Last week I received an email from someone who is interested in the history of the Chinese folk art commonly referred to as Zhen Xian Bao. The writer wanted to know more about the history of the form before diving into a hands-on learning journey.
This is also how I began when learning about Zhen Xian Bao back in 2015. The book that guided my inquiry, A Little Known Chinese Folk Art Zhen Xain Bao by Ruth Smith & Gina Corrigan, is sadly and somewhat famously now out of print. If it ever becomes digitally available will share the link.
When Susan Share and I taught our in-depth classes about the Zhen Xian Bao, we would regularly talk about the history of the form in terms of our own research. One excellent article, written by Ruth Smith, provides a good bit of history and information. Your can view the PDF of Ruth Smith's article here.
There are some things I want to highlight about the Zhen Xian Bao.
To start with, I find it fascinating that ZXBs have been found in only 4 of China's 23 provinces. Also, it's interesting to note that there are many variations of the form, not only between provinces, but within them. When most of us first saw Zhen Xain Bao, quickly one certain variation of the form was most widely taught. It was this homogenizing of the structure that initiated my interest in teaching it, as I was keenly aware that there were many variations. Joan Sallas, a great collector and scholar of ZXB's refers to Zhen Xian Bao as a "system" of construction. I agree with this. Once the unifying system is deciphered, the variations also become decipherable.
One of the stories that Ruth Smith's tells on page 28 of her book, although short, speaks volumes about why there is so little available to read about the history of ZXBs. Ruth Smith and Gina Corrigan visited many regions of China. In Liping County, where they spent an afternoon visiting a family. Ruth was delighted to see the zhen xian boa the mother had made for herself, but, since such a thing was not considered important enough to talk about with visiting foreigners, there was little else that they could learn there. Certain histories become hidden because someone has deemed them to be trivial.
Another thing that I want to point out is that the boxes of traditional zhen xian bao were constructed using locally available paper and glue. The boxes, for the most part, as seen in the PDF linked above and my header photo for this post, were simply rectangles simple cut so that the sides stood up. There was no attention to using origami techniques.
I am one of many people who have imposed origami methods on to the construction of the ZXB. In our classes. Susan Share and I have taught both methods. We call have called the traditionally made boxes the glue-method to distinguish from the origami methods. Both methods stay true to the system of the ZXB. The locally made, handmade papers lend themselves well to using the glue-method, whereas origami methods seem to work best with our widely available western papers.
In her book, Ruth points out that the art of making zhen xian bao at home in China s dying out. The reason she gives for this that girls, instead of staying at home with their mothers and learning the traditional arts, are going to school. Tourists, it turns out, have played an important role in keeping the tradition alive. When it was discerned that tourists like the ZXBs, people began making them to sell.
As far as I can tell, Zhen Xian Bao have only been being made since the late 1800's. If someone else has better information than me, I'd be happy to hear it.
One last thing that I want to say about this: I had orginally thought that only women made the ZXB. In the Summer 2000 issue of Tabellae Ansata, Gail Rossi writes about speaking to a woman whose betrothed and made and decorated the zhen xian bao that she used. At the time of Rossi's article the term Zhen Xian Bao has not been coined yet? She refers to what she has seen as a dong paper folded sewing box. I want to thank John Neal for,many years ago, pointing me towards this article
For a look at a traditionally made zhen xian boa in the collection of Ed Hutchins, take a look at my October 22, 2016 post AND be sure to scroll down deep into the comments to read a long a fascinating comment by Joan Sallas.
I am delighted that so many people have taken an interest in the zhen xian bao. I feel like the classes that Susan Joy Share and I have taught has deepened many people's understanding of the system of making ZXBs. Many of the people in our classes, such as Jenny Verbit, Elaine Chu, Rosemary Rae, Anita Bulkun, and Corlis Taylor, have gone on to teach their own variations of the ZXB, which delights me no end. It feels to me that our continued work with the form is putting us into conversation with a hidden history, bringing it into the light and continuing it.
Although Susan and I have not yet made any plans to teach another in-depth class on the Zhen Xian Bao, it's something we are open to. Certainly let me know if this is something you are interested in, and we will be in touch if we set something up. In the meantime, there are now many tutorials free on-line for learning. I also have virtual ZXB workshops available in my Etsy shop, that come with decorative paper and high quality materials, which you can peruse at https://bookzoompa.etsy.com
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