph of a Peking funeral shows the Opening the Road God in a dynamic pose with one foot raised; he is placed on a mechanism that allows this flamboyant figure to be rotated (see Figure 1). Another Peking funeral photograph shows life-sized figures of female servants and musicians being carried in procession (see Figure 2). In the early years of this century, W Gilbert Walshe noted the "immense quantities of paper goods, including men, horses, carriages, chairs, opium, tobacco, flowers, birds, beasts and furniture of all sorts" that accompanied the funeral cortege. 15 In the 1920s, M. L. C. Bogan described funeral rites at length, noting that among the gifts presented to the deceased were: large artificial pots of flowers on imitation wooden stands, these being always sent in pairs. Sometimes, life-sized paper figures representing servants are presented. Frequently is given an object made entirely of paper, representing a table on which is a hill of gold or silver with wild animals disporting themselves to add to the reality. This gift is imagined to be of use to the spirit, for should he need money, he has merely to slice off a portion of the hill! 16 She notes that on the third day of the funeral, the sons gave "paper representations of a life-sized horse and carriage, two mounted out-riders, a sedan chair, money, and four large boxes containing [paper] ingots of gold and silver." According to Bogan's account, the actual funeral procession included paper replicas of articles "of which the dead has been especially fond," such as a mahjong set, a wine tankard with cups, and a bathtub with one paper image carrying a towel and another a cake of soap. Other paper items provided for the deceased represented his former possessions:"a

15

!6

CHAPTER 2

Figure 1. Opening the Road God placed on mechanism that allows the figure to be rotated. Peking, early twentieth century. Photo after Fu Kungyueh, Pei-ching chiu-

ying, Figure

206.

coolie and his rickshaw; men and women servants, sometimes carrying cups of tea; or a Peking cart, with mule and driver. ... Many small boys in white ... trudge along carrying on trays reproductions in paper of clocks, bric-a-brac, silk materials and other appurtenances of a home." 17 The situation had not changed substantially when distinguished scholar Sidney D. Gamble photographed funerals in Peking on a series of four trips to China between 191 7 and 1927. Some sixty excellent black-andwhite photographs documenting funerary paper objects are among the nearly four thousand photographs preserved in the Sidney D. Gamble Foundation for China Studies in New York City. Many of the photo-

I7

HISTORY

graphs show paper objects of the sort that are not now made for the funeral cortege in modern Taiwan. Gamble's photographs of Peking funeral processions included the necessary sedan chairs and paper houses of the northern courtyard style, along with gold and silver mountains, that, unlike their Taiwan descendants, actually looked like mountains, and were furnished with cranes, flowers, and a pavilion at the peak. Adhering to local custom, there were paper lions and boats. The photographs include the sensational gigantic god figures (see Figure 3); the skyscraping "name tower," the spectacular life- sized paper models, complete to the smallest detail, such as a horse and rider, a carriage with driver and horse (see Figure 4), a rickshaw and puller, and servants; fantastic constructions such as full-scale ladies riding various beasts (a lion, a crane, a deer), as well as one

Figure 2 . Lifesized figures of

on a phoenix. Gamble was particularly impressed with the scale models of

female musicians

automobiles and shot sundry views of a paper Cadillac and several of pa-

being carried

per Fords. Some of these automobiles were sufficiently strong that they

in procession.

could "stand alone" and were "functional" to the degree that their wheels apparently turned, necessitating the placement of stone blocks in front of them to prevent them from rolling. A wonderfully ironic photo taken in

Peking, early twentieth cen-

tury. Photo after Fu Kung-yueh,

1924 shows a full-scale, paper Model-T Ford complete with chauffeur, at-

Pei-ching chiu-

tached to bamboo poles carried in procession by a team of men (see

ying, Figure

2 10.

Figure 3· Gigantic god figures. Peking, I9I7-I 8. Photo: Sidney D. Gamble. Sidney D. Gamble Foundation for C hina Studies, N ew York C ity.

19

HISTORY

Figure 5). Careful scrutiny of a photograph of a horse and carriage reveals

Figure 4· H orse

tiny rollers under the horse's hooves, the better to convey the contrivance

and carriage.

along the processional route. 18 Gamble's visual record perfectly complements Bogan's written account. Between 1929 and 1933, architect Johannes Prip-Moller traveled throughout China collecting data for his study on Chinese Buddhist architecture. Among the illustrations in his book are three scenes of Masses for the Souls on Sea and Land. The photographs include a large paperand-bamboo boat and three near-life- sized paper- and-bamboo horses and riders. 19 Clarence D ay, stationed in northern Chekiang Province during the 1930s, was deeply interested in Chinese popular culture and its gods. In his seminal study of the subject, he makes occasional reference to paper-constructed images and provides murky illustrations of paper images of the Goddess of Lightning, the God of Thunder, the God of Fire, and the God of Rain that had been made in Hangchou for home use. He also has a photograph of paper mounted messengers being burned as a part of funerary rites.20

Peking, 1925. Photo: Sidney D. Gamble. Sidney D. Gamble Foundation for China Studies, New York City.

20

Figure 5. Ford

Model- T. Peking, 1924. Photo: Sid-

ney D. Gamble. Sidney D. Gamble Foundation for China Studies, NewYork City.

CHAPTER 2

Carl Crow, an American journalist who lived in China for several decades, wrote lively, sensitive descriptions of Chinese life. He treated the readers of one of his books to a chapter entitled "Ghostly Department Stores." His animated description succinctly pictures the business and how it kept pace with modern demands: In every city of any size in China will be found a number of shops engaged solely in the manufacture and sale of furniture and other articles for use in what might be called the Chinese heaven . .. . In Shanghai there are several hundred establishments which cater to the needs of the departed . . .. There is a steady demand for ghost furniture which is not upset by seasonal depressions .... All ghostly furniture is now handmade and there does not appear to be any opportunity for machine production, but if some manufacturing genius were to produce a satisfactory class of articles at a cheaper price, he might make a fortune by going into this line ofbusiness. 21

HISTORY

He expands: The ghostly articles of furniture have always followed changes in styles and are quite complete in their variety. Every shop making these articles is a small department store in itself, though it may be, as it usually is, no larger than the usual Chinese shop with a frontage of twelve feet. It is remarkable what can be packed in this small space. There are, of course, tables and chairs, perhaps a couch if the dead man had been accustomed to his opium pipe. Chests are packed with paper clothing for all seasons and occasions. And other more intimate things, such as washbasins, urinals and the Chinese equivalent of a chamber pot. As modern inventions make life on earth more luxurious, these comforts, by means of paper replicas, are made available to the dead. They now include such things as telephones, electric heaters, electric fans, ice-boxes, lamp shades, thermos bottles, and sometimes a motor car. These larger objects are not stocked, owing to the limitations of space, but are made to order. Radios are quite common and doubtless airplanes will be added when private flying is developed in China. 22 Crow claimed that when the Japanese began their invasion of China, paper craftsmen constructed life-size imitations of airplanes and armored tanks and left them about in rice-fields where they would be sure to be observed by Japanese bombers. Sometimes what appeared to be a whole flying field was constructed, with genuine anti-aircraft guns mounted to keep the attacking planes at a safe distance. At a height of a few hundred feet it was impossible to distinguish the fake planes from the genuine. Hundreds of very expensive bombs were dropped and Japanese spokesmen gleefully announced the destruction of dozens of airplanes which were nothing more than bits ofbamboo and paper cleverly pasted together. 23 A few Westerners in early-twentieth-century China collected paper sculptures. Four actual examples of standard funerary figures survive from the first decade of the twentieth century. They are important in revealing some of the techniques used at this time. The first are two paper figures made about the year

1900

and now housed in the American Museum of

Natural History. Each is approximately

10

inches high and secured to a

flat bamboo splint that is thrust into a slot in the top of a small paper box, weighted with tile shards so it remains upright. Both figures are damaged. The lower part of both figures is missing, as is the head of one. What remains, however is extremely instructive. The sleeves are flat forms sus-

21

22

CHAPTER

2

pended from thin arms with clay hands and the body of the jacket covers a torso composed of a dense bundle of small, tightly rolled tubes of coarse paper. 24 This foundation is quite different from the armatures seen in Taiwan today that are shaped with newspapers over a bamboo support. In

the intrepid anthropologist Berthold Laufer, on the Blackstone Expedition in China, shipped two standing funerary figures conI909-IO,

structed of cloth and paper from Peking to the Field Museum in Chicago. Both have suffered some damage over the years and today are understandably extremely fragile. These two figures represent Manchu female and male servants. She originally held a teacup on a tray and he held a wash basin and towel. Both wear cheap silk clothing and have horsehair tresses, hers done in the elaborate Manchu coif with flowers, his in a long queue. Although the bodies and garments are made of cloth, the heads are of painted papier-m;khe or pressed paper and have recessed eyes. Each figure is about 3 feet high and placed on a 2-feet-high hexagonal paper pedestal, just like those seen in Taiwan today. Laufer procured other examples of the paper-construction arts in China, in particular, papiermache heads of cloth figures used in hell theatricals and dance masks. 25 In the Sung dynasty, establishments selling paper sculptures were known as paper shops or "paper-horse shops." By the early twentieth century, the makers of paper objects had acquired an additional craft, as revealed by their red shingles that read piao-hu ting-ke. According to Louise Crane, "The characters on the signboard announce that the artisan also pursues the trade of paper hanger.... The red background emphasizes his connection with the paraphernalia for future existence." 26 The paper ModelT Ford photographed by Gamble (see Figure 5) is in front of such a shop. The exterior of the shop where the horse and carriage of Figure 4 were constructed displays ten signs advertising its products. Three of the signs are short narrow boards set at the tops of narrow posts at right angles to the street and read horizontally; below them are longer signs that read vertically and are attached to the narrow pillars (four of these are visible). Three large placards are placed at intervals on the facade. The central placard gives the name of the shop,T'ien-ch'eng Chai. The large placard to the right announces that the shop makes paper funeral clothing; the one to the left announces that the shop is a place where paper pasting (that is, paper sculpture) is done. One of the smaller signs says that the shop is also a paper-hanging shop. The other small signs specify some of the paper products: india-rubber "foreign" carts (rickshaws), carts, boats,

HISTORY

sedan chairs, horses, large and small flower baskets, floral wreaths, and as seen in the photograph, foreign carriages. Some Peking paper shops hung large models of flower baskets and floral wreaths as shop signs. 27 Elsewhere in the city was a special open-air market where paper funerary models were sold. 28 The need for paper figures and constructions was constant in traditional China. Craftsmen were called on to produce a vast range of items that required no small amount of ingenuity. Business must have flourished.

23

3 Ceremonies and Paper Sculptures in Late-Twentieth-Century Taiwan

Few of the complicated constructions and gigantic figures described and photographed by Justus Doolittle, Sidney D. Gamble, and the others are still made by paper craftsmen in Taiwan. The primary and most steady source of income for the paper sculptor comes from fabricating the paper objects needed for funerals. Some craftsmen derive additional income from making the large number of medium-sized paper images of gods for use in offering rituals (or, chiao). In addition, paper craftsmen construct special items for special occasions. 1 It should be noted for ceremonies connected with funerals, death ritu-

als, and Hungry Ghosts that although the same basic set of rituals is practiced in most Chinese communities, specific services within this set can vary tremendously. Information about what objects are made for which rituals and exactly how the ceremony should be performed differ among craftsmen in the same city, and among craftsmen in different cities. Furthermore, mainlanders who migrated to Taiwan after the Communist takeover of China in I 949 are said to have different preferences for paper objects from the Taiwanese, whose families moved to Taiwan from Fukien several centuries ago.

Paper Objects Made for the Funeral The proper Chinese funeral requires dozens of paper sculptures of figures, animals, and objects, which will all be committed to the flames. Although it is generally believed that all paper objects burned in conjunction with the funeral are to provide the deceased with material goods for life in the hereafter, many paper objects have other purposes.

24

CEREMONIES AND PAPER SCULPTURES

Although some death rituals begin before a person actually dies, those rites requiring paper objects start with the burning of a small sedan chair when the dying person stops breathing. This ritual serves the dual purpose of announcing the death to the gods and carrying the spirit of the dead to the other world. 2 The sedan chair (see Plate r), constructed of purple and red paper, is approximately

10 11

x

12 11

x

18".

It is a complete

model with a paper curtain at the front and two bearers. The latter are simple paper-doll-like figures cut from white paper, their facial features quickly indicated with a few ink lines. Although a paper sedan chair is commonly used in this rite, variations exist. People from Peking prefer a paper horse for a deceased man and an ox for a woman; people from Shantung prefer paper carts. 3 Within a day or two, a temporary, spirit altar (ling-t' an) is set up in the home. This is a modest symmetrical arrangement of five paper figures (see Plate 2). 4 In the center is a figure of the deceased, flanked on the right by a male servant offering cigarettes and on the left a female servant serving tea. The male's face is ruddy, and the female has a white complexion; this stereotyped gender distinction is found throughout the craft. At either end is an escort: to the right is the Gold Lad and to the left, the Jade Girl. The paper figure representing the deceased is known as a soul figure or spirit figure (hun-shen). Generally, people who die in old age are represented in a formal, frontal pose seated in an armchair, much like their images in the well-known ancestor portraits. They wear black traditional dress. Normally, the deceased's hair is represented as black, but sometimes hair made of grey cotton gives a realistic touch. The effigy is quite small, about 6 inches tall, because it is placed on the temporary altar and later at the entrance of the paper house. This figure will be moved around during the rituals to indicate the deceased's participation in the rites. 5 When used on the temporary altar, it is seated in a large decorated chair. One soul figure by Ch'en Jung-shan, a paper sculptor in Tainan, was placed in an oversized thronelike chair covered with gold foil and decorated with red paper fringed with lacelike silver foil; the figure holds a ju-i "as you wish" scepter signifYing good luck. The chair was elevated on a two-tiered pedestal fringed with more silver foil and decorated with gaudy pink and red artificial flowers on either side. This same artisan also made spirit figures dressed in Western tailored suits, replete with tie and fedora (see Plate 3), but this is generally a rarity. In Taipei, informants said that Taiwanese custom prefers soul figures dressed in a piece of the deceased's clothing. Ch' en Jung-shan used fabric for the garments and hats

25

26

CHAPTER

3

of one of his male soul figures (see Plate 3); Hung Hsin-fa, the old master paper craftsman in Tainan, employed a shiny black textile to clothe a female spirit image who holds a ju-i (see Plate 4). Fabric attire was also noted on soul figures in several other shops. Individuals who die young must be depicted as standing rather than sitting and wear blue clothing instead ofblack. 6 There are no such color or costume restrictions for the two servants (direct descendants of the Manchu domestics now in the Field Museum), except that they must be shown as standing and must wear ordinary clothing. Sometimes they are dressed in modern clothing; she wears a fitted Western dress and he a jacket and trousers, as in Plate

2.

Sometimes

they wear traditional Chinese garb: she flowered trousers with a fullsleeved jacket with side fastening and flowers in her flowing hair; he a skirt with a full-sleeved jacket with front closing and a cap (see Plate 5). They may be quite stylish. One maid servant with a curly perm and another with bangs were seen in a Taipei shop in 1997. The Gold Lad and the Jade Girl are canonizations of two loyal attendants on Miao-shan, the young girl who refused to marry and, after enduring many tribulations, died and was revealed as a manifestation of the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin. 7 The escorts hold banners inscribed with the phrases "The Gold Lad is a guide on the road to the Paradise in the Western Regions" and "The Jade Girl returns (with you) to paradise," or similar sentiments. The banners the Gold Lad and the Jade Girl carry are in traditional form (although rather debased in the representation) of an inverted lotus leaf finial and a lotus blossom base enclosing the written message; a paper fringe depends from the lotus base. In a representation of Amitabha Buddha leading souls to the Western Paradise, an attendant is shown holding such a banner (see Figure 6). Analogous images and ideas are also present in a traditional woodblock print depicting clouds and cranes that was to be burned in front of the deceased. 8 A cylindrical paper lanternlike object (yellow, the earth color, for women; green, the heaven color, for men) trailing a long banner bearing the deceased's name, birth date, and death date is placed in the home of the deceased on the day after the death (see Figure 7). This soul banner (Jan-tzu-t' ou) forms a sort of parasol, "to protect the soul coming up from

the underworld into the too-brilliant sunlight." 9 Carried by the eldest son of the deceased at the head of the funeral procession, it guides the deceased to the yin world.

27

CEREMONIES AND PAPER SCULPTU RE S

Figure 6. Am.itabha Buddha leading souls to the Western Paradise. Late- nineteenthcentury print. Photo after Henry Dore,

R esearches into Chinese Superstitions, vol. 6, Figure r8.

Members of the immediate and extended family follow the coffin and the pallbearers, or the hearse, on foot as the procession wends its way slowly to the burial site. Sometimes the entourage proceeds on foot to a predetermined place where everyone is transferred to automobiles for a more comfortable journey. In the funeral cortege, a second, larger, and much fancier paper sedan chair is carried by the grandchildren. The paper figure representing the deceased is placed in it for its journey to the grave where it will be burned. Thus this second sedan chair is of great importance and grandeur. It can be m ade of cloth and be 3 to 4 feet high and 4 feet w ide; in 1996, one cost N.T.$s,ooo to 6,ooo (U.S.$185 to 222). Often, instead of this more costly sedan, another purple and red sedan chair similar to the one burned at the time of death (but slightly larger) is used.

CH APTER

3

Figure 7- Soul banner, dismanded, by Ch'en Chin-chung, Tainan, 1989. Photo: H . Liu.

The most impressive paper object used in funerary rituals is the paper house (chih-ts'o or ling-wu), generally accompanied by "gold and silver mountains," one on either side of the building, and by large-scale figures of the Gold Lad and Jade Girl, larger versions of those that initially appeared on the temporary spirit altar. The large versions of the Gold Lad and the Jade Girl range from crude figures wearing crowns and gowns sometimes made without regard for the paper pattern, as in the plaid dress of the Jade Girl seen in Figure 8. The banners are simply attached to their hands and the figures are placed on a rectangular boxlike pedestal support, in this instance w ith their names w ritten in bright red on the base. The paper artisan m akes these figures by the tens. They stand in serried rows in the shops awaiting purchase. More upscale versions of the Gold Lad and Jade Girl wear large multilayered crowns (see Figure 9) .

C EREMONIES

29

AND PAPER SCULPTURES

Figure 8. Gold Lad and Jade Girl, by Lin Ch'eng-hua, Taichung, 1996. Photo: R. Laing.

Their stiff, elaborate dress is patterned on court robes. Each holds a bent staff from which the banner will be suspended, and each stands on a high, tapered pedestal covered with floral and other patterns surrounding printed pictures of Chinese beauties. At the upper end of the scale, the Gold Lad and the Jade Girl are mounted on silver cranes and supported by complex hour-glass-shaped pedestals, the whole construction being some 7 feet high (see Figure ro). The price for the Gold Lad and the Jade Girl increases according to the complexity and elaborateness of the final product. The Gold Lad and Jade Girl riding cranes are special orders costing in 1997 about N.T.$2,500 (U.S.$90) and so do not appear on the general price list (see Appendix) . Historically, the house could be a huge affair. Henri Maspero wrote, "In certain regions, it is large enough for a man to enter. In wealthy Kiangsu

30

CHAPTER

3

Figure 9· Gold Lad and Jade Girl, Taipei, 1996. Photo: R. Laing.

families, it can sometimes be as much as ten or twenty feet high, including the roof. Life-size servants made of paper are placed in it, with the name of servants who have died in service written on their chests." 10 This is corroborated by a representation byWuYu-ju (d. r893), a Shanghai illustrator, of a huge funerary house set ablaze in the city of Canton (see Figure II). In Taiwan today, the fundamental paper funerary house is constructed of paper stretched over a bamboo supporting framework and supported on a high pedestal ornamented sometimes with paper-cut designs, or more commonly, with colorful figural scenes. It is interesting to note that these Taiwan houses as a whole are much more elaborate and colorful than those constructed in Peking in the 1920s.Whether this can be accounted for by changing tastes or by regional preference is unclear. In Taiwan, there are

CEREMONIES

31

AND PAPER SCULPTURES

Figure 10. Gold Lad and Jade Girl on cranes. Ho-hsing Paper-pasting Shop, Taipei, 1997. Photo: E. Laing.

standard configurations to which most houses conform regardless of their style. Sometimes the "mountains" accompanying the houses are separate structures; sometimes they are incorporated into the yard and constructed as part of the overall structure. The all-important soul figure is installed in this house along with a contract or deed to the property; this document lists the contents, as well as specifies the amount of money being sent along, and warns of harsh punishment for wandering ghosts who may steal the goods. The deed is made out to the deceased and stamped w ith an official-looking seal. 11 An automobile is gen erally placed near the main gate. Figures of male and female (often rather buxom) servants are arranged at regular intervals at curbside. This grouping of the central soul figure flanked by servants at curbside and an automobile under the gate is a standard for all but the most unique of houses.

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