Liu Dapao: Phoenix Dyer

Author: Tang Sulan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Phoenix is a small town with beautiful mountains and clear waters, a place where outstanding people are born and the land is blessed. When you take a boat on the Tuo River below the town, sitting in a long, flat bamboo raft, you can gaze at this mountain city. The vertical ancient city walls, the towering Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda, the flying-eaved Xianchang Pavilion, and the suspended – every corner is a scenic view, every place a picture. As you wander through the old streets and alleys of the town, you’ll find traces of the past everywhere, and traces of elegance in every nook.
Liu Dapao, whose real name is Liu Gongxin, was born on the twelfth day of the fifth lunar month in 1936. His ancestral home is in Songtao, Guizhou, and he comes from a family of dye masters. He only attended primary school for four years. At the age of 12, he entered a dye workshop to learn the trade, and by 16, he was running the family’s dyeing business on his own. In 1957, during the cooperative movement, the dye shop was closed and he became an employee of the cotton mill. Later, he worked in the transportation team and as a blacksmith. In 1980, he joined the Phoenix Folk Art Factory and began interacting with Huang Yongyu, experimenting with soy milk painting. In 1985, he accompanied the autonomous prefecture’s folk art delegation on a visit to Japan. In 1990, he was invited to perform and teach at the Folk Art Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 1994, many of his works were included in the Complete Collection of Hunan Folk Art. In 1999, he traveled to Florence, Italy, to perform traditional handicrafts.