Daomu Biji: A Thousand Faces

Let me talk about an amazing industry around me.

In ancient times, the mask industry was called Yirongshu (1). Oftentimes, masks aren’t as good as what we imagined or what we’ve see on TV. They use real human skin that peels off the face. Most of the time, this is done by using a material that mimics the texture of human skin. It’s applied to key parts of the face to change one’s appearance. According to the theories, women are better at performing this technique than men because they’re better at recognizing facial structures. For instance, in our daily lives, men may look at some women and think they're not wearing any makeup, but women can tell right away that they are. Of course, I haven't read any publications about this, so I can't verify whether it’s true or not.

There are currently two mask-making systems, and I have come into contact with both of them. Ah Tou, one of my masters, was the girl who put Uncle Three’s mask on me before. She has a profound artistic background and deploys a lot of modern materials and makeup techniques when making masks. The Zhang family's system, on the other hand, completely sticks to the old traditions without any new advancements. I never asked whether the so-called human skin masks were actually made of real human skin back in the old days, but only the Zhangs know the formula to create the special materials they need. I created my own system by using flour or Fujian-style dumpling filling to make temporary masks, but their lifespan depends on the weather and how sweaty I am. 

I suppose the two systems have the same origin. The story of how Ah Tou learned this technique can be very long. She said that she had heard that the first master started this business near the border. In the beginning, the master went to the Mogao Caves (2) to fix the caves and build Buddhist statues for the rich. The rich had an unwritten rule that the Buddhist statues’ faces would resemble them. The master gradually showed his talent for making faces. Since there weren't many materials available to make the moulds at that time, he started using paper effigy (3) moulds. After that, human skin masks gradually started to emerge. Later, one of his relatives committed a crime and needed to escape. He took the risk and made a paper mask for them, enabling them to successfully escape. Afterwards, this master's reputation grew. He stopped making statues and focused on the skin mask business, which helped criminals flee the country. With further improvement on the materials, it became a specialized industry.

At that time, this skill was only passed on to other people, not to one’s own family. It couldn’t be handed down because two consecutive generations wouldn’t be able to do it for a living. It was thought that people in this industry were so short-lived because King Yama of Hell always received the wrong people and ended up blaming them for it. Personally, I think it’s because the chance of being murdered in this business is too high, so many people come to bad ends. 

The Zhang family's skin masks utilized an ancient method, while Ah Tou’s technique was improved by many people over time. This technology was later whitewashed in cosmetic surgeries and forensic medicine. It had now become a very professional interdisciplinary practice involving art, anatomy, medicine, material science, and even facial recognition.

There’s a subgenre in the Zhang family’s system that needs to be mentioned. It’s the one in Zhang Haiqi’s South Sea Archives that’s known as the “dirty face tradition”. When the South Sea Archives executed operations, assassinations, or raids, everyone wore a mask that they designed themselves. Different from real human skin masks that functioned as a disguise, these dirty faces were only used to cover the face and intimidate the opponent. I collected one such mask from the South Sea. These kinds of masks are very well made and usually derive from the most terrifying image that the mask maker can come up with. The purpose is to intimidate the opponent from the very beginning, so a dirty face is incredibly scary. Zhang Haiyan's dirty face resembles a snake and is so realistic that it almost looks like a person with a snake head. Zhang Haiyan also collected many dirty faces from other people. There’s one of a bird that impresses me the most, but I’m not sure who made it. It was from this mask that I understood the beauty of fine art. It turns out that a bird's face appears completely different to a person afraid of birds than it does to normal people. That face is so scary that it makes one’s hair stand on end.

So, fear comes from the heart rather than reality. Our brains will shape a lot of things in such a way that it appears scarier and more sinister than what we’re actually seeing. 

Zhang Qiling also has a dirty face that Zhang Haiyan made for him. I heard that the mask doesn’t have any facial features and almost looks like a black hole. Zhang Haiyan said only Hundun (4) is befitting of the Patriarch, but I’ve never seen him wear it. To me, Zhang Qiling's dirty face is that Bald Zhang (5). He was probably more afraid of hair loss.

Dirty faces have the aesthetics of folk customs, are exquisitely made, and also have practical value. Thus, they are very precious works of art. It takes a long time to make a dirty face; sometimes as long as a lifetime. Dirty faces are very complex and are constantly being improved and repaired. Some people use multiple dirty faces throughout their lives, even going so far as to match different colored ones to their clothes. I was fascinated by this type of mask for a while.

The next time I have the opportunity, I’ll do an in-depth data collection in this field and gather a thousand stories associated with masks. Some will relate to human skin masks and some will relate to dirty faces. I’ll collectively call them—A Thousand Faces.

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TN Notes:

(1) Yirongshu= technique to change one’s appearance

(2) An extremely famous historical site in northern China. It’s a cave dug out in 366 A.D. as a place for Buddhist meditation and worship. More info here.

(3) Paper dolls used to represent deceased ones during a funeral

(4) Both a "legendary faceless being" in Chinese mythology and the "primordial and central chaos" in Chinese cosmogony, comparable with the world egg. More info here.

(5) He’s talking about Poker-Face pretending to be Consultant Zhang in Vol 2 “Angry Sea, Hidden Sands”