Yang Fang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Yang Fang, Female, Miao, from Danzhai, Guizhou, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Miao Batik Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-25). The tradition is documented in Danzhai, Guizhou. Within the regional tradition and school record of Miao Batik Craftsmanship in Danzhai, Guizhou: Miao batik has two techniques: dotting wax and painting wax. By pattern it falls into two broad categories: geometric motifs and naturalistic motifs. Batik was known in ancient times as “laxie”, and in the Miao language as “wutu”, meaning “batik garment”. Danzhai, Anshun and Zhijin in southeastern Guizhou are the core producing areas of Miao batik. The three places, in a harsh environment cut off from the outside world for long periods, developed a self-sufficient way of life in which cloth, dye vats and embroidery patterns were all produced at home, and the ancient batik technique was thereby preserved. According to Miao custom, girls must learn batik from childhood, and a mother must teach the craft to her own daughters with her own hands before her duty as a teacher is considered fulfilled. Miao women learn the technique from childhood, growing indigo and cotton themselves, spinning and weaving cloth, drawing wax and doing embroidery, dip-dyeing and cutting, passing it on from generation to generation. This system, centred on transmission from mother to daughter, is the key reason the craft has continued unbroken for a thousand years, and it is what distinguishes it from other crafts transmitted from master to apprentice.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

She is a Miao woman, born in October 1966, a native of Danzhai County, Guizhou Province. National representative bearer of Miao Batik Craftsmanship, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She learned Miao batik from childhood and is able to complete independently the ancient patterns inherited from her elders; she has also independently developed, renewed and recovered traditional Miao cultural products embodying local cultural meaning and character. Her batik works express the history and culture of her ethnic group and branch, and possess both practical and collectible value. She has been invited many times to Hong Kong and Taiwan and to France, Russia, India and other countries to demonstrate Miao batik craftsmanship. She founded a batik professional cooperative locally, adopting a cooperative-plus-members management model. It now has more than four hundred members, and she is a leader who has helped local women to prosper together. Within the documented technical tradition of Miao Batik Craftsmanship in Danzhai, Guizhou: Batik is a traditional technique handed down for generations by the Miao people of Danzhai, Anshun and Zhijin counties in Guizhou Province. In ancient times it was called “laxie”, and in the Miao language “wutu”, meaning “batik garment”. Danzhai, Anshun and Zhijin counties are multi-ethnic settlement areas with the Miao as the principal group. In a harsh environment isolated from the outside world for long periods, the inhabitants gradually developed a self-sufficient way of life, and the ancient batik technique was thereby preserved. By Miao custom, all women are obliged to transmit the batik technique, and every mother must teach her own daughters to make batik. Miao women therefore learn the technique from childhood, growing indigo and cotton themselves, spinning and weaving cloth, drawing wax and doing embroidery, dip-dyeing and cutting, and passing it on from generation to generation. Under these conditions, these Miao settlement areas have developed a customary culture in which batik art is dominant — dress and adornment, marriage and festival etiquette, forms of social interaction, and funeral customs. Miao batik is an art created for the producers’ own needs. Its products are mainly articles of daily use, including women’s clothing, bedsheets, quilt covers, wrapping cloths, head wraps, satchels, handbags, baby carriers and shrouds used in funerals. Makers of Danzhai Miao batik favour large floral designs based mainly on naturalistic motifs. These patterns are vivid and boldly simplified yet true to life, lively and fluent, richly exaggerated, and full of a strong rustic flavour. Anshun Miao batik is dominated by geometric patterns, with loose compositions and vivid forms. Zhijin Miao batik is dominated by fine, dense white areas, filled with geometric spiral patterns whose structures interweave and merge into a single whole. The main tools of batik making are the copper knife (wax pen), porcelain bowls, water basins, large needles, bone needles, rice straw and dye vats. In production, the homespun cloth is first soaked in water filtered through plant ash to remove grease from the fibres, making it easier to apply wax and take colour. An appropriate amount of yellow wax is then placed in a small porcelain bowl, which is set on hot wood ash; once the wax has melted into liquid under the heat, it can be dotted and drawn onto the cloth. The cloth with the wax pattern applied is then moistened with warm water and put into a prepared indigo dye vat, being immersed repeatedly until the cloth is judged sufficiently dyed. It is then taken to the river to be rinsed, letting clean water wash away the surface colour, and afterwards put into a pot of boiling water so that the yellow wax melts and floats to the surface, where it is collected for reuse. The batik is then rinsed repeatedly until all remaining yellow wax is removed, at which point the work is finished. Danzhai batik is further touched in with red and yellow after this: the red is generally taken from madder root, and the yellow from gardenia. To prevent fading, colouring is generally applied only after the batik piece has been completed. Besides the steps described above, batik also involves process steps such as preparing the indigo and fermenting the dye vat. The successive steps link together to form a complete, mature body of technique and operating rules. With the development of technology, the variety of textiles has continually increased, and batik’s position as the mainstream textile of the Miao areas of Guizhou has gradually been shaken. Along with the growth of tourism, batik handicrafts have been pushed onto the market as distinctive tourist souvenirs. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Process Steps": Besides the steps described above, batik also involves process steps such as preparing the indigo and fermenting the dye vat. The successive steps link together to form a complete, mature body of technique and operating rules.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2018, Yang Fang was announced in the fifth batch of national representative bearers for Miao Batik Craftsmanship, with Danzhai, Guizhou as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Miao Batik Craftsmanship in Danzhai, Guizhou: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Danzhai, Guizhou as its declared area, and Danzhai County Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center 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. Yang Fang · National Representative Bearer Archive