Su Jinfang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Su Jinfang, Female, Han, from Nantong, Jiangsu, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-100). The tradition is documented in Nantong, Jiangsu. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship in Nantong, Jiangsu: Nantong yarn-dyed homespun weavers are found throughout the villages of the Jianghai Plain. Bordering the river and the sea, with a humid climate and fertile soil, this area has been a renowned cotton region since the Ming dynasty, where farming families had men tilling and women weaving, every household taking it as their trade. From the late Qing to the early Republic, specialized weaving households numbered over 100,000 with more than a million workers, and annual homespun sales were about 17 million bolts; thus Nantong took over the title of "homespun homeland" from Songjiang. The Haimen area still preserves the ancient multi-treadle multi-heddle jacquard techniques of eight treadles with eight heddles and twelve treadles with twelve heddles—the rarest such site among the nation's homespun crafts. Nantong City in Jiangsu Province, lying by the river and the sea, with a humid climate and fertile soil, has been a famous cotton-growing region of China since the Ming dynasty. In the early 20th century, Nantong's yarn-dyed (colored-woven) homespun achieved unprecedented development.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Su Jinfang is anchored in the documented technical standards of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship in Nantong, Jiangsu. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship in Nantong, Jiangsu: For centuries, local farmers followed the pattern of men tilling and women weaving, with "every household practicing it as a constant trade," and historical records describe it as "the cotton and cloth output ranking first among all prefectures." By the late 19th century, Nantong's yarn-dyed homespun had won renown at home and abroad for its exquisite hand weaving, distinctive craft dyeing, and the qualities of being thick, sturdy, wash-resistant, and hard-wearing, becoming a major local specialty. There were more than 100,000 specialized rural homespun-weaving households, with a workforce of one million, and annual total sales of homespun reaching 17 million bolts. Nantong became, in history, the famous "homespun homeland" of the nation after Songjiang. The Nantong yarn-dyed homespun technique uses a single-spindle hand-crank spinning wheel to make yarn and a foot-treadle hand-shuttle wooden loom for weaving; processes such as dyeing, bobbin winding, warping, weft winding, heddle threading, and reed mounting retain fairly primitive methods, inheriting China's ancient hand yarn-dyeing craft. Folk varieties of homespun number over six major categories and several hundred types; typical patterns include the "ant," "willow twig," "osmanthus," "gold-and-silver thread grid," and "reed" series, as well as double-happiness, colored grid, hydrangea-flower, and character-based jacquard brocade-blanket weaves. The Haimen area of Nantong still preserves to this day the extremely rare ancient multi-treadle multi-heddle jacquard weaving techniques of eight treadles with eight heddles and twelve treadles with twelve heddles, representing the quintessence of China's folk yarn-dyed homespun craft. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archived Process-Step Records": The Nantong yarn-dyed homespun technique uses a single-spindle hand-crank spinning wheel to make yarn and a foot-treadle hand-shuttle wooden loom for weaving; processes such as dyeing, bobbin winding, warping, weft winding, heddle threading, and reed mounting retain fairly primitive methods, inheriting China's ancient hand yarn-dyeing craft.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Su Jinfang was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship, with Nantong, Jiangsu as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship in Nantong, Jiangsu: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2011 (batch 3), with Nantong, Jiangsu as its declared area, and Nantong Baicaoqianhuatubu Research Institute 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. Sujinfang (Nantong, Jiangsu) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Sujinfang · China ICH Official Archive