Resurrecting the art of China's dragon scale bookbinding

August 14, 2020 6:10 PM

At his studio in Beijing, artist Zhang Xiaodong layers hundreds of sheets of thin paper on top of one another until they form a complete and impeccable image. When the chapters of his elaborate books are unfolded, the pages move like the bellows of an accordion. This ancient Chinese art, known as dragon scale bookbinding [CNN], stretches back more than 1,000 years to the Tang dynasty. Passed down between generations of royals and literate upper class families, the finished works were thought to resemble dragons, each page appearing like a "scale." Video | More examples
posted by Johnny Wallflower (7 comments total)

There is nothing more sublime than a book. A tangible book. From the outside, each book is a small, delineated object that you can hold. On the inside a book can hold an entire world. These books are magical. I would love to be to touch one and turn the pages. Thank you.
posted by njohnson23 at 7:03 PM on August 14, 2020 [1 favorite]

A few things to note about the video:

1. The video's editing is a little erratic and has many jump cuts. It also has animated text in between certain shots that unfolds like the books being discussed. These two things made it difficult for me to watch the video without getting nauseous or dizzy, especially when trying to view on mobile.

2. Since the video is hosted on CNN, there were ads before it starts. The ones I saw were about animal cruelty in factory farms being the cause of the next pandemic (or something.) It was disturbing and unexpected. I could not skip the ad like you sometimes can with videos on other sites.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 8:51 PM on August 14, 2020 [3 favorites]

I still am having a hard time really envisioning what this really look like.
If you scroll down to the slideshow or even more to the last picture, it shows the one called Dream of the Red Chamber which is a good example. This seems similar to fore edge paintings.
posted by soelo at 10:31 PM on August 14, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is both fascinating and frustrating - I want more technical details on how it works! Really interesting!
posted by leslies at 7:01 AM on August 15, 2020

Wow, too cool, I know this guy! Met him a few times through a mutual contact, and have seen first hand a presentation of a few of these incredible books. Picture 1/7 "Dream of the Red Chamber", I distinctly remember that one. Amazing and beautiful stuff. He is a youngish guy, too, so still many years of this excellent art forthcoming!
posted by Meatbomb at 7:41 AM on August 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

It really is an intersection of book / art / puzzle... incredible in the level of detail and craftsmanship. I cannot give much specifics of the functioning other than, everything seemed so perfect and we just stood there jaws gaping in awe. No touching, he showed everything with that fancy book turning stick you can see in the photos. Really this is too delicate for anything other than a museum or similar. I do not know Chinese, but the way they explained it the pictures and text were intricately linked and as the images shifted that was represented by the text as well...
posted by Meatbomb at 7:52 AM on August 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

The video really got me feeling more and more edgy as it went on. I can enjoy seeing some process before the finished reveal but this just seemed to move in circles and I never got a real sense of how the steps played into the construction.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:11 AM on August 16, 2020 [1 favorite]