Minjianxiuhuo
01 · Historical Records
Ningxia embroidery was first transmitted mainly in the mountainous south of Ningxia, where the Hui people have had a tradition of weaving cotton and making embroidered articles since the Ming dynasty; in women’s marriage observances and seasonal customs, embroidered insoles, bibs, and pillow ends were tasks that had to be done. Later, with relocation, resettlement, and urbanization, the art gradually spread throughout the whole autonomous region, with Longde County, Xiji County, Jingyuan County, Haiyuan County, and Hongsibu being the most concentrated centers. The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Cultural Center (Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center) is the designated protection unit for this item.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Ningxia embroidery is a traditional folk embroidery art transmitted in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Ningxia embroidery was first transmitted mainly in the mountainous south of Ningxia; with relocation, resettlement, and urbanization, it gradually spread throughout the whole autonomous region, with Longde County, Xiji County, Jingyuan County, Haiyuan County, and Hongsibu being the most concentrated centers. Ningxia embroidery is unconstrained in its choice of stitches, threads, and color schemes; it is both practical and rich in aesthetic appeal, fully expressing the naturalness and simple beauty of a primitive style, and concentrating Chinese culture and regional culture in a single art. Its patterns are plain and its colors brilliant; its composition is simple and its forms exaggerated, displaying a distinctly northern artistic character of boldness and rusticity. Ningxia women embroiderers like to use black, white, dark blue, and deep purple as ground colors, with red, yellow, blue, and green as the motif colors; their use of color is bold and novel, with pronounced warm-and-cool contrast. The stitches of Ningxia embroidery stress fineness and rigor, with even, level stitching; the main techniques are flat stitch, coiling stitch, duo stitch (a pulled-thread technique), appliqué stitch, pile stitch, and bead embroidery. Ningxia embroidery arises from life and serves life; it is primarily practical and can be divided into embroidered costume articles, everyday household articles, and decorative embroideries. Influenced by local Hui folk custom, Ningxia embroidery takes mainly flowers and plants as its subjects, avoiding fierce beasts and human figures; even when animals appear they are gentle ones such as butterflies, mandarin ducks, and pigeons. The regional characteristics of Ningxia embroidery are very pronounced: women in the same village or township often share and use the same patterns, and they also learn from and borrow one another’s stitch techniques. Historically, embroidery was a skill that Hui and Han women in Ningxia had to learn from childhood, as a folk rhyme puts it: “At seven or eight they learn needlework; entering the embroidery room they stitch peonies; embroidering all the hundred flowers and hundred birds — the young man who wears it becomes the bridegroom, the girl who wears it becomes the bride.” According to the marriage customs of the Hui people of Ningxia, needlework must be displayed at the wedding, and the embroidered articles the bride brings are shown before relatives and friends. For this reason, in the past almost every Ningxia woman knew embroidery; even today it remains widespread, and there are many highly skilled embroiderers.
Flat, coiling, gathering, appliqué, padded and bead stitches
Its stitches — flat, coiled, gathered, appliquéd, padded and beaded — are fine and even, with padding raising the design and beads catching the light.
Dark grounds, bright flowers
Black, white, navy and deep purple form the ground, with red, yellow, blue and green for the flowers — a bold, cool-warm contrast of northern character.
Five classes of useful work
Practical by nature, its output is clothing, insoles, aprons, pillow tops and bridal goods, kept alive by women through families and apprenticeships.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Ningxia embroidery is an important carrier of local folk culture. It integrates the aesthetic habits of the region’s various ethnic groups and is imbued with rich folk flavor, expressing the aspirations of the local people — especially women — for auspiciousness, safety, and happiness. It is a crystallization of ethnic wisdom with important historical, cultural, and artistic value, and it plays a positive role in realizing cultural identity, strengthening ethnic unity, and promoting the sustainable development of the local economy and society.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Minjianxiuhuo · Minjianxiuhuo · Minjianxiuhuo · Minjianxiuhuo · Minjianxiuhuo · Minjianxiuhuo · Minjianxiuhuo.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Ningxia embroidery is transmitted mainly through family and master-apprentice relationships, with women as the principal bearers of the tradition.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhao Cuilin 05-2687
- Zhang Xiaohong 05-2688
- Liu Shouxian 05-2689
- Cai Yuee 05-2690
- Zhang Juhua 05-2691
- Li Xiayin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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