Pan Tongli

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Pan Tongli, Male, Han, from Huoqiu, Anhui, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Willow Weaving (Ⅶ-55). The tradition is documented in Huoqiu, Anhui. Within the regional tradition and school record of Willow Weaving in Huoqiu, Anhui: Huoqiu willow weaving is distributed mainly in Linhuaihuang Township, Linshui Town, Zhouji Town, Chengxihu Township, Songdian Township, and Xindian Town in Huoqiu County, Anhui Province; it is a folk art passed down from generation to generation by the local people. According to the Gazetteer of Huoqiu County, the local willow-weaving craft originated very early; legend traces it to the Zhou dynasty. By the Ming and Qing dynasties it had already become the principal sideline of local farmers. Willow-woven products were once sold as far as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, and exported overseas.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in August 1961 in Huoqiu County, Anhui Province. A senior master of arts and crafts. In his youth he learned willow weaving from local weaving artisans. In 1976 he entered the willow weaving factory of Linshui Township, Huoqiu County, and later took the veteran willow weaver Zheng Deyun and the art academy professor Liu Yiyun as his teachers, studying willow weaving craft and artistic design. His works are plain and natural in form, smooth and rounded to the touch and firmly and tightly woven; they are fine pieces of traditional willow weaving. In long years of practice he has constantly summed up experience and raised the craftsmanship of willow products, and he has led a research and development team in creating nearly ten thousand new designs. While weaving and developing designs he pays attention to transmitting the craft and to training talent. Within the documented technical tradition of Willow Weaving in Huoqiu, Anhui: Huoqiu County lies at the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains, on the south bank of the Huai River. Within and beyond the great Huai embankment there are numerous beaches, bays, and low-lying lake lands where qi willow (Salix integra) — which fears neither drought nor flood and is inexhaustible — grows, along with reeds and di cane and other crops; these are the main raw materials for weaving all kinds of craft products. The folk jingle circulating in Huoqiu — 'weaving brings a new house, weaving brings a new bride, weaving brings moderate prosperity, weaving brings happiness' — truthfully reflects the tangible benefits that qi-willow weaving has brought to the people along the Huai. Willow weaving requires considerable technical skill. Production passes through several process steps — soaking, trimming, cutting to size, basing, twisted weaving, and plain weaving, then closing the mouth and assembling — and products come in more than one hundred varieties, including badou (large round baskets), manure baskets, pole-carried baskets, winnowing trays, packing cases, hand-carried baskets, hanging baskets, laundry baskets, hat baskets, chairs with backs, and coffee tables. Today, willow weaving has developed from traditional single-color weaving to several dozen weaving techniques — refined weaving, fine weaving, openwork (transparent) weaving, contrasting-color weaving, dyed weaving, and mixed weaving (willow with bamboo, willow with hemp, willow with wood, willow with grass and wood) — gradually forming a distinctive willow-weaving technology on a traditional foundation. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Process Steps": Willow weaving requires considerable technical skill. Production passes through several process steps — soaking, trimming, cutting to size, basing, twisted weaving, and plain weaving, then closing the mouth and assembling — and products come in more than one hundred varieties, including badou (large round baskets), manure baskets, pole-carried baskets, winnowing trays, packing cases, hand-carried baskets, hanging baskets, laundry baskets, hat baskets, chairs with backs, and coffee tables.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

A national representative bearer of willow weaving (Huoqiu willow weaving), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He founded the Hua'anda brand of Huoqiu willow weaving, whose products have won a number of provincial 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. Pan Tongli · National Representative Bearer Archive