Collectors find beauty in the unusual in new leisure pastime
With economic development, stone appreciation has become a leisure pastime for an increasing number of people.
In Guizhou, which is abundant in unusual stones, stone gathering has gained popularity and resulted in an increasing number of collectors and museums featuring such stones.
Anshun alone has more than 80 museums of unusual stones of various sizes, and more than 1,200 stone collectors.
One such avid collectors is Jin Renyi, who has been collecting stones for more than three decades.
Jin, who is in his 60s, now has more than 3,000 pieces of unusual stone, including several hundred that are considered to be exquisite and unique, that are displayed in three museums in Guizhou and Beijing.
Jin's wife, son and daughter-in-law are also collectors of stones. Many other collectors of unusual stone in Guizhou, like Jin, have their collections displayed in a number of cities in China, including Beijing, Dalian and Zhengzhou, which has won increasing popularity for unusual Guizhou stone within China.
From Oct 29 through 31, the first Guizhou International Stone Material Expo will be held in Anshun.
A series of events is planned for the expo, including the first National Stone Sculpture and Carving Design Contest, an international forum on Guizhou's stone material industry and promotional activities for the industry.
"We hope the National Stone Sculpture and Carving Design Contest can promote the development of stone material related creative industries and offer inspiration for stone material enterprises, sculpture artists and stone lovers, and help discover artistic talents," said Zhang Guangpei, Party chief of the China Development Strategy Institute for Building Materials Industry.
Such a contest is also expected to promote the upgrading and innovation of Guizhou's stone materials industry, he said.
More than 160 stone works will be shown at the contest, which are from China's main sculpture and stone carving production areas in addition to Guizhou, including Huian in Fujian province, Yunfu in Guangdong province, Quyang in Hebei province, Fangshan in Beijing and Dazu in Chonqing, Zhang said.
The organizing committee of the contest has invited experts from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and masters of stone sculpture and design to select and rank the entries.
Visitors will have the opportunity to buy some of the works on display during the contest after negotiating with their designers. The works will also be displayed on the contest website.
Contact the writers at yangjun@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 10/27/2015 page22)
