Tian Xianmin

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Tian Xianmin, Male, Han, from Ruichang, Jiangxi, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Bamboo Weaving (Ⅶ-51). The tradition is documented in Ruichang, Jiangxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Bamboo Weaving in Ruichang, Jiangxi: Ruichang bamboo weaving techniques have a long history: in the locality’s Shang and Zhou dynasty ancient copper-mining smelting sites, bamboo baskets used to transport ore were once excavated intact. In the Ruichang area, bamboo weaving is needed everywhere at all times; the technique is closely bound up with people’s lives. Ruichang bamboo weaving is found in the area of Ruichang City, Jiangxi Province. The locality has more than sixty thousand mu of mountain bamboo, with nearly ten varieties—including mao bamboo, jin bamboo, and water bamboo—available for selection as materials. Weaving is practiced mainly in family workshops and craft factories; the Ruichang Nanyi Bamboo Weaving Craft Factory, jointly established in 1981, has long undertaken export supply tasks, and its newly created modern bamboo-woven horticultural products are exported to Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in November 1951 in Ruichang, Jiangxi Province. After graduating from junior middle school in 1966 he became a pupil of Song Zengli and learned bamboo weaving, thereafter making woven goods while farming. Through long practice he has come to master all the techniques of Ruichang bamboo weaving; his works are handsome in form, finely made, strong and durable. In 1981 he co-founded the Ruichang Nanyi Bamboo Weaving Craft Factory and is now its director. The factory has been cited as an advanced unit supplying export products for the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Foreign Trade. Its newly developed modern bamboo-weaving garden products are exported to Western Europe, Southeast Asia and other regions. Over the years he has held training courses to pass on the craft, reaching more than a hundred people. His personally taught disciples include Lei Baohong, Zhou Hui and Tian Xuemei. Within the documented technical tradition of Bamboo Weaving in Ruichang, Jiangxi: Ruichang lies in the north-northwest of Jiangxi Province, on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It has more than sixty thousand mu of mountain bamboo, including nearly ten varieties such as mao bamboo, jin bamboo, and water bamboo. Ruichang bamboo weaving has complex process steps and high, demanding weaving requirements; moreover, with its numerous varieties, the related weaving work is very difficult to replace with modern machine production. The main products of Ruichang bamboo weaving include beds, tables, chairs, stools, cabinets, winnowing baskets, rice sieves, dou (bamboo carrying baskets), and cool mats; in recent years more than one hundred new varieties have been developed, including flowerpots, flower baskets, chickens, ducks, turtles, fruit boxes, birds and animals, and gift boxes. These bamboo-woven products are fine and exquisite, beautiful and practical—all of them rare craft treasures. On the other hand, Ruichang bamboo weaving techniques are complex and somewhat difficult to master, so young people are mostly unwilling to learn and inherit them, while the older craftsmen are growing old and many can no longer continue working. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Working Procedures": Ruichang bamboo weaving has complex process steps and high, demanding weaving requirements; moreover, with its numerous varieties, the related weaving work is very difficult to replace with modern machine production. "Bamboo baskets from the bronze-mine site": Complete bamboo baskets for carrying ore were unearthed at the local Shang-Zhou bronze-mining site, and bamboo wares still serve daily life there. "Song Zengli and Tian Xianmin": Song Zengli's first basket of 1937 still survives; his pupil Tian Xianmin, born in 1951, now trains more than a hundred apprentices.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He is a representative bearer of Bamboo Weaving (Ruichang Bamboo Weaving), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His works have been entered in bamboo-industry expos and other events and have won awards.

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. Tian Xianmin · National Representative Bearer Archive