Bamboo Weaving
01 · Historical Records
By the Tang dynasty, the bamboo weaving industry of Quxian was already highly developed: in daily production and life, people lived in bamboo houses, sat on bamboo chairs, carried bamboo baskets on their backs, wore bamboo hats, and held bamboo fans—bamboo-woven products were used everywhere. After the Qing dynasty began, Quxian’s bamboo-thread palace fans, fine-strip cool mats, and the like enjoyed fame for a time and were listed by the imperial court as tribute items.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The bamboo weaving craft of Quxian is centered on Qujiang Town and spread throughout Quxian County. Quxian lies in northeastern Sichuan, where the climate is mild, the rainfall abundant, and the produce rich; it is especially prolific in cizhu bamboo, which provides high-quality raw material for the bamboo weaving craft. The Liu-family bamboo weaving craft of Quxian is technically complex with numerous process steps: from the felling of the bamboo to the finished product, more than thirty process steps are required, each of them meticulous and rigorous, and the work cannot be replaced by modern technology or machinery. Using this technique to weave a single craft article takes from several days to several months, or even years. The craft products of Liu-family bamboo weaving fall into several dozen major categories, with nearly a thousand designs and varieties. Among them, the series of bamboo-woven calligraphy and painting, jacquard porcelain-bodied bamboo weaving, double-sided bamboo-thread weaving, and bamboo table screens feature novel designs and exquisite techniques, and are especially noted for their fine weaving. Thin as silk and gauze, they are paintings made of bamboo, yet full of the flavor of brush and ink; their various patterns are lifelike, displaying a strong national style and local character. Liu-family bamboo weaving is purely handmade; weaving consumes time and energy, production costs are high, and economic returns are low, so many craftsmen have been forced to change professions, and fewer and fewer young people are learning bamboo weaving, creating a shortage of talent in the local bamboo weaving industry. Under these circumstances, the development prospects of Liu-family bamboo weaving are worrying, and there is an urgent need to devise sound long-term strategies and respond actively.
Archival Record of Working Procedures
The Liu-family bamboo weaving craft of Quxian is technically complex with numerous process steps: from the felling of the bamboo to the finished product, more than thirty process steps are required, each of them meticulous and rigorous, and the work cannot be replaced by modern technology or machinery.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The history of bamboo weaving in Quxian can be traced back more than two thousand three hundred years, when the ancient people living in this area had already begun using bamboo to weave tools of labor and articles of daily use.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Shengzhou Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving · Bamboo Weaving.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Liu-family bamboo weaving of Quxian is a perfect embodiment of the artistic creativity of the working people and possesses extremely high aesthetic value and value for craft research. Liu Jiafeng (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1946 in Quxian, Sichuan. Master of Arts and Crafts of Sichuan Province. He learned bamboo weaving from childhood, mastered various folk bamboo weaving techniques, drew on the strengths of different schools, and constantly innovated. In 1972, inspired by the weaving principles of jacquard fabrics, he invented the “jacquard weaving method.” He pioneered a series of new bamboo weaving products, including “bamboo-woven calligraphy and painting,” “jacquard porcelain-bodied bamboo weaving,” and “double-sided bamboo-thread weaving,” making it possible to weave calligraphy and patterns of landscapes, flowers, and birds onto bamboo. “Bamboo-woven calligraphy and painting” in particular raised bamboo weaving technique to a new level. His scientific achievements and works have been included in numerous books, such as the “Compendium of Chinese Scientific and Technological Achievements.” He has directly taken on apprentices and trained more than eight hundred bamboo weaving personnel, with apprentices found throughout the province and beyond. Representative inheritor of Bamboo Weaving (Quxian Liu-Family Bamboo Weaving), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project of the fourth batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yu Zhanggen 01-0119
- He Fuli 03-1265
- Song Zengli 03-1266
- Mou Bingheng 03-1267
- Liu Jiafeng 04-1794
- Su Chengjun 05-2640
- Chen Qinghe 05-2641
- Tian Xianmin 05-2642
- Wei Lumian 05-2643
- Tan Sujuan 05-2644
- Chen Yunhua 05-2645
- Zhao Sijin 05-2646
- Ding Zhiyun
- Hu Zhengren
- Lvcheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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