Li Conghui

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Conghui, Female, Lisu, from Dechang, Sichuan, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-100). The tradition is documented in Dechang, Sichuan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship in Dechang, Sichuan: The Dechang branch has its roots in the two Lisu townships of Jinsha and Nanshan, with outlying spread to small villages such as Tuanjie Village in Badong Township, Xinyu Village in Kuanyu Township, and Shaba Village in Leyue Town of Xinchang County; it was those who migrated in the early Ming from the Jinsha and Yalong river basins who brought the whole weaving method into the mountain gullies. Unlike inland cotton spinning, the looms here work with only two shuttles—one of fire-grass thread, one of fire-hemp thread. Li Conghui kept the old rule of passing it only to kin, but now uses the Kuoshi Festival exhibitions to spread it outward. The Lisu people of Dechang began in the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, unable to bear the oppression of government troops and local chieftains, to migrate successively from the Jinsha River and Yalong River basins at the Sichuan–Yunnan junction to Dechang; the fire-grass cloth-weaving craft was brought to Dechang with them and formed a distinctive local culture.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Lisu ethnicity, born in May 1962 in Dechang County, Sichuan Province. A national representative bearer of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship (Lisu Firegrass Cloth Weaving Craftsmanship), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. The Lisu firegrass cloth weaving craft has been handed down among local folk for generations and in the past was taught only to relatives. She is devoted to transmission and every year during the Kuoshi Festival, the Lisu New Year, organizes Lisu compatriots to go to the Dechang county seat and other places to hold activities displaying Lisu ethnic characteristics, chiefly to promote Lisu firegrass cloth weaving. As a local expert in Lisu firegrass cloth weaving, she is thoroughly versed in the craft and is one of the finest firegrass weavers among the Lisu of Dechang. Over the long term she has trained a large number of young women in the Lisu firegrass cloth weaving craft. She actively participates in activities organized by departments at all levels to display the Lisu firegrass cloth weaving craft and has preserved a complete set of documentation recording the craft. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship in Dechang, Sichuan: The Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft is a traditional technique that uses the plant fibers of fire grass and fire hemp, going through more than twenty process steps to weave cloth; it is mainly distributed in Jinsha Lisu Township and Nanshan Lisu Township of Dechang County, Sichuan Province, and their surrounding areas, with sporadic spread to small Lisu settlements such as Tuanjie Village in Badong Township, Xinyu Village in Kuanyu Township, and Shaba Village in Leyue Town of Xinchang County. The Dechang Lisu residential area is known for its distinctive natural and cultural landscapes; the Lisu living here have been little affected by outside culture and retain their ethnic flavor. The cloth the Lisu weave themselves is commonly called "fire-grass cloth": they pick fire-grass leaves from the hillsides and strip off the backing membrane, peel the bark from fire-hemp stalks, twist each separately into thread, and then weave it into cloth on a weaving frame. The Dechang Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft is rather distinctive: in weaving there are two shuttles, one carrying fire-grass thread and one carrying hemp thread, which are then interwoven. The whole making process passes through steps of gathering, tearing, cutting, sunning, rinsing, soaking, arranging, bleaching, winding, and weaving; every step is done by hand, using a simple homemade loom, and the blended cloth is made into women's dresses and skirts, men's clothes and trousers, and satchels. Making a single garment can even take several months. Every year in the sixth and seventh months, Dechang Lisu women go up the mountains in small groups to gather the wild fire-grass leaves from the deep mountain gullies and cut fire-hemp stalks; they gather to help one another and exchange their fire-grass cloth-weaving skills. In traditional society, whether a Lisu girl was considered excellent was judged mainly by whether she could spin and weave; especially in times of extreme material scarcity, the Lisu women living deep in the mountains relied on their own diligent hands and deft skills to weave bolt after bolt of beautiful, elegant fire-grass cloth to sew clothes for the whole family, young and old. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Archived Process-Step Records": The Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft is a traditional technique that uses the plant fibers of fire grass and fire hemp, going through more than twenty process steps to weave cloth; it is mainly distributed in Jinsha Lisu Township and Nanshan Lisu Township of Dechang County, Sichuan Province, and their surrounding areas, with sporadic spread to small Lisu settlements such as Tuanjie Village in Badong Township, Xinyu Village in Kuanyu Township, and Shaba Village in Leyue Town of Xinchang County. The whole making process passes through steps of gathering, tearing, cutting, sunning, rinsing, soaking, arranging, bleaching, winding, and weaving; every step is done by hand, using a simple homemade loom, and the blended cloth is made into women's dresses and skirts, men's clothes and trousers, and satchels.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2018, Li Conghui was announced in the fifth batch of national representative bearers for Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship, with Dechang, Sichuan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship in Dechang, Sichuan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Dechang, Sichuan as its declared area, and Dechang County Cultural Center (Dechang County Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center, Dechang County Art Museum, Dechang County Lisuzu Culture Research 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. Li Conghui · National Representative Bearer Archive