青田，地处浙江省东南部，素有“九山半水半分田”之称，因盛产被尊为“印石之祖”的青田石而闻名。青田因为石雕和华侨，“点石成金”“投石问路”，由一个偏僻小县城变成知名度很大的“中国石雕之乡”和“华侨之乡”。

        “青田的华侨，是出国的石头；青田的石头，是不出国的华侨！”这句话在青田妇孺皆知，耳熟能详。青田之所以因“侨石”名世，应归因于青田石。

青田石的家乡情结

        青田籍作家、青田石雕文化研究专家杨忠贵告诉笔者，青田人多田少，资源匮乏，但青田人不甘于过贫困、封闭的生活。早在300多前年，青田人就开始背井离乡走出县城，走向省外，走出国门，走向世界。青田人无论去往哪里，随身都会带上一样东西，那就是家乡的石头，或青田石章，或青田石雕。到目的地后，他们便走街串巷兜售青田石，作为自己创业的“第一桶金”。由此，青田石通过水陆两路被带到了世界各地。

        文化是沟通交流的最好桥梁。青田石，与巴林石、寿山石、昌化石被称为中国“四大名石”。青田石亦是中国传统的“四大印章石”之一。近年来，青田石先后在美国旧金山、意大利米兰、法国巴黎、西班牙马德里、瑞典斯德哥尔摩等许多大城市举办展销展示会。“青田石是我们走向世界的一个重要原因。”现回国创业的侨胞留宏华说。

        “青田的石雕大师们坚持不懈地把青田的工匠精神一代又一代地传承下去，通过这块‘小石头’，中国能够更好地被世界所认知，世界也能够更加全面地了解中国。”在2018年12月13日举行的“‘石艳天下’改革开放40周年青田石雕精品展示会暨‘一带一路’名石展”上，世界手工艺理事会亚太地区第一副主席凯文·穆雷面对精彩的青田“小石头”赞不绝口。他希望，青田石雕文化产业与世界手工艺理事会加强交流合作，让更多的青田石雕大师出现在“亚太地区手工艺大师”行列中，参与到“一带一路”国际交流中。

石雕从业者超3万

        “青田石雕历史悠久，据今已有1700多年历史了。青田石雕是青田精神的承载体，孕育了投石问路的创新精神、点石成金的工匠精神、金石之交的契约精神；同时，青田石雕还是‘一带一路’的文化石，是丝绸之路的先行者、中华文化的传播者、中外友谊的见证者。”作为土生土长的青田人，青田县委常委、宣传部长吴飞飞对青田石雕意笃情深。

        在她看来，中国文化的魅力，不仅流淌在卷帙浩瀚的诗文典籍中，也闪烁在山水、草木，乃至再普通不过的石头之上。中国人最擅长利用天地造化的原始状态，巧妙地寄托温文儒雅的情怀，以达到装点生活和艺术审美的精神愉悦作用。

        早在清代，青田石雕作为江南名产屡被选为贡品，60枚青田石印章“宝典福书”至今仍珍藏在故宫博物院。上世纪50年代，国家提倡抢救民间工艺，青田石雕工艺开始恢复，计划性地进行生产。到80年代中期，青田石雕发展到了一个繁荣时期，开始走向专业化、艺术化、市场化的道路。

        “是改革开放的春风，让青田石雕艺术焕发了青春和活力，才有了今天这样的艺术辉煌。改革开放40年时间，青田就涌现了11位国家级工艺美术大师、50位省级大师、64位市级大师，石雕产业从业人员超过3万人。”吴飞飞说。

石雕微商在线活跃

        一业兴盛，百业俱荣。作为浙江十大历史经典产业之一，青田石雕同时也是我国首批公布的国家级非物质文化遗产。改革开放以来，青田历届政府把大力发展石雕产业作为振兴工业的抓手，在政策扶持、资源开采、人才培育、市场推广等方面都做了大量工作，特别是新世纪之初应时代需要成立的青田石雕产业保护和发展局，在中国工艺美术界掀起阵阵涟漪。

        在山口镇板石小区，张旭军和他的微商团队忙着整理当天要寄出的青田石印章。“通过微信这一平台，这几年，我们销售了很多石雕产品。仅最近一年，销售金额已达400多万元，微信上的稳定客源也有1万多人，客户遍布全国各地。”张旭军告诉笔者。今年上半年，“微拍堂村—山口村青田石雕电商示范基地”授牌仪式在山口镇举行，青田石雕产业保护和发展局携手杭州微拍堂文化创意有限公司共同向山口镇授牌，全国首个“微拍堂村”在青田山口镇诞生。

        “微拍堂的兴起，帮助许多石雕从业人员找到了新的移动互联网创业模式，村民的生活也不断滋润起来。如今，外出打工的人越来越少，在微拍堂上开店铺的人则越来越多。”青田政通石雕文化发展有限公司董事长张昆荣介绍，截至2018年10月底，入驻微拍堂的青田石雕商家已达3280家，交易总额突破10235万元，在线活跃客户达3000万人。

        “目前，青田有石雕生产经营企业1300多家，其中规模以上企业14家，亿元企业5家，年总产值30亿元。2018年9月，以石雕文化为核心的青田‘文化侨乡’产业发展项目，入围浙江文化产业发展专项资金扶持名单，将连续3年享受专项扶持。”青田县副县长何健说。

Simply Stunning Qingtian Stone Carving

Qingtian is the birthplace of Yang Zhonggui, a writer and specialist in the stone carving tradition of Qingtian. “Qingtian has been densely-populated for most of its long history. The county’s long-time geographical isolation from the rest of the province and the country made the local culture and language very distinct, and as a result, fostered a unique emigrant tradition that started about 300 years ago. Many locals left their native land to make a better life, earning their first pot of gold by peddling “Qingtian stones” in foreign lands and seeing their entrepreneurial dream come true.”

It is no exaggeration to say the “Qingtian stone” is the cornerstone of the success stories of generations of Qingtiannese whose presence adds color and variety to their adopted countries and forever graces their hometown.

In the “information age” as it is today, culture serves as a most effective communication outlet. Ranking among “China’s top four seal-making stones”, Qingtian Stone has long served as the calling card of the fine-quality art and culture of Qingtian, and boasts a well-established reputation among a truly global clientele. The beauty of Qingtian Stone has been shared at trade shows in the world’s most famous cities, such as Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, Madrid and Stockholm.

“Generations of stone-carving masters from Qingtian have contributed to the unique traits of this craftsmanship, through which the cultural magnificence of China can be better understood and appreciated by the world audience,” Dr Kevin Murray, Senior Vice-President of the World Crafts Council-Asia Pacific Region (WCC-APR) that forms the largest and most active part of the World Crafts Council (WCC), marveled at the stunning artistry from Qingtian at the “Belt-and-Road” Qingtian Stone-carving Fair held in Qingtian on December 13, 2018.

“I hope to see more communication and cooperation between the stone-carving artists from Qingtian and WCC in future,” said Kevin Murray at the fair.

“The stone-carving tradition of Qingtian dates back more than 1,700 years ago, serving as the ideal epitome of what is known as the ‘Qingtian spirit’, and has been continuously enriched by the evolution of times. It is also a tangible embodiment of the enormous cultural significance of the implementation of ‘Belt-and-Road’ strategy initiated by China, and a cultural seeder that fosters international friendship.” In the eye of Wu Feifei, a member of the County Party Committee and Director of the Information Office of Qingtian, the time-tested craft is a perfect illustration of Chinese people’s relentless pursuit of an artsy lifestyle by incorporating art into everyday life and using the basic materials created by Mother Nature.

Stone carving works by artisans from Qingtian were used as a tribute in the Qing times of China. The Palace Museum in Beijing hosts a fine collection of 60 seal masterpieces made of Qingtian Stone. The glory of the craft made its full-scale comeback in the 1950s, thanks to the country’s determined action to salvage folk handicrafts from sinking into oblivion. The 1980s saw the craft thrive and blossom into a developmental peak that not only maintains its aesthetic traits and specialization but also meets the demands of a market-oriented society.

Rated as one of the “top 10 traditional industries in Zhejiang”, the craftsmanship ranks among China’s first legion of national-level cultural heritages. The past four decades saw the renaissance of Qingtian stone-carving based on all-round support from the local government and the timely launch of the Qingtian Stone-carving Industrial Protection and Promotion Bureau at the beginning of the 21st century. A cycle of activities designed to promote Qingtian Stone-carving to a wider audience and prepare the craft as one of the candidates for the selection of the “National Stone” sent ripples throughout the arts and crafts stage of China.

Zhang Xujun, based in Banshi, Shankou Town, is one of the beneficiaries of the “stony” legacy of Qingtian. His sales team achieved more than 4,000,000 yuan in the year 2018 alone. His stone-carving products have garnered a steady clientele of some 10,000 people on WeChat.

Shankou Town hosts the Qingtian Stone-carving E-commerce Base, also known as “Wei Pai Tang”, the country’s first one of its kind. “Through this platform many people seeking new outlets in the resurgent stone-carving industry found a new entrepreneurial mode that is more flexible and cost-efficient. The e-commerce platform, operated jointly by the Qingtian government and Hangzhou Weipaitang Cultural Development Co., Ltd to exclusively boost the trading of traditional Chinese arts and crafts, now hosts as many as 3,280 online shops run by Qingtianese who quit their migrant jobs in big cities for new business opportunities back at home.”

According to Zhang Kunrong, President of the company based in Hangzhou, the transaction value on this e-auctioning platform topped 102,350,000 yuan at the end of October, 2018, with the total number of active users reaching 30 million.

According to He Jian, Deputy County Chief, more than 1,300 enterprises are contributing to the bustling stone-carving industrial scene of Qingtian, among which there are 14 large-scale companies and five companies with a total annual output revenue toping three billion yuan.

“The county’s cultural ‘Renaissance’ based on the rebirth of stone-carving will also receive an annual financial support of 10 million yuan from the provincial government for three consecutive years,” He reveals.