想把东阳的“神工鬼斧”带回家乡

周丰

2018年10月，刚果（布）青年童小东（本名Onanga-Jolga Gedean）前往东阳广厦建设职业技术大学“雕刻艺术与设计国际班”学习木雕技艺，和其他20名同学在万里之遥的东阳开启一段全新的人生旅程。这是浙江省首次在木雕艺术方面招收外国留学生，旨在为浙江与非洲国家之间的非遗文化教育交流拓展新领域。

这个24岁的异国人既会入乡随俗地骑着小电驴在夜市街头撸串，也常常前往珍藏木雕精品的景点研究学习。目前已掌握了工具整理、图案设计、基础雕刻等技能，未来想利用学到的本领雕刻本国文化，成为中非文化友好的桥梁。

“我最喜欢看《白蛇传》，最喜欢听《心太软》。”1米84的个子，一口略微生硬的中文，聊起影視剧会开心地合不拢嘴……“外表阳光，内心‘苦情’”，这是童小东给记者留下的第一印象。

虽然在2018年以前从没来过中国，但童小东一直对这个国家充满好奇。“在刚果（布），有许多中国人帮助我的国家做了不少事，所以我很想来中国看看。”

初来乍到，童小东的首要任务是学习语言。难以琢磨的语法、大同小异的汉字、容易懵圈的声调……对于大多数刚接触中文的外国人来说都是难点。花费一年学习汉语预科的童小东也深有体会，光是如何辨别声调就让他十分头疼，特别是一词多音、多意。“ā、á、ǎ、à......刚开始感觉整个人都不好了！”

在中国结对同学的帮助下，童小东成功通过汉语水平三级考试，还熟悉了不少刀具、刻法的专业词汇。随着友情加深，中国同学还用自己的姓氏为他取了中文名——童小东，里面饱含真切的祝福。

每逢周末，童小东和同学都会骑上“小电驴”，前往周边夜市、景点和乡村购物游玩。“嘿！老板，今天请给我们来五串烤肉，嗯……再加份炒饭吧！”对于曾以木薯为主食的留学生们来说，在振兴路的夜市上逛街撸串，这种体验让他们倍感新鲜。

在东岘峰公园附近，留学生们还会结伴在山间游步道上跑步，山脚下漂亮的房屋、充满文艺范的礼堂，让他们感觉走进了一幅画。“希望将来，我的家乡也能发展得这么好。”童小东说。

在学校运动会上，留学生代表队为现场增添了一道亮丽的风景线，部分留学生还取得了好成绩。

只要有时间，童小东还会前往浙江各地，领略独特的风土人情。

2019年春节，他应邀前往宁海的结对同学家。在那里，他受到朋友和家人的热情款待。贴春联、挂中国结、拜新年……亲朋之间互致问候的温馨氛围，令他倍感温暖。“他们邀请我围坐在一起吃饭、聊天，感觉就和在自己家里一样轻松愉快。”其间，中国同学还带着童小东出门拜年、逛庙会、购年货、看表演。在前童古镇，除了陶醉于古色古香的明清古宅，“前童三宝”、芝麻糖、麦饼也让他回味无穷。

2019年暑期，木雕班在嵊州走访，一碗炒年糕彻底征服了童小东的胃。“里面还有蛋、肉和豆腐，味道很美！”在嵊州，能迅速勾起食欲的还有一屉薄皮多汁的小笼包，他觉得这是开启新一天的最好选择。

学习之余，看电视剧是童小东最爱的娱乐节目之一。

虐心催泪的《白蛇传》，让童小东印象深刻。在看过92年版的《新白娘子传奇》后，白娘子对许仙忠贞的感情，让他深受感动，一直希望有机会能去杭州雷峰塔走走。当得知饰演许仙的叶童是女性时，童小东觉得颇为新鲜：“我第一次发现，女性原来也可以演男主角，还能演得这么好，太神奇了。”

“在我的家乡，木雕是一门古老的手艺。”来到东阳后，童小东发现，相比粗放、夸张、动感强烈的非洲木雕，中国的木雕在造型和内容上更加丰富，雕琢技艺也精巧得多。他觉得，两者都表达了人们对生活的热爱。

学习木雕前，童小东特意去参观中国木雕博物馆、木雕小镇、卢宅等地，还拜访了木雕大师的工作室，了解东阳木雕背后的文化。在博物馆，他惊讶地发现了来自非洲的木雕：“中国人不仅重视自己的传统艺术，还在保护着整个世界的木雕文化。”2020年国庆期间，他和同学相约卢宅，行走在建于600年前的古建筑群里，精致华美的木雕杰作令他难以置信：“和国王住的地方没什么两样！”

从整理工具，到学会设计、取料，再到雕琢基础的回纹、花卉、山水……经过一年多的学习，东阳木雕的技艺逐渐在童小东面前揭开了神秘面纱。

“刚开始既新鲜又感觉很难，像一朵梅花，需要刻很多次才只能出一个轮廓。”面对记者，童小东微笑着停顿了两秒，“除了技术，耐心太重要了。”在他的手指上，记者发现了一些细微的伤痕，记录着重复而枯燥地打磨基本功的每个日夜。

为了调整情绪，童小东有时会在上课前和班主任杜飞栋开玩笑：“老师，今天上课内容是继续磨刀吗？我好像迟到了，会扣分吧？”没等老师反应，童小东又笑着认真抢答：“没错，我们继续磨刀！你说对了，要扣分！”

“小东很有天分。”在杜老师眼里，这名“洋弟子”的性格开朗，求知欲强，知识点理解也很到位。

有一段时间，杜老师让学生们试着了解山水雕刻技法。

刚拿到图纸时，童小东有些发愣：高低起伏的山，要怎么表现立体感？

杜老师指了指图案的高点：“小东，你可以先理解图纸上的内容，了解山川的远近层次，再根据形状来构思如何运刀表现纹路的深浅。”

刚开始制作时，童小东非常担心雕错后无法挽回整幅图案，没过几分钟就满头大汗。杜老师看出了他的心思，鼓励他要胆大心细。“下定决心了就去做，心中一定要有数。拿刀要直，手握刀要紧。下手沉稳，推刀才会准确，才能一刀一刀地刻下去。”

刀口在木头上转折、顿挫、用力平推……遵循着杜老师的教导，童小东每天都重复着这一系列动作，慢慢地掌握了如何熟练规律地运用刀法。

“这里的木雕需要十几道工序才能完成，这种复杂工艺在我的国家并不多见。”位于非洲中西部的刚果（布）林业发达，文化深厚，如何把家乡文化通过东阳木雕技艺生动创新地表现，是童小东的目标。“在家乡，除了母亲河刚果河，还有一座著名的大桥（la corniche）和一座著名的教堂（baselic sainte anne），未来我希望将三者结合，创造出展示我们国家风采的木雕。特别是那座大桥，我想把它雕刻成连接中非文化友好的桥梁。”

（《錢江晚报》“相聚浙里”为本栏目提供支持，图片由受访人提供。）

Dongyang Woodcarving： Bridge of Friendship

By Zhou Feng

In October 2018， Onanga Jolga Gedeon， a 24-year-old Congo lad， went all the way to take a training course of woodcarving in Dongyang city， Zhejiang province， where he and 20 other students were about to start a new chapter in their life. That was also the first time in Zhejiang that woodcarving training cources had been opened to international students.

Now Onanga often eats late-night street barbecue as Chinese locals do， and visits scenic spots where he can study the collection of woodcarving art pieces. Having mastered some basic techniques already， this 6-feet-tall Mr. Sunshine dreams about interpreting his local culture through his own piece of woodcarving one day and becoming a bridge of culture and friendship between China and Africa.

Although he has never been to China before 2018， Onanga has always been curious about this country. “In the Republic of Congo， many Chinese have helped my country do a lot of things， so I really want to go to China.”

As a newcomer， he had to learn Chinese first. However， just like most foreigners， he found the language quite difficult even after taking a one-year preparatory course. How to distinguish tones alone has given him the biggest headache.

Thanks to the help of his Chinese language partner， Onanga successfully passed the Chinese Proficiency Level 3 exam last year and also grew familiar with a lot of professional words related to knives and engraving. His Chinese partner also gave Onanga a Chinese name， Tong Xiaodong， after his own family name （Tong）， as the two of them getting closer.

On the weekends， Tong Xiaodong and his classmates always go sight-seeing and shopping in the surrounding night markets and tourist attractions on their electric motorcycles. “Could we have five skewers of barbecued pork ... and a fried rice， please？" For the international students who used to have cassava as their staple food， eating barbecues in the night market on Zhenxing Road is quite a new experience. So is the view near Donghyeonbong Park， where they have been really impressed by the beautiful houses at the foot of the mountains and the artistic auditorium when jogging on the trails.” I hope that in the future， my hometown will turn out just like this，" Tong Xiaodong said.

He always travels to different parts of Zhejiang to experience local customs and traditions whenever he has time. In the Spring Festival in 2019， he was invited to come to the house of his Chinese partner in Ninghai county， Ningbo city. There， he was warmly welcomed by the host family and his friends. Everyone in the house was busy posting spring couplets， hanging Chinese knots and giving New Year’s greetings to each other， which made him feel so warm. “They invited me to sit with them， eating dinner， chatting ... and I felt as relaxed and happy as if I were in my own home.” During the period， the family also took Tong Xiaodong out with them to visit the temple fair， go holiday shopping and watch festival performances. In the ancient town of Qiantong， he was not only enchanted by the ancient houses of the Ming （1368-1644） and Qing dynasties， but also attracted by the tasty sesame candies and wheat cakes.

During the summer of 2019， the woodcarving class took him to Shengzhou， another city in Zhejiang， and he enjoyed a bowl of local fried rice cakes， which he found amazing. “The rice cakes have egg， meat and tofu in it， and they taste really delicious！”

“In my hometown， woodcarving is an ancient craft.” After coming to Dongyang， Tong Xiaodong found that compared to the African style， which is less sophisticated， but seems more exaggerated and dynamic， the Chinese style is much richer in shape and content， and much more refined in terms of techniques. Yet both are able to express people’s love for life.

Before learning woodcarving， Tong Xiaodong took a special visit to the China Woodcarving Museum and some other sites to learn about the culture behind woodcarving. At the museum， he was surprised to find woodcarvings from Africa： “Chinese people not only value their own traditional art， they also preserve the world woodcarving culture as a whole.” During this year’s National Day holiday， he visited the Lu Residence together with his classmates. Walking around the ancient complex built 600 years ago， they were incredibly impressed by the exquisite and ornate masterpieces of woodcarving： “It’s no different from where the kings lived！”

From organizing tools， to designing and picking materials， and carving the basic patterns ... the skills of woodcarving gradually presented themselves in front of Tong Xiaodong， who has been learning to master them for over a year.

“At first it is both interesting and difficult ... like carving a plum blossom， you need to carve so many times before finally getting only an outline.” Tong Xiaodong smiled and paused for two seconds， “In addition to techniques， patience is also very important.” On his fingers there are some tiny scars， a faithful record of his loneliness every day and night.

“Xiaodong is very gifted，” according to Du Feidong， the instructor. His "foreign disciple" is cheerful， eager to learn， and has a good understanding of the craft.

For a while， Mr. Du has been asking the students to try to understand the technique of landscape carving. When first looking at the drawing， Tong Xiaodong was a bit confused： how to show the three-dimensional sense of the high and low mountains？

Mr. Du pointed to the high point of the pattern： “ Xiaodong， you may want to understand the drawing first， and then think about how to run the knife according to the shape to show the depth of the pattern.”

When he began to carve， Xiaodong was very worried that he would not be able to recover the whole pattern if he made a mistake， and within a few minutes he was sweating profusely. Seeing what was happening， Mr. Du encouraged him to be bold and careful at the same time. “When you make up your mind， just do it with a clear picture in mind. Hold the knife straight and tight， keep your hand steady， so that the knife can be pushed accurately. And remember， you do one cut at a time.”

Following the instructions of Mr. Du， Tong Xiaodong repeated this set of moves every day， and slowly mastered the knife-carving skills.

“The woodcarving here requires more than a dozen processes to complete， a complex craft not often seen in my country，” he said. Located in central and western Africa， the Republic of Congo has a developed forestry industry and a profound culture， and it is Tong Xiaodong’s goal to deliver his home culture vividly and innovatively through Dongyang woodcarving techniques. “In my hometown， besides the mother river Congo， there is a famous bridge （La Corniche） and a famous church （Sainte-Anne Basilica）. In the future I hope to combine the three to create woodcarvings that showcase our country’s style — especially the bridge， which I hope to turn into a bridge of culture and friendship connecting China and Africa.”