Yi Embroidery
01 · Historical Records
It is said that Yi (Sani) embroidery originated in the Tang and Song dynasties and matured during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yi (Sani) embroidery, also called “Sani cross-stitch embroidery” and known in the Yi language as “Nawo,” is a folk embroidery art popular in the settlement areas of the Sani branch of the Yi people in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. It occupies a very important place in the daily life of the Sani people. Sani women learn embroidery from childhood, and each has skill at her fingertips. Through generations of transmission and continuous development, Sani embroidery art has become ever more refined. Sani embroidery guides the needle and thread along the warp and weft of the cloth, forming patterns with diagonal cross-stitches; it includes many techniques such as single-sided picking, double-sided picking, plain-color picking, and multicolor picking. The items embroidered are mostly everyday articles such as backpacks, tablecloths, curtains, floral head wraps, floral aprons, and garment borders. Sani embroidery has fine, dense stitches, consummate workmanship, ingeniously conceived patterns, well-balanced composition, and bright colors, fully displaying the intelligence, talent, and artistic creativity of the Sani people, and bearing a distinct ethnic style and local character.
Four ways of crossing
The stitch follows the warp and weft in diagonal crosses, worked single-faced, double-faced, in one colour or a colour per grid.
Heavy on crossing, light on the needle
Bi Yueying's style is heavy on the cross and light on the finishing needle, giving plain motifs range and depth.
The wrapped headcloth technique
Beyond garment stitching she has codified the classic motifs, colour schemes and the wrapping technique of the Sani headcloth.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yi (Sani) embroidery, also called “Sani cross-stitch embroidery” and known in the Yi language as “Nawo,” is a folk embroidery art popular in the settlement areas of the Sani branch of the Yi people in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, and it occupies a very important place in the daily life of the Sani people. It guides the needle and thread along the warp and weft of the cloth, forming patterns with diagonal cross-stitches, and includes many techniques such as single-sided picking, double-sided picking, plain-color picking, and multicolor picking; the items embroidered are mostly everyday articles such as backpacks, tablecloths, curtains, floral head wraps, floral aprons, and garment borders. Sani villages in the Shilin area still maintain the family tradition that girls learn embroidery from childhood, and the village embroiderers generally divide their time between farm work and embroidery; at festivals and market days their embroidered wares are often displayed alongside Yi costume.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Bi Yueying (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): female, of the Yi nationality, born in December 1954, a native of Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. Under the verbal instruction and personal example of her grandmother and mother, she began learning embroidery at the age of eight. She has practiced the art for more than fifty years, and her embroidery skill is accomplished and distinctive. Her embroidered works are mainly cross-stitch, with regular, symmetrical patterns and gorgeous colors, forming a distinctive style that “favors picking over stabbing,” which gives simple, plain motifs rich layers and depth of meaning. Besides being skilled in the cutting, sewing, and embroidery of traditional costume, she has also summarized and systematized traditional classic motifs and coloring methods, as well as the traditional wrapping techniques for head wraps. She is a representative inheritor of Yi (Sani) Embroidery, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item in the fifth national-level batch. She has participated many times in intangible cultural heritage exhibition and exchange activities; her works have won repeated awards and are held in the collections of many museums. She actively participates in transmission activities and has been specially engaged as an expert by universities in Yunnan; she is a representative and influential inheritor in her locality. She has many apprentices and students, a number of whom have become provincial-, municipal-, and county-level inheritors.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Bi Yueying 05-2692
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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