Wang Yueyuan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wang Yueyuan, Female, Miao, from Anshun, Guizhou, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Batik Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-25). The tradition is documented in Anshun, Guizhou. Within the regional tradition and school record of Batik Craftsmanship in Anshun, Guizhou: Anshun batik is divided mainly into two broad categories: Miao batik and Buyi batik. Miao batik is distributed across all thirty-eight Miao branches in Anshun. Its dyed patterns are rich and varied, incorporating ancient legends and primitive understandings, and collectively reflect the nature worship and totem worship of the ancient forebears. Buyi batik is distributed mainly in Zhenning, Guanling, Huangguoshu and other counties and districts. Its finished pieces have ingenious, endlessly varied compositions; the motifs are mostly realistic flowers, birds, fish and insects, or abstract geometric forms such as spirals, water ripples, lozenges and thunder-and-spiral patterns, expressing people’s understanding of the cosmos, their reverence for mountains and rivers, and their aspiration towards a better life. In 1987, Song-dynasty batik garments were excavated from a Miao cliff-burial group coffin tomb in Pingba County, Anshun City. Their rich colours and rigorous patterns fully demonstrate the superb skill of Anshun batik.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

She is a Miao woman, born in June 1957, a native of Anshun City, Guizhou Province. National representative bearer of Batik Craftsmanship, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Influenced from childhood by her grandmother and mother, she learned batik painting, beginning with dotting wax flowers and gradually mastering the wax-drawing technique. After years of study her batik skills advanced greatly and she formed a painting style of her own. With a keen feel for batik art and a willingness to innovate, she distilled the batik painting technique and created a new form of artistic expression, wax board painting, opening a wholly new field for the craft. She actively conducts training and teaching in Miao batik, transmitting the craft within production by taking on disciples and by having experienced practitioners mentor newcomers; more than one hundred and fifty people have completed their training and mastered Miao batik. Within the documented technical tradition of Batik Craftsmanship in Anshun, Guizhou: Batik in Anshun City, Guizhou Province, has a long history: as early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the inhabitants here had already mastered the batik-making process. Apart from differences in pattern, Miao and Buyi batik in Anshun use essentially the same tools, materials and process: a copper wax knife is dipped in molten wax to outline designs on white cloth, which is then passed through dip-dyeing and other steps to make batik pieces. The Anshun batik trade has no lack of folk master craftspeople of superb wax-drawing skill. They have travelled to Europe, America and the Taiwan region of China to demonstrate batik technique, winning acclaim everywhere they went. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Record of Process Steps": Apart from differences in pattern, Miao and Buyi batik in Anshun use essentially the same tools, materials and process: a copper wax knife is dipped in molten wax to outline designs on white cloth, which is then passed through dip-dyeing and other steps to make batik pieces.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2018, Wang Yueyuan was announced in the fifth batch of national representative bearers for Batik Craftsmanship, with Anshun, Guizhou as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Batik Craftsmanship in Anshun, Guizhou: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Anshun, Guizhou as its declared area, and Anshun Cultural Center (Anshun Culture Art Peixun 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. Wang Yueyuan · National Representative Bearer Archive