Yang-style bonsai technique inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list

  Yang-style bonsai is one of the “five major schools” of Chinese tree-stump bonsai. It has a long history and the most distinctive characteristics. Compared with the Sichuan, Suzhou, Lingnan and Shanghai schools, its ancient pruning-and-binding technique is also the most completely preserved. In June 2008, Yang-style bonsai technique was inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list. This is a milestone in the inheritance and development of Yang-style bonsai technique, and it is of epoch-making significance.

  In December 2008, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture announced the list of provincial inheritors for this project. Two representative figures in the making of modern water-and-land bonsai were selected. As soon as the list came out, controversy arose on all sides. Unlike disputes over the selection of inheritors for other projects, this controversy did not arise because the inheritors were equally matched; the ultimate focus of the controversy fell on the project itself——Yang-style bonsai technique.

  What is Yang-style bonsai? What is its core technique? Does modern water-and-land bonsai fall within the scope of Yang-style bonsai? Do the selected inheritors possess Yang-style bonsai technique? These questions are the focus of the controversy. The emergence of controversy is beneficial to the project itself; it helps us gain a deeper understanding of the project, thereby achieving the ultimate goal of better protecting the heritage.

  As a conscious cultural act of the public, and as a volunteer participant in the protection of intangible cultural heritage, I, holding a feeling of reverence for cultural heritage, consulted the relevant contents of the project's application documents and, combining them with my own theoretical research insights, wrote this article to briefly state my views and opinions on the national intangible cultural heritage project of Yang-style bonsai technique. It is intended only for the reference and correction of leaders of cultural departments, experts in intangible cultural heritage protection, and people inside and outside the bonsai industry. I also hope that “bricks” may be tossed out so that “jade” may appear, attracting more attention to Yang-style bonsai technique.