The term ''Hubi'' is dedicated to the Huzhou ink brush (

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...

: 湖筆;

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...

: 湖笔;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: Húbǐ; "Hú" stands for '' Huzhou'', "''Bǐ''" meaning "

ink brush Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. ...

").

Name

The ink brushes are produced in Huzhou ( 湖州) of Zhejiang Province, China. Historically, the

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the on ...

s of ink brushes were congregated in ''Wuxin'' (Traditional Chinese: 吳興; Simplified Chinese: 吴兴; Pinyin: Wú Xìng), currently

Wuxing District Wuxing District () is the central district of the prefecture-level city of Huzhou, Zhejiang, China. Administrative divisions As of 2020, Wuxing District has 13 Subdistricts and 5 Towns and 1 Townships under its administration. Wuxing District's ...

of Huzhou. So it's also named ''Wuxing Hubi'' (Traditional Chinese: 吳興湖筆; Simplified Chinese: 吴兴湖笔; Pinyin: Wúxìng Húbǐ).

History

Huzhou has a long history of manufacturing

es, and it can be traced back to

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

. Huzhou's ink brush production and manufacture gained prominence in the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

(13th century). Now Huzhou is known as the "''Hometown of Ink Brush''". Huzhou also holds annual "Huzhou Ink Brush Festival", and the

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

also has some memorial activities dedicated to

Meng Tian Meng Tian (c. 250 BC – 210 BC) was a Chinese inventor and military general of the Qin dynasty who distinguished himself in campaigns against the Xiongnu and in the construction of the Great Wall of China. He was the elder brother of Meng Yi. ...

- the inventor of ink brush pen.

Famous ink brush makers

There are several famous craftsmen in history from Huzhou, the early big five were: * Tang Jianchi () * Yao Zhenxing () * Zhong Weijin () * Chen Yunqin () * Fei Sanduo ()

Workshop

The most famous brush pen workshop in Huzhou could be the ''Shanlian'' (Traditional Chinese: 善璉; Simplified Chinese: 善琏; Pinyin: Shàn Liǎn), and its brush pens are named ''Shanlian Hubi'' (Traditional Chinese: 善璉湖筆; Simplified Chinese: 善琏湖笔; Pinyin: Shànliǎn Húbǐ). Shanlian is also a local place name, whose ancient name was ''Mengxi'' (蒙溪, literally means "the creek of

").

made brush pens there.《歸安雜錄》：“善璉古稱蒙溪。相傳秦始皇東巡稽(今紹興)、郵拳(今嘉興)，命護駕大將蒙恬屯兵遊城，鎮搞吳越。蒙納蔔夫人，隨征塞上。蔔夫人，宇香蓮、賢而慧，取羊毛、兔毫制筆、書於帛，仕尉皆頌其才。後蒙恬遇難，夫人攜幼子穎，由門蔔遷，沈且伴歸故裏隱居，授鄉民以制筆三技。

漢武帝 Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally posthumous name, enshrined as Emperor Wu the filial piety, Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty of imperi ...

時縊封蒙恬，立祠以祭，稱其地為蒙溪。”

References

* ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...

'': ''The Biography of

'' (《史記· 蒙恬列傳》)

External links