Straw Weaving
01 · Historical Records
From the 1840s onward, straw weaving began to be exported abroad. Since the mid-20th century, because it has met the needs of modern life, straw weaving has developed rapidly, with an ever-growing variety of patterns and designs. Hukou straw dragons have a long history; according to legend they arose in the Sui and Tang dynasties, flourished in the Ming and Qing, and have been passed down without interruption locally. Afterward, Hukou straw dragons developed continuously toward greater refinement, and professional artisans appeared who passed the craft down from generation to generation. Zhou Yongfa, born in the late nineteenth century, was the founder of the refined style of Hukou straw dragon.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Straw weaving is a traditional knotting and weaving handicraft that uses grasses and other herbaceous plants as its principal raw material. As one of the oldest crafts of humankind, knotting and weaving became an important means for the early people of China to make practical articles as far back as remote antiquity. Straw weaving techniques have circulated among the Chinese people for several thousand years and have been continually carried forward and developed in the process. Folk artisans across the country adapted their work to local conditions and to the qualities of their materials, making full use of the tough stalks, skins, pith, leaves, and roots of herbaceous plants, and creating and distilling a rich repertoire of weaving and knotting techniques — weaving, knotting, braiding, looping, binding, twisting, wrapping, netting, stringing, and coiling — making straw weaving an important source of everyday articles for the common people. Straw-woven products are mainly practical goods such as straw mats, straw curtains, straw cushions, straw baskets, straw fans, straw hats, and straw sandals, though some are ornamental pieces made for display. As a traditional handicraft very widespread among the Chinese people, straw weaving has a broad popular base and strong qualities of both practicality and artistry. Hukou straw dragons are made mainly of rice straw, with bamboo and wood used for the frame; the whole dragon is composed of an odd number of segments, usually between nine and twenty-one. The weaving and assembly of the straw dragon is extremely complex, requiring more than ten techniques — weaving, inserting, stitching, inlaying, setting, coiling, wrapping, suspending, hanging, hollowing, splitting, cutting, and piercing — and demanding that the finished piece be natural and vivid, simple and elegant, and free of any trace of artificial workmanship, so as to perfectly convey the solemn and imposing air of an auspicious dragon. When the straw dragon is paraded and played with, the dancers wear neat, brightly colored costumes, with boy and girl attendants carrying dragon lanterns to lead the way; during the procession, thrilling acrobatic displays or amusing comic antics are performed as the occasion demands, laughter fills the air, and the scene is lively and festive.
Nine to twenty-one segments
The Hukou straw dragon has an odd number of segments, usually nine to twenty-one, built on a bamboo frame with more than a dozen plaiting methods.
The grain dragon and the harvest parade
Called the grain dragon, it is paraded from village to village after the autumn harvest to celebrate the good year.
Yu Fangze's 28-metre dragon
The inheritor Yu Fangze's dragon measures 28 metres long and 0.38 metres in diameter, using over eighty thousand stalks.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
China is rich in herbaceous plant resources, and both north and south have many raw materials suitable for knotting and weaving, so straw weaving exists in a great variety of types from place to place, each with its own local characteristics. Hukou straw dragons are commonly called 'grain dragons' (gulong) and are a folk straw-assemblage craft popular in the area around Hukou County, Jiangxi Province. According to old local custom, after the autumn harvest each year people would weave rice straw into dragons and parade them from village to village to celebrate the harvest. Hukou straw dragons were formerly called 'grain dragons' (gulong); according to old local custom they were woven after the autumn harvest each year and paraded from village to village to celebrate a good harvest. When danced, they are led by lamp plaques and boy and girl attendants, accompanied by gongs and drums behind, with acrobatic and comic performances interspersed along the way. Their weaving and assembly demand that the finished piece bear no trace of artificial workmanship, conveying the solemn and imposing air of an auspicious dragon.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Straw Weaving · Straw Weaving · Straw Weaving · Straw Weaving · Straw Weaving.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Hukou straw dragons integrate folk dance, acrobatics, music, fine art, and handcraft technique in a single art, possessing high artistic value, and are worthy objects of study for disciplines such as folklore, sociology, and folk art. Yu Fangze (recorded in the official archive of the associated representative inheritor): Male, of the Han nationality, born in June 1944, a native of Hukou County, Jiangxi Province. From childhood he was fond of handicrafts; in 1956 he studied under Zhou Yunkai, an inheritor of Hukou straw dragons, and mastered the technique of weaving straw dragons. The straw dragons he weaves using more than ten techniques such as weaving, inserting, stitching, inlaying, setting, wrapping, and coiling reach 28 meters in length, with a body diameter of 0.38 meters and more than 80,000 stalks of straw used; the workmanship is fine and the likeness lifelike. His daughter Yu Yuanli has inherited his technique and is now able to weave straw dragons independently; she has also held multiple training courses to pass on the craft. Representative inheritor of straw weaving (Hukou straw dragon), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the third batch. His straw weaving works have been exhibited and have won prizes on many occasions; the straw dragon and its procession dance, the 'Straw Dragon Dance', which he made in 1986, were selected for inclusion in the Collected Chinese Folk Dances: Jiangxi Volume, and a straw dragon he made in 2015 was collected by the Jiujiang City Museum.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yu Fangze 03-1271
- Wang Qunying 05-2652
- Chen Huanbin 05-2653
- Saileihankakemuhazi 05-2654
- Yang Yuxing
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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