The "Dongguan Craftsman", Du Zhiliang

He is the designer of Shilong matches' packaging; he devised classic packaging for Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical; he is also proficient in seal cutting and traditional Chinese painting. Today, he will show us the charm of fan painting. He is the "Dongguan Craftsman", Du Zhiliang.

Du Zhiliang, a native of Dongguan, Guangdong, learned painting from Mr Hu Yuji, a famous painter of Lingnan style. When he was a teenager, he had mentoring from masters such as Li Xiongcai. He later was admitted to an art academy for further studies, which helped him develop a deep understanding of shapes and colours. His seal cutting apprenticeship was under Deng Zujie, a famous sealer of Dongguan, and he received guidance from Huang Wenkuan and Yu Zheng, passing on the Zhejiang style. Du also loves collecting and appreciating calligraphy and painting. He is currently a member of Guangdong Calligraphers Association, Dongguan Artists Association, Dongguan Chinese Painting Institute, Director of Dongguan Collectors Association, and Chairman of Shilong Collectors Association.

Winning huge orders with design, classic design that has been passed down to this day

In Dongguan, matches used to be a must-have item for every household. The stickers on the matchboxes were called "sparks". Du was once engaged in design work at the Shilong Printing Factory and was one of the designers of the Shilong sparks. Every once in a while, he needed to design new sparks for the match factory. After five years of service, he designed many different styles, and each has an individual character.

In addition to sparks, Du also designed the packaging of Zhongshengwan, which is still used today. When talking about it, Du was quite proud of himself. At that time, Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical was very satisfied with Du's design and immediately drafted a contract worth 1 million RMB. When Du brought the contract back, the factory manager could not hide his excitement. Du can still vividly recall the scene, "one million was a huge sum of money in those days!" he explained.

Except for the classic packaging of Zhongshengwan, Du also designed the trademark and packaging of various products for Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical. With the changes of the times, the printing technology is being updated, but the design patterns have been in use ever since and eventually become classics.