Miaoxiu

01 · Historical Records

Tin embroidery is the most distinctive feature of Jianhe Miao embroidery. Jianhe County lies in the middle reaches of the Qingshui River in southeastern Guizhou. The Miao ancestors migrated westward from the Yellow River valley, and some branches settled in what are now the townships of Nanzhai, Mindong, and Guanmao within Jianhe County, where tin embroidery has been passed down for five or six hundred years. Miao women use dark-indigo cotton cloth as the ground: they first pick cotton yarn into traditional patterns on the cloth, then embroider strips of metal tin into those patterns, producing a distinctive stitch of dazzling silver-white brilliance.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Miao embroidery refers to the embroidery craft transmitted among the Miao people. The Miao embroidery transmitted in Leishan County, Guiyang City, Jianhe County, and elsewhere in Guizhou Province takes different forms and styles. Leishan County, in the Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province, is one of the principal areas where the Miao people congregate; the Miao population of the county accounts for 83.6 percent of its total population. The costume of the Leishan Miao still retains its unadulterated traditional style, and its consummately exquisite embroidery and dazzling silver ornaments never fail to win admiration. Classified by structure and style, Leishan Miao costume falls into four main types — long skirt, medium skirt, short skirt, and extra-short skirt — also known respectively as the Xijiang, Yimeng, Gongtong, and Datang types. The making of Leishan Miao costume involves unique techniques and highly representative forms; some are unique to Leishan, while others, though found elsewhere, are distributed mainly within the county. The embroidery techniques associated with these forms are also distinctive, such as double-needle lock stitch, crepe embroidery, braid embroidery, and silk-floss appliqué; although these occur elsewhere as well, in point of skill Leishan Miao embroidery is more characteristic and employs a greater variety of techniques. In the forms and modeling of its designs, Leishan Miao embroidery makes extensive use of deformation and exaggeration, and boldly employs multi-dimensional three-dimensional modeling and the composite device of form-within-form, along with expressive techniques such as simile, metaphor, allusion, and symbolism, reflecting an aesthetic taste with a distinctive ethnic style. The stitch-picking (tiaohua) technique of the Huaxi Miao of Guiyang City is fairly representative of Miao embroidery techniques in Guizhou. This branch of the Miao formerly adorned itself mainly with batik; later, discovering that stitch-picking offered richer colors and stronger expressive power, they began to pick stitches over the grounds of batik patterns. Stitch-picking gradually emerged from batik as an art in its own right, forming a unique means of expression and artistic language. Common stitch-picked motifs include pig's-trotter forks, ox's-trotter forks, ox heads, sheep heads, dog heads, ice-and-snow flowers, prickly-ash flowers, duckweed, lotus, rice ears, buckwheat flowers, bronze drums, lanterns, silver forks, copper coins, the sun, frogs, water bugs, crabs, swallows, pavilions, fields and gardens, bridges, rivers, and the seal of the Miao king. Huaxi Miao stitch-picking serves to commemorate ancestors, record history, express love, and beautify the wearer, while also being strongly decorative. Using cross-stitch as the basic stitch, counting threads as they sew, working without a drawn draft, and picking from the reverse so that the face shows the pattern — these special techniques make each stitch-picked piece more beautiful and exquisite. The artistic style of Huaxi Miao stitch-picking can be divided into early, middle, and late periods. The years before 1900 form the early period: the ground cloth of this period was homespun dark-green linen, the palette was simple and refined, dominated by silver tones with small areas of color set on white, the composition was rigorous, and the designs were geometric and stylized. The years from 1900 to before 1966 form the middle period: the ground was still mostly dark-green linen, with a small amount of dark-green homespun cotton, the colors were warm and gorgeous, dominated by reds and set off with yellow, green, white, and other silk threads, the composition was livelier than in the early period, and the designs richer. The years after 1967 form the late period: the colors and textures of the ground cloth became increasingly varied, adding machine-woven cloth in red, blue, yellow, white, and black, and even plastic window screening and coarse burlap were used as grounds; besides silk thread, the embroidery yarns came to include stranded cotton and wool, compositions grew freer, designs more diverse, and some artisans began to imitate the realistic patterns found on modern textiles. Because the Miao have no written script, Huaxi Miao stitch-picking has become a vehicle for the history and legends of this people, and the distinctive stitch-picked guanshou robe — a pull-on garment with a slit opening for the head — has become an identifying mark and symbol of this branch of the Miao. Stitch-picking is widely used in the daily life of the Huaxi Miao and in festivals and ceremonies for choosing a spouse, marriage and funerals, and religious rites, giving it strong practical value. In making stitch-picked work, Huaxi Miao women not only attend to inheriting the artistic tradition of their own people but also give free rein to imagination and boldly recreate, so that hardly two pieces are exactly alike; this gives stitch-picking strong artistic quality and originality. Fine artists and collectors treasure it greatly, and museums in China and abroad hold substantial collections. Miao tin embroidery in Jianhe County is found mainly in the townships of Nanzhai, Mindong, and Guanmao within Jianhe County, Guizhou Province, and has been passed down for five or six hundred years. Miao tin embroidery uses dark-indigo cotton cloth as its ground. First, cotton yarn is picked into traditional patterns on the cloth; then strips of metal tin are embroidered into those patterns; finally, the gaps between the motifs are filled with colorful flowers stitched in black, red, blue, and green silk thread. Silver-white tin strips embroidered on dark-indigo cloth create a sharp contrast, bright and dazzling, with good luster and strong texture, so that the cloth looks much like silver. Matched with silver hats, silver earrings, silver collars, silver chains, and silver bracelets, it is exceedingly splendid and noble. Tin embroidery involves a unique craft, fine handwork, clear patterns, complex execution, and unusual materials, giving it very high value for appreciation and collection. What distinguishes Miao tin embroidery from the embroidery of other peoples is that it is stitched not with silk thread but with strips of metal tin over thread-picked designs on dark-indigo cotton cloth. Its core patterns are like a maze — unpredictable, absorbing, and deeply meaningful, filled with a strong air of mystery. However, as aesthetic concepts and tastes continually change, the market for ethnic costume has grown ever smaller, and fewer and fewer young Miao people wear their traditional dress. Under these circumstances, the number of Miao embroidery artisans is declining day by day; it may be said that the more modern culture advances, the faster the traditional skills of Miao embroidery are lost. Faced with the crisis confronting Miao embroidery, measures should be taken as soon as possible to ensure the smooth transmission of this ancient ethnic craft.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

According to historical records, the Jiuli tribe of the Miao ancestors originally lived in the Yellow River valley. After suffering repeated defeats in wars with other peoples, they gradually migrated westward, and some branches entered what is now Guizhou. One branch, which called itself 'Mou' (known to other peoples as the 'Hua Miao' or patterned Miao), settled at Geluogesang (present-day Guiyang).

Other submitting regions for the same item: Miaoxiu · Miaoxiu · Miaoxiu · Miaoxiu · Miaoxiu · Miaoxiu.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Yang Meiyan (recorded in the official archives of an associated inheritor): Female, Miao ethnicity, born in February 1961, from Jianhe County, Guizhou Province. From the age of eight she learned Miao embroidery from her mother and other elders; by fifteen she had fully mastered the techniques of Miao embroidery, and at eighteen she mastered tin embroidery, the more unusual traditional stitch of Miao embroidery. A leading figure among local tin-embroidery artisans, she works with superb skill and practiced hand: she cuts metal tin into strips and inlays them into embroidery, with fine handwork, beautiful patterns, clear contrast, strong texture, and good luster. She has run training classes locally, taking apprentices from society at large and training more than 2,200 people. She is a representative inheritor of Miao embroidery (Jianhe Miao embroidery), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth batch. Her works have been exhibited many times and have won prizes. Long Nü Sanjiu (recorded in the official archives of an associated inheritor): Female, Miao ethnicity, born in July 1963, from Jianhe County, Guizhou Province. She began learning at the age of nine the skills of ground-flower stitching, four-thread embroidery, shoulder flowers, and 'hemp-worm' flowers, as well as applying tin and hooking tin. In the use of materials and modes of expression she adheres strictly to traditional supplies and purely handmade methods, constantly striving for perfection; her pieces have meticulous stitches and clear patterns. She has run a Miao embroidery teaching studio locally, leading more than four hundred left-behind women to learn to make Miao tin embroidery. She is a representative inheritor of Miao embroidery (Jianhe Miao embroidery), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fifth batch. From the age of five she learned Miao tin embroidery under the instruction of her mother Chen Laonu and with the guidance of her senior fellow apprentices.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Wu Tongying 04-1773
• Zhang Guiying 05-2600
• Wang Qiping 05-2601
• Yang Meiyan 05-2602
• Longnvsanjiu 05-2603
• Wu Yingji
• Liu Zhongchang
• Wang Jinhua
• Shi Liping

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Miaoxiu (Jianhe, Guizhou) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Yang Meiyan · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Longnvsanjiu · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗