Song Shuya

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He was born into a family of xiabu (grass linen) weavers; from his grandfather's time the family has been engaged in the production and sale of xiabu for five generations. At the age of ten he began learning simple xiabu weaving techniques from his father. Between 1964 and 1974, under the instruction of his father and other masters of the older generation, he acquired a comprehensive and proficient command of xiabu weaving. Within the regional tradition and school record of Xiabu Weaving Craftsmanship in Wanzai, Jiangxi: Wanzai xiabu is divided into four types by specification, five grades by quality, and five classes by rank. Xiabu (grass cloth) production can be traced back to the late Eastern Jin; in the Tang dynasty xiabu was listed as tribute, and the xiabu produced in Wanzai, Jiangxi, and Rongchang, Sichuan, are the principal representatives. Wanzai xiabu is typical of Jiangxi's traditional handmade cloth; it originated in the Eastern Jin and has a history of more than 1,500 years to this day. Rongchang xiabu has a long history: in the Han dynasty it was called "Shu cloth"; in the Tang and Song dynasties it was "ban cloth" and "tong cloth", used mainly as tribute. In the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty it was produced as a commodity, and was later sold beyond the province and even as far as Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia, becoming a famous traditional handicraft of Rongchang.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1945 in Wanzai County, Jiangxi Province. Representative bearer of Xiabu Weaving Craftsmanship, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. A xiabu weaving technician. In 1988 he established the Shuangzhi Xiabu Factory himself and has since concurrently served as its director. In 2006 the China Education Television programme 'Civilisation, China' presented his consummate skills in a special feature entitled 'Wanzai Family Treasure: The Craft of Xiabu Making'. The factory has more than one hundred workers and produces more than two hundred kinds of products, which are exported to Japan, the Republic of Korea, France and other countries. He is devoted to transmitting and promoting xiabu weaving, teaching the craft to his children and grandchildren, to people in the surrounding area and to his employees. Within the documented technical tradition of Xiabu Weaving Craftsmanship in Wanzai, Jiangxi: Because the newly woven hemp yarn is round in cross-section, it is also called "round-yarn xiabu". Compared with the flat-yarn xiabu of other regions, its texture is better, the hemp finer, and it is more durable. This xiabu is of fine quality, with even, flat edges, uniform weaving, and a clear, elegant color; it is highly breathable, cool and sweat-wicking, does not wrinkle or deform, washes easily, and grows whiter with each washing; it is a purely handmade, purely eco-friendly product that causes no pollution to the human body or the environment. From ramie to xiabu, the entire production process divides mainly into three parts - ramie cultivation, raw material preparation, and xiabu making - comprising dozens of process steps. Wanzai xiabu can be used to make garments, bed curtains, and craft articles, and can also serve as a ground for inscribing poems and painting. Rongchang County lies in the west of Chongqing Municipality, and xiabu weaving is mainly distributed in Panlong Town of the county. Rongchang Panlong Town xiabu uses ramie as its raw material; the finished goods fall into three main categories: fine cloth, coarse cloth, and ribbed cloth. Its production process includes steps such as beating the hemp, winding hemp balls, winding hemp taro-like bundles, drawing the threads, threading the heddles, brushing on sizing, weaving, rinsing, shaping, and print-washing; the woven xiabu is fine and even, lustrous and smooth, and strong and durable. Owing to the nature of hemp, this cloth is easy to wash and quick to dry after wearing; it is simple and elegant, handsome and generous, cool and sweat-absorbing, and comfortable - a superior material for summer clothing. At present, machine-made synthetic cloth is increasingly common, while the ramie used as raw material for traditional xiabu is dwindling; profits from xiabu production are falling ever lower, and many people are unwilling to engage in this laborious handicraft, while the printing and dyeing techniques for xiabu also lack successors. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Archival record of process steps": From ramie to xiabu, the entire production process divides mainly into three parts - ramie cultivation, raw material preparation, and xiabu making - comprising dozens of process steps.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2009, Song Shuya was announced in the third batch of national representative bearers for Xiabu Weaving Craftsmanship, with Wanzai, Jiangxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Xiabu Weaving Craftsmanship in Wanzai, Jiangxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Wanzai, Jiangxi as its declared area, and Wanzai County Shuangzhixiabu Factory as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Song Shuya · National Representative Bearer Archive