"Wood Gold " is born in Qiongzhou

Hainan Huanghuali art. Photo by Hainan Daily reporter Zhang Mao.

Huanghuali is a special kind of material, but also a good medicine, because of its unique aesthetic value, it has become a treasure of ancient and modern scholars to explore, collect and enjoy. In particular, Hainan Huanghuali is known as "Wood Gold" in the literary circle, which shows its preciousness.

In fact, Hainan is not the only place in the world to grow Huanghuali, but the industry recognizes that Hainan Island produces Huanghuali with the best quality. This is because Hainan is the only tropical island province in China, with abundant sunshine and rainfall, so that the soil full of reiki can give birth to the "inch of wood inch of gold" Huanghuali.

It comes from the gold weft

According to the description of "Flora of China" and other monographs, Hainan Huanghuali is a unique plant in Hainan Province, and is a national second-class key protected wild plant, and was selected as a provincial tree of Hainan Province in 2013. China's Guangxi and Guangdong regions and parts of Vietnam also have Huanghuali production, but no matter the wood, texture, or oil content, it is inferior to Hainan Huanghuali.

Why is that? As the ancients said: Oranges grown south of the Huai River are true oranges; once transplanted to the north of the river, they become trifoliate oranges. Although they resemble in the shape of leaves, yet they differ widely in taste.Why? Water and soil are different.

Hainan has a unique tropical climate with distinct dry and wet seasons. The dry season is short of water, and the wet season rainfall is concentrated, often accompanied by powerful rainstorms and typhoons. Moreover, Hainan Island is high in the middle and low around, with granite formations and rich soil humus content. The alternating climate and growing environment of drought and flood are very suitable for the growth of Huanghuali in Hainan.

The wood characters and quality of Huanghuali in Hainan were different in different growing areas. The 19th parallel of North latitude, which crosses Hainan Island, is the "golden parallel" gifted by God. Exianling, Bawangling and Wuzhishan in the central and western part of Hainan Island are just distributed on this latitude line, and the high-quality Hainan Huanghuali is produced in these mountains.

In the eastern part of Hainan Island, there is plenty of rain and sunshine, and Hainan Huanghuali has a fast growth rate and soft texture. The western region is dry and less rain, the mountains are high and there are many stones, which is a harsh living environment for many woody plants, but it is precisely such geographical environment and climate conditions that create the extraordinary Huanghuali in Hainan.

The Hainan Huanghuali has beautiful shape, whirling branches and leaves, verdant green, but the growth process is relatively slow, which mainly refers to the growth cycle of the tree core material. Generally speaking, Huanghuali begins to form core material after 10 years of planting, and can form commercial material after 30 years. The older the tree, the larger the core material, the higher the value.

Hainan Huanghuali tree. Photo courtesy of Zhang Zhiyang.

The material is tough and soft like jade

Compared with other wood, the wood of Huanghuali is extremely stable, regardless of the cold and summer are not deformed, not cracking, not bending, there is a certain toughness, suitable for making a variety of special-shaped furniture, such as three curved legs, its curvature is very large, Huanghuali can be made, other wood is more difficult to do.

If we go back in history, the earliest use of Hainan Huanghuali wood should be Li ancestors. In the past, in the hands of Li people, Huanghuali was often made into farming tools, textile tools, woodworking tools, etc. All kinds of Huanghuali objects were widely used in production, life, sacrifice and so on.

Hainan Huanghuali was really sought after in the Ming Dynasty. The royal artisans of the Ming Dynasty loved the natural texture of Hainan Huanghuali very much. After repeatedly thinking and getting familiar with the wood, they designed and made Huanghuali furniture, which made Huanghuali furniture famous and became a representative of Ming style furniture, and also made Huanghuali crafts become a symbol of wealth and power in the upper society.

Hainan Huanghuali material is tough and fine, the texture is rich and colorful, and the feel is warm and smooth like jade, which promotes the development of mortise and tenon technology and the rise and prosperity of Ming style furniture. In many Hainan Huanghuali, if the quality of wood is measured, it is expensive to have a "grimace", whether there is a grimace and how many grimace lines are important evaluation factors.

Hainan natives divide Hainan Huanghuali into Youli and Kangli. Youli is mainly produced in the west of Hainan Island. Its core material has deep color, high density, strong oil and many grimaces. Kangli is mainly produced in the east and northeast of Hainan Island, with thick and straight trunk, light color of core material, straight texture, poor oil, low density and less grimaces.

The grimace pattern of Hainan Huanghuali is obviously different from the knot pattern of ordinary trees: the knot pattern of ordinary trees is regular to follow, but the grimace image is realistic and unpredictable; The knot of many trees is alive, it will fall out after loosening, and the grimace will not, it is flat and does not crack, which is conducive to the production of beautiful furniture.

For the grimace tree, the ancients once said, "a grimace tree is worth ten thousand gold," a word clearly its degree of popularity. Through the ages, many literati and poets have spent money and traveled thousands of miles to seek "a grimace tree". People dream of it, and they're lucky if they get it. (Reporter Qiu Jianghua)