The Chen Family: Three Generations of One Knife

The Workshop on the Lane

The Chen workshop has occupied the same lane-side room in Zhoushan since 1962. Three generations have carved at its benches, and the light on the worktable has changed only once — when fluorescent lamps replaced the old window arrangement in the nineties, then changed back.

The First Generation

Chen Guofan learned carving before it was respectable, in years when the craft survived quietly in private hands. His specialty was beasts — lions and qilin with manes undercut so deep they cast real shadows. His rule, still taped above the main bench: "Carve what the pit agrees to."

The Second Generation

His son Chen Ming expanded the workshop's range into narrative reliefs — scenes with depth and weather, scholars crossing bridges, markets in rain. He also formalized what had been oral: a written sequence of cuts that apprentices now learn from, rather than absorbing by years of watching.

The Third Generation

Chen Yuling, trained by both, has returned the workshop to its oldest subject with new eyes. Her beasts are leaner, stranger, drawn from pre-bronze mythology rather than temple iconography. Collectors describe her work as "ancient things imagined forward."

One Knife, Three Hands

The workshop's founding chisel — ground by Chen Guofan in his first year — is still used for finishing passes by whoever is carving that day. It has been re-ground so many times it is half its original size. The family regards this as the point: a tool, like a craft, endures by being used up.