Making Skills of Caosugong Inkstick

In 1667 (the sixth year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, Qing Dynasty), Caosugong founded the Caosugong inkstick store at Yansi Town, She Country, Anhui Province. Its inkstick-making process includes soot refining, material stirring, ink hammering, ink carving, drying, painting in gold, etc. It has been passed on for thirteen generations, stretching for more than 300 years.

In 1864 (during the reign of Emperor Tongzhi), the Caosugong inkstick store relocated from Suzhou to Shanghai. Influenced by its metropolis settings and local culture, Caosugong inkstick-making skills began innovating and developed into a localized Shanghai style of inkstick-making skills. Since the ninth great-grandchild Cao Duanyou, the store began to make inksticks after finalizing it with Shanghai's famous artists in calligraphy and painting, who started to participate in graphic design. As ink carving became a form of creating derivative artistic works, its art style synchronized with that of Shanghai's calligraphy and painting, thus having the Huizhou inkstick in Shanghai style come into being, complementing each other. In 1958, inkstick-making brands in Shanghai such as Hukaiwen, Zhandayou and Zhaermiaotang, all consolidated into Caosugong, which later represented the contemporary "Huizhou inkstick in Shanghai style".

Making Skills of Caosugong Inkstick are a precious intangible cultural heritage, but the number of consumers in the inkstick market is gradually declining due to the lack of experienced artisans, their successors and raw material supply, the damage and corrosion of production tools (especially old ink from the Ming and Qing Dynasties). Making Skills of Caosugong Inkstick are in danger of being lost, and the existing rare ink from the Ming and Qing Dynasties are now eagerly awaiting to be salvaged and preserved.