Pan Ying
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Pan Ying, Female, Miao, from Kaili, Guizhou, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-105). The tradition is documented in Kaili, Guizhou. Within the regional tradition and school record of Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship in Kaili, Guizhou: Kaili City is the county-level administrative area with the largest Miao population in China; apart from the urban blocks, Miao natural villages are found everywhere, and in these villages every household originally had a loom. The raw material in earlier years was hemp and silk, now mostly cotton and silk, with some cotton-silk blends, among which the silk brocade is the finest. The fine silk baby-carrier brocade of the Middle-Skirt Miao around Zhouxi is the most exquisite; the fineness of its silk reaches sixty warps and ninety wefts per square centimeter, and it feels soft, smooth, and supple with fresh, bright patterns. Before the 1990s, the fashion of brocade weaving prevailed in these rural Miao villages.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Pan Ying is anchored in the documented technical standards of Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship in Kaili, Guizhou. Within the documented technical tradition of Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship in Kaili, Guizhou: Kaili City in Guizhou Province is the county-level administrative area with the largest Miao population in China; apart from the urban blocks, Miao natural villages are found everywhere. Kaili Miao brocade formerly used hemp and silk, and now uses cotton and silk, with some cotton-silk blends; the silk brocade woven from silk is the finest grade. Among the finest silk brocades, the first is the fine silk baby-carrier brocade of the "Middle-Skirt Miao" of Zhouxi. The fineness of its silk reaches a high density of 60 warps and 90 wefts per square centimeter; it feels soft, smooth, and supple, with fresh and bright patterns, exquisite beyond compare. Kaili Miao brocade has rich patterns, comprising animal motifs, plant motifs, celestial motifs, object motifs, geometric motifs, and more, too many to enumerate. The animal and plant motifs mostly take their images from nature and, after abstract simplification and deformation, appear highly exaggerated, vivid, and lifelike; or they take distinctive parts such as the head, horns, feet, claws, eyes, and hair whorls to symbolize the animal itself — a truly ingenious approach. Especially the frequent and apt use of diamond patterns makes the composition rigorous, regular, full, and symmetrical. Combined with skillful fine work and exquisite craftsmanship, the patterns stand out as concise, bright, unified, harmonious, beautiful, and dignified, with high aesthetic value and excellent decorative effect. At present, the traditional Kaili Miao brocade weaving craft already faces a crisis of having no successors; the main reason is that young women are either busy studying for exams or working away from home for wages, their attitudes have changed, and they are unwilling to learn the brocade craft that is fine, troublesome, time-consuming, and of little benefit. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The fine silk carrier band of Zhouxi": Zhouxi baby-carrier silk reaches sixty warp and ninety weft threads per square centimetre, light and lustrous. "Cotton-silk mixing and pure silk": Hemp and silk gave way to cotton and silk; pure silk still ranks highest, cotton cloth serves daily wear. "Motifs taken from head, horn, foot and claw": Animal motifs isolate the head, horn, foot, claw, eye or whorl, and the diamond ground keeps the layout strict and full.
The fine silk carrier band of Zhouxi
Zhouxi baby-carrier silk reaches sixty warp and ninety weft threads per square centimetre, light and lustrous.
Cotton-silk mixing and pure silk
Hemp and silk gave way to cotton and silk; pure silk still ranks highest, cotton cloth serves daily wear.
Motifs taken from head, horn, foot and claw
Animal motifs isolate the head, horn, foot, claw, eye or whorl, and the diamond ground keeps the layout strict and full.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Pan Ying was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship, with Kaili, Guizhou as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship in Kaili, Guizhou: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2011 (batch 3), with Kaili, Guizhou as its declared area, and Kaili 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
Historical origin
Before the 1990s, the fashion of brocade weaving prevailed in these rural Miao villages.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pan Ying | Kaili, Guizhou | — | This page |
| Wen Shenglan | Majiang, Guizhou | — | Other regional school |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。