Wheat-straw Collage
01 · Historical Records
Since the Qing dynasty, wheat stalk appliqué has become an ornamental decorative art, mostly used as a gift at festive events such as weddings, birthdays, longevity celebrations, shop openings, and moving into new homes.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Wheat stalk appliqué is a folk decorative art that uses wheat stalks as its raw material, mainly popular in the Pujiang region of Zhejiang Province. In former times, Pujiang wheat stalk appliqué was used as a substitute for embroidery in the decoration of woven wheat stalk articles such as round fans and straw hats, and it gradually developed into the decoration of furnishings such as hanging screens and table screens. Pujiang wheat stalk appliqué involves more than twenty process steps, including soaking, smoking, steaming, bleaching, splitting, scraping, and dyeing; in making it, material selection is refined and the workmanship fine, presenting distinctive local characteristics. To this day, the technique of Pujiang wheat stalk appliqué has matured considerably; while preserving the natural luster and texture of wheat stalks, it draws on other artistic techniques to continuously strengthen its own expressiveness, and its products display both the plain style of folk art and the exquisite qualities of elegant art.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Pujiang wheat stalk appliqué involves more than twenty process steps, including soaking, smoking, steaming, bleaching, splitting, scraping, and dyeing; in making it, material selection is refined and the workmanship fine, presenting distinctive local characteristics.
The twenty-odd preparatory processes
The straw must be soaked, fumigated, steamed, bleached, split, scraped and dyed before it yields flat, supple and controllable strips.
From fans and hats to hanging panels
Once a substitute for embroidery on straw fans and hats, the craft moved to hanging and table screens, its purpose shifting from utility to display.
Natural, coloured and ink-wash straw work
Three types by Jiang Yunhua: the natural sort keeps the straw's own sheen and grain, while the coloured and ink-wash sorts amplify expression through dye and ink.
Jiang Yunhua and the Hundred Doves
Born in Pujiang in 1942 and trained by her mother and two masters, Jiang Yunhua's works have won awards; her Hundred Doves entered the Zhejiang Museum collection.
Teaching the craft in schools
Jiang Yunhua set up school bases and coached over a dozen teachers, wrote a straw-picture manual and co-edited the Zhejiang volume of the national craft compendium and school textbooks.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Pujiang wheat stalk appliqué has the townships of Puyang, Huangzhai, Zhengzhai, and others in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province, as its main areas of circulation. In its early period, it was mostly made by rural women themselves using wheat stalks gathered after the summer harvest, to decorate woven wheat stalk articles such as round fans and straw hats; it gradually turned to hanging screens, table screens, and other furnishings. It uses local wheat stalks as its raw material and requires more than twenty process steps, including soaking, smoking, steaming, bleaching, splitting, scraping, and dyeing, with refined material selection and fine workmanship in making it. Jiang Yunhua once served as designer and technical adviser for wheat stalk appliqué at two local companies, and founded the Pujiang Folk Craft Museum; her Hundred Pigeons was collected by the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Wheat-straw Collage · Wheat-straw Collage · Wheat-straw Collage.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Jiang Yunhua (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in September 1942, from Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province. She is a Senior Arts and Crafts Artist and a Master of Arts and Crafts of Zhejiang Province. In childhood she learned the craft from her mother, and later studied under Wang Guoying and Wu Caixia. She once served as designer and technical adviser for wheat stalk appliqué at two local companies, and founded the Pujiang Folk Craft Museum. Her skill is consummate and her handling delicate; the natural-colored, multicolored, and ink-wash wheat stalk appliqués she makes have distinctive regional characteristics. Devoted to transmitting the technique, she has taught her children, daughter-in-law, and students, established transmission bases at a number of schools, and instructed more than a dozen teachers. She is a representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Wheat Stalk Appliqué. Works such as Along the River During the Qingming Festival have been exhibited and won prizes, and Hundred Pigeons was collected by the Zhejiang Provincial Museum. She authored Jiang Yunhua's Wheat Stalk Paintings, participated in compiling the Complete Collection of Chinese Arts and Crafts (Zhejiang Volume) and several primary and secondary school textbooks, and her middle-school labor-technique textbook Paper Cutting, Appliqué, and Home Economics won first prize for excellent textbooks from the State Education Commission.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Ma Wenxia 05-2679
- Jiang Yunhua 05-2680
- Nie Yuanzheng 05-2681
- Deng Youpu 05-2682
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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