In ancient times, Zhenyuan was the throat of Hunan and Guizhou. With its rugged terrain, it was an important passage on the Silk Road in southwest my country and a military town for entering and leaving Hunan and entering Guizhou. Since the Han Dynasty, emperors of various dynasties have repeatedly sent large numbers of soldiers to attack Zhenyuan along the golden waterway Wuyang River to suppress the rebellious barbarians of the Miao people and station troops in Zhenyuan for a long time in order to expand their territory and suppress the indigenous peoples in the southwest. With the frequent and continuous large-scale military operations, Zhenyuan continued to pour into military dependents, merchants and other refugees. They not only brought advanced culture and technology from the Central Plains and Jiangnan, but also brought architectural styles and wood carving art from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui. Zhenyuan is located at the junction of Hunan and Guizhou provinces in eastern Guizhou. It is located at the junction of the remnants of Wuling Mountain and the main vein of Miaoling Mountain. It is also a karst limestone geological landform with overlapping mountains, gullies, dense jungles and abundant water resources. There is no severe cold in winter and no scorching heat in summer. The weather is refreshing and pleasant. The unique ecological environment is cleverly woven by the strange mountains, beautiful waters, caves, jungles, terraces and wilderness throughout the city and countryside, creating the famous Wuyang Three Gorges, Tiexi, Gaoguo River, Longchi and other charming natural scenery. Zhenyuan has a long history and splendid culture of more than 2,000 years. It is a must-go fortress on the Southwest Silk Road. It is known as the "Gateway to Eastern Guizhou", "Key to Yunnan and Chu", "Throat of Hunan and Guizhou" and "Metropolis of the Southwest". For hundreds of years before 1955, Zhenyuan was the seat of the prefecture and the political, economic, cultural and military center of Eastern Guizhou. In 1986, it was named a famous historical and cultural city of China by the State Council. It has successively won many honors such as Wuyang River National Scenic Spot, Qinglong Cave, Heping Village National Cultural Relics Protection Unit, National Water Conservancy Scenery Tourism County, etc. It also enjoys the reputation of Dragon Boat Hometown and Suona Hometown. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhenyuan wood carving technology has developed rapidly. Most of the folk wood carving craftsmen are from Anhui and Jiangxi, and are good at flat carving and relief carving. It is mainly carved on temples and residential buildings. The wood carving craftsmanship of the Qing Dynasty developed further during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Wood carving craftsmen include not only foreign masters, but also local artists. The types of carving include not only flat carving and relief carving, but also difficult hollow carving and hollow carving. The carving skills are fully used for temples, temples, pavilions, ancient houses, beams, eaves, doors and windows, furniture and utensils as decoration or ornamental objects, and gradually formed a combination of Han, Miao and Dong ethnic carving skills, with a unique charm of exquisite wood carving art. Although this wood carving art has gone through hundreds of years of wind and rain and has been repeatedly dilapidated, it still leaves a small amount of precious heritage, and the wood carving art has also been inherited to a certain extent by the middle-aged and young generations. The wood carving art of the famous Zhenyuan has a long history. The carvings used only in ancient buildings such as temples, halls and halls are more than 500 years old. According to the "Zhenyuan Prefecture Chronicle", the Qinglong Cave, the most magnificent ancient building complex in Guizhou, was first built in the second year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty (1489 AD). It was built by donations from the local Taoist Li Daojian. Guanyin Hall, Yuhuang Pavilion, Wangjiang Tower, Dafo Hall and other buildings are built on the mountain, with flying eaves and corners, carved beams and painted buildings, and magnificent. The beams, columns, corridors, eaves, doors, windows and other parts of these buildings are inlaid with fine carvings. As for the wood carving craft used in the folk, it has a history of more than a thousand years. Zhenyuan wood carving has formed its own local characteristics: complete tools, exquisite techniques, complete procedures, a wide variety, novel forms, beautiful shapes, and colorful. Wood carving tools include 10 types and more than 80 pieces, including files, hammers, saws, axes, planes, drills, knives, rulers, buckets, and wires. Files include thin files, round files (internal and external round files), angle files, foot files, and bevel files. Hammers include nail hammers and wooden hammers. Saws include wire saws and snake tail saws (in 1984, the snake tail saw was improved by Pan Guangfu, a young folk woodcarving artist from Lianglukou Village, Zhenyuan County. After installing a wooden hand on the saw head, the sawing bark can turn flexibly, the speed is fast, and the work efficiency is high, which is twice and four times more efficient than the wire saw and the original snake tail saw respectively). Drills include steel drills, hand-cranked drills, and pull drills. Knives include machetes and mandarin duck knives. Axes include moon axes and fish tail axes. Planes include smooth planes, large clearing planes, two clearing planes, line planes (single line, double line, bench line, yin and yang line), elimination planes, clean planes, scraping planes, and ironwood leech planes. Rulers include movable rulers, angle rulers, Luban rulers, and door light rulers. Craftsmen generally use Luban rulers, and the ruler markings are one white, two black, three green, four green, five yellow, six white, seven red, eight white, and nine purple. Generally, black and yellow rulers are avoided. Extremely rare is the door light ruler, also called door ruler and eight-character ruler. This is a ruler used by ancient carpenters to measure the size of doors, houses, courtyards, and furniture. It is said that only one is now in the collection of the Palace Museum. In April 1986, a young carpenter named Long Xuhua from Wudingpu, Zhenyuan County, was miraculously found to have passed down a ruler. Later, several more were found among the people in Zhenyuan. This ruler has eight inches, and each inch is engraved with the eight characters of wealth, illness, separation, righteousness, official, robbery, harm, and luck. In the past, poor people often used wealth, righteousness, and luck to measure the size of the door. In the past, poor people often used wealth, righteousness, and luck to measure the size of the door to make a good fortune. Officials and wealthy people used Huanyu to measure the size of the door to make the Guangzong Yuezu and the official career to be prosperous. Dou, that is, ink bucket bamboo pen. Thread, that is, ink thread, there are hemp thread and cotton thread. Wood carving techniques are skillful and exquisite, and unique. Mainly focus on the coordination of brain, eyes, hands, and qi. At the same time, it can stand, sit, bend, and lie. When carving, the craftsman has a clear mind, focused eyes, flexible wrists, and even breath. He can stand for a long time to file, use a knife, bend over to carve finely, and lie on the ground to engrave. Wood carving is divided into four stages: the first is drawing. Use a pencil or pen to sketch first, and then finely determine. It requires exquisiteness and accuracy, and lifelike shape. The second is the initial carving. First carve the overall pattern, show the outline, and carve out the prototype. The third is fine carving. The local and subtle parts of the pattern move smoothly, concentrate on the skills, and basically determine the shape. The fourth is polishing. Use gauze paper of different coarseness and fineness to clean and polish. The fifth is coloring. There are two types: plain color and color. Plain color is to repeatedly apply the surface of the wood carving crafts with boiled tung oil to maintain the original color; color is to repeatedly brush several times with raw lacquer or gloss lacquer, which is dark red or vermilion. It is also common to paint with multiple colors, and brush the surface with varnish to make the wood carving crafts bright and colorful, very gorgeous. After a series of complex procedures, it is finally considered a piece of exquisite wood carving art. There are many types and forms of wood carving in Zhenyuan, which are colorful. There are mainly flat carving, hollow carving, hidden pattern carving, relief carving, openwork carving, vertical carving and many other types. Among them, hollow carving and openwork carving are the most difficult. The series of patterns along the ancient opera platform of Wanshou Palace in Qinglong Cave, which is more than 10 meters long, is the only masterpiece of wood carving art in Guizhou Province that cleverly combines hollow and openwork carving. Flat carving and hidden pattern carving are mostly used for the decoration of folk bed frames, lights, gods, door rails, windows, tables and chairs and other residential objects. Relief carving is mostly used in various ancestral halls, guild halls, dragon boats, and handicrafts made and sold by folk woodcarving artists. Vertical carving is mostly used on various statues in temples. However, most of the ancient buildings in Zhenyuan have scientifically combined various forms such as wood carving, becoming a dazzling treasure of traditional folk handicraft art. Due to historical reasons, although the wood carving art of Zhenyuan has been repeatedly destroyed, it has been carefully cared for by the people and has not been extinct. Over the past 20 years of reform and opening up, it has been restored and passed down under the concern of the local government. Through large-scale repairs of the Qinglongdong ancient building complex, a national cultural relic protection unit, Zhenyuan has established a young and highly skilled ancient building maintenance team mainly engaged in wood carving, and has achieved gratifying results in inheriting traditional art and promoting national culture. The wood carving artworks of Zhenyuan ancient buildings have been highly praised by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Guizhou Provincial Department of Culture, and cultural experts at home and abroad. The unique Dong ethnic architectural craft models carved by folk wood carving artists such as Pan Guangfu and others, such as the Dongzhai Flower Bridge, Fengyu Tower, Ancient Building, and Wooden Building, were selected and sent to Beijing for exhibition, and were well received by the leaders of the Party and the country and tens of thousands of spectators. They praised Zhenyuan wood carving as "a wonder of oriental folk art!" The magnificent and glorious Jiaxiu Tower ancient building complex on the banks of the Nanming River in Guiyang, the provincial capital, is now shining with the brilliance of Zhenyuan wood carving skills. Zhenyuan wood carving art originated from history, came from the folk, and was rooted in the people. It is the crystallization of the hard work and wisdom of generations of Zhenyuan people. Since ancient times, two groups of wood carvings have been formed. One is a small number of woodcarving technicians who specialize in fine carving of pavilions and palaces and have advanced craftsmanship. The other is the majority of carpenters who roughly decorate ordinary houses in urban and rural areas and have general woodcarving skills. Woodcarving art is formed by the various ethnic groups in Zhenyuan in the long-term labor production and practical exploration of earth and forest construction. It has a wide range of mass, good appreciation and inheritance. Woodcarving art is inseparable from people's lives and is everywhere. Thousands of households cannot do without home, and home must have woodcarving art. This folk art has tenacious vitality. With its ingenious conception, rich connotation, and exquisite craftsmanship, the original forest wood is carved into various forms of general decorations and special crafts. It has its unique appreciation value, economic value and artistic value. It is a gorgeous wonder in the folk traditional craft garden. Because there are many scenic spots, historical sites, temples and houses in the ancient city of Zhenyuan. Every household likes to use and appreciate woodcarving furniture and supplies, and has a special liking for woodcarving crafts. Therefore, wood carving art has a long history in Zhenyuan and is deeply rooted. It is only spread in urban and rural areas of the county, and there are very few surrounding counties, thus establishing the status of Zhenyuan wood carving art in Guizhou. Zhenyuan wood carving art has a long history, comes from the folk, reflects life, records history, and has extremely high archaeological value and research value. Wood carving art originates from life practice, is popular among the masses, has the value of cultivating thoughts and sentiments, stimulating leisure and elegance, and enriching people's material and cultural life. With the gradual deepening of my country's reform and opening up and the vigorous development of modernization, the contradiction between modern culture and traditional culture has become increasingly prominent. Under the impact of modern strong culture, traditional culture faces great challenges. Zhenyuan's traditional folk wood carving art is under direct threat from modern technology, and handmade wood carving artworks are gradually replaced by machine-made wood carving artworks. This folk art is in a state of decline and even gradual loss. Most of the young generation are unwilling to engage in handmade wood carving art, and there is a shortage of talents and successors. According to statistics, there are currently only more than 50 folk wood carving craftsmen and more than 10 folk wood carving artists in Zhenyuan. Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center