"Shenzhou V" "Fengyun Satellite" appeared in Lingnan? It was made of lime!

The traditional intangible cultural heritage of Lingnan, gray sculpture, and modern aerospace technology seem to have nothing to do with each other. However, when gray sculpture meets aerospace, gray sculpture works such as "Wan Hu Fei Tian", "Astronaut", "Earth" and so on, such cross-border communication has enabled China's aerospace industry to not only turn ancient myths into today's reality of going to the sky, but also make the intangible cultural heritage of Lingnan gray sculpture shine with the glory of the times.

Gray sculpture "Our Blue Planet"

The Lingnan traditional plaster sculpture with complex craftsmanship

Gray sculpture is a unique traditional architectural decoration technique in Lingnan. It has existed since the fourth year of Zhonghe reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang Dynasty (884). It was most popular in Guangzhou during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 2008, it was included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

In order to adapt to the natural environment of Lingnan, which is humid, hot, prone to thunderstorms, and typhoons, Guangzhou's gray sculptures are special and complex from the production materials to the molding process. Gray sculptures use acid-resistant, alkali-resistant, and high-temperature-resistant lime, dry straw, jade button paper, brown sugar, glutinous rice flour, and various pigments. After soaking, fermentation, stirring, mixing, and blending, three materials, grass root gray, paper tendon gray, and color gray, are produced. "Gray Sculpture" is named after this. The plastic parts are made at room temperature. First, a sketch is drawn on site, and then the molding skeleton is made, and the color gray is applied to the prototype, finalized, and modified. Due to the complicated process, it takes many years of apprenticeship to become a master of gray sculpture.

Traditional plaster sculpture is mainly used for the beautification and decoration of eaves and ridges, gable tops, door lintels and window frames, pavilions and archways of old buildings, and there are many techniques, such as half relief, shallow carving, high relief, round carving and through carving. Chen Clan Academy, a national key cultural relic protection unit in Guangzhou, was completed in the 20th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1894), and it embodies the unique craftsmanship and rich cultural connotation of Guangzhou plaster sculpture.

Famous tourist attraction in Guangzhou Chen Clan Academy eaves tile ridge plaster sculpture

Cross-border dialogue between aerospace and gray plastics

Turning ancient myths into today's reality of going to the sky is the greatest romance of China's space program. From Chang'e flying to the moon to Wan Hu flying to the sky, they all originated from the ancient people's worship and yearning for the bright moon, stars and mysterious space. Humans have gone from the ground to the sky and then to space, and spacecraft have gone from low-Earth orbit to deep space exploration of the moon and then to Mars, step by step, "dreams have come true".

Gray sculpture "Shenzhou V"

Astronauts and various spacecraft began to enter the public eye, how to better popularize these hard-core aerospace technologies? The inspiration of integrating gray sculptures that are suitable for regional characteristics, three-dimensional, realistic, and not afraid of high temperature and humidity into the design of aerospace exhibits burst out... "Aerospace" and "gray sculptures" began a cross-border dialogue.

What plaster sculpture wants to pass on is not only the craftsmanship, but more importantly, its essence of thinking and creative spirit; what aerospace wants to spread is not only knowledge, but more importantly, innovative thinking and aerospace spirit. Out of a common original intention and vision, the plaster sculpture work "Wan Hu Flying Apsaras" was finally completed. "Wan Hu Flying Apsaras" not only spreads the concept and skills of Lingnan intangible cultural heritage plaster sculpture, but also spreads the aerospace spirit of Wan Hu, an official of the Ming Dynasty, who was the first person in the world to want to fly into space using a rocket. The International Astronomical Union named a crater on the moon "Wan Hu Crater". To this day, Wan Hu is widely commemorated at home and abroad for his aerospace spirit of courage to explore.

Gray sculpture "Flying Fairies"

The integration of plaster sculpture and aerospace has effectively promoted the wider dissemination of traditional intangible cultural heritage and aerospace science. Looking at the plaster sculpture work "Astronaut", not only does it give the astronaut the simplicity and three-dimensionality of plaster sculpture, but it also gives the astronaut the momentum, agility and spirit, which brings the astronaut closer to the public.

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DAWN&DARK

Gray sculpture "Astronaut"

Gray Plastic Wind and Cloud No. 1

Fengyun-4 meteorological satellite is under production

The gray sculptures with aerospace elements show that no matter how ancient the intangible cultural heritage is, as long as we boldly try to innovate, there will be an opportunity to cleverly integrate it into modern technology.

Source: Popular Science Times

Author: Cao Jing, China's satellite meteorology science communication expert and senior engineer

The pictures in this article are provided by the author

Editor: Mao Mengnan

Review: Wang Fei

Final judge: Chen Lei