Wang Qunying

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wang Qunying, Female, Han, from Daming, Hebei, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Straw Weaving (Ⅶ-54). The tradition is documented in Daming, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Straw Weaving in Daming, Hebei: China is rich in herbaceous plant resources, and both north and south have many raw materials suitable for knotting and weaving, so straw weaving exists in a great variety of types from place to place, each with its own local characteristics. Daming straw weaving uses wheat stalks as its material; before weaving, the stalks must go through processes such as selection, splitting into strips, soaking in water, and smoking to whiten them. Finished products fall into two lines: 'pinched braid' (qiabian) and 'woven pattern' (bianhua). Beyond straw hats and carrying baskets, the local craft has also developed about a thousand styles, including tea coasters, seat cushions, floor mats, door curtains, fruit boxes, wastebaskets, and wheat-straw appliqué pictures and appliqué boxes. It circulates mainly around Zhujia Village in Xifuji Township, east of the Wei River in Daming County, and was introduced from Yexian, Shandong, during the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty. From the 1840s onward, straw weaving began to be exported abroad. Since the mid-20th century, because it has met the needs of modern life, straw weaving has developed rapidly, with an ever-growing variety of patterns and designs. During the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty, straw weaving technique was introduced from Yexian, Shandong, into Zhujia Village in Xifuji Township, Daming County, and from there spread further to the area east of the Wei River, eventually circulating throughout Daming County. Before the 1980s, Daming straw weaving had already gained a certain influence across the county and the surrounding areas, but most of its products were kept for the weavers' own household use, and only some straw hats were sold on the market.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, of the Han ethnic group, born in June 1966 in Daming County, Hebei Province. From childhood she learned the traditional craft of straw weaving from her mother. For more than thirty years, building on tradition, she has combined straw weaving with modern artistic elements to create twelve series of straw-woven art, among them Peking opera masks, fashion, Chinese painting and screens, comprising several thousand designs with considerable practical, aesthetic and collectible value. She founded the Daming straw weaving workshop, where she takes on apprentices and passes on the craft and produces Daming straw-woven handicrafts, helping fifteen hundred farmers and laid-off workers to increase their incomes. For many years she has actively carried the Daming straw weaving craft into schools, and she has established transmission bases for it in a number of primary and secondary schools. Within the documented technical tradition of Straw Weaving in Daming, Hebei: Straw weaving is a traditional knotting and weaving handicraft that uses grasses and other herbaceous plants as its principal raw material. As one of the oldest crafts of humankind, knotting and weaving became an important means for the early people of China to make practical articles as far back as remote antiquity. Straw weaving techniques have circulated among the Chinese people for several thousand years and have been continually carried forward and developed in the process. Folk artisans across the country adapted their work to local conditions and to the qualities of their materials, making full use of the tough stalks, skins, pith, leaves, and roots of herbaceous plants, and creating and distilling a rich repertoire of weaving and knotting techniques — weaving, knotting, braiding, looping, binding, twisting, wrapping, netting, stringing, and coiling — making straw weaving an important source of everyday articles for the common people. Straw-woven products are mainly practical goods such as straw mats, straw curtains, straw cushions, straw baskets, straw fans, straw hats, and straw sandals, though some are ornamental pieces made for display. As a traditional handicraft very widespread among the Chinese people, straw weaving has a broad popular base and strong qualities of both practicality and artistry. Daming straw weaving is a traditional folk household knotting and weaving craft, popular in the area east of the Wei River in Daming County, Hebei Province. Daming straw weaving uses wheat stalks as its raw material, and its products are mainly straw hats and carrying baskets. After Daming County established a straw weaving factory, deep processing led to the development of about a thousand new products, including tote bags, tea coasters, seat cushions, floor mats, door curtains, fruit boxes, wastebaskets, and slippers, as well as wheat-straw appliqué pictures and appliqué boxes, which played a positive role in developing the local economy and increasing farmers' incomes. At present, the time-consuming and labor-intensive production of straw weaving, finding it difficult to meet market demands, has entered a stage of stagnation, and the number of practitioners is steadily declining. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Selecting and treating wheat stalks": Daming straw plaiting uses wheat stalks processed by selection, splitting, soaking and bleaching, with plaiting, knotting and coiling techniques. "A thousand new products": After a straw-plaiting factory was set up, about a thousand new products were developed, from bags and mats to straw collage. "Wang Qunying's twelve series": The inheritor Wang Qunying, born in 1966, created twelve straw-plaiting series including Peking-opera masks and fashion.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A national representative bearer of straw weaving (Daming straw weaving), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

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. Wang Qunying · National Representative Bearer Archive