Tibetan Bianzhitiaohuacixiugongyi
01 · Historical Records
According to the "bone spindle whorl" found at the Danba Haneji Neolithic site, textile technique in the Jiarong region had already begun as early as the Neolithic age, more than 4,500 years ago.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Tibetan weaving and cross-stitch embroidery craft (hereafter "Tibetan weaving-and-embroidery craft") is a traditional craft formed over many centuries by the Jiarong Tibetans as they adapted to the special geographical environment and climatic conditions of the area and made full use of local resources, continuously innovating and absorbing the cross-stitch embroidery craft of the Han Chinese; it has strong ethnic character and distinctly regional features. In subsequent historical development, the Jiarong Tibetan ancestors, on the one hand, relied on the area's rich resources of Tibetan goat herding and arrow-hemp cultivation, together with weaving techniques, to process and produce wool and hemp textiles with strong Jiarong regional character; on the other hand, through contact with the interior, they obtained by exchange various cotton textiles related to daily life. Tibetan weaving-and-embroidery craft is transmitted mainly within the family (that is, from mother to daughter), together with communal (collective) transmission. Weaving and embroidery occupy an extremely important place in the life of the Jiarong Tibetans and are a livelihood on which they depend heavily. The colorful festive dress of the Jiarong women embodies the consummate skill of traditional Tibetan weaving and embroidery: the embroidered headscarf draped over the head, the bright five-colored belt cinched at the waist, the flowing cape worn over the shoulders at festivals, and the embroidered shoes on the feet — everywhere shines the cleverness of the Jiarong women, and everywhere wafts the fragrance of Jiarong culture. Against the backdrop of today's global economic integration and the impact of modern industrial civilization, traditional Tibetan weaving and embroidery craft, like other intangible cultural heritage, faces severe challenges: first, the transmission of the craft has been obstructed to a certain degree; second, some special techniques are in danger of being lost. Rescue and protection are urgently needed.
Mother-to-daughter transmission
Passed chiefly from mother to daughter with a collective dimension as well, weaving and embroidery are central to Jiarong life and livelihood.
A bone spindle of 4,500 years
A bone spindle whorl from the Haneyi Neolithic site at Danba shows Jiarong weaving began over four and a half thousand years ago.
Head scarves, belts and embroidered shoes
The Jiarong woman's festive dress displays the craft throughout, from the embroidered head scarf and five-coloured belt to the flowing cape and embroidered shoes.
Reviving coiled-gold embroidery
The fourth-batch inheritor Yang Huazhen, born in 1960, systematically organised Jiarong techniques, revived the endangered coiled-gold stitch and taught over three thousand people.
Wool and hemp resources
Relying on Tibetan goat herds and hemp crops, the Jiarong produced distinctive wool and hemp cloth and traded with the interior for cotton goods.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Tibetan weaving-and-embroidery craft takes Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province as its center of transmission, distributed across the Jiarong Tibetan settlements of Barkam, Xiaojin, Jinchuan and Danba, and radiating to the Jiarong Tibetan areas of Ganzi Prefecture. The valley farming areas inhabited by the Jiarong Tibetans have great differences in altitude and marked contrasts between day and night temperatures; local products such as Tibetan goats and arrow hemp provide raw materials for the wool and hemp textiles, while each locality places different emphases on the patterns of headscarves, belts, capes and embroidered shoes.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yang Huazhen (associated inheritor, according to the official archival record): Female, Tibetan ethnicity, born in June 1960, native of Xiaojin County, Sichuan Province. Representative inheritor of Tibetan weaving and cross-stitch embroidery craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project (fourth batch). She has worked in weaving and embroidery for decades, paying attention to collecting traditional Tibetan weaving and embroidery works and related materials; she has systematically organized the weaving and embroidery techniques and stitches of the Jiarong Tibetans and revived the nearly extinct gold-coiling embroidery. Her weaving and embroidery skills are consummate, with distinct ethnic character. Her representative works include Auspicious Heaven and Earth, Clusters of Flowers and Brocade, The Potala Palace Shining with the Sun and Moon, Tashi Delek, Peonies of Wealth and Honor, Shakyamuni, Yellow Jambhala and Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara. In the earthquake relief and rescue work after the great Wenchuan earthquake, she actively organized veteran Tibetan and Qiang weaving and embroidery artisans to rescue and document their ethnic techniques, and carried out weaving and embroidery creation to help them rebuild their livelihoods. For many years she has persisted in going deep into villages, communities, temples and colleges, teaching techniques to more than three thousand women, monks and lay students, helping rural women work from home, and promoting ethnic unity in the region. Her works have been displayed and won awards at national exhibition and demonstration activities on many occasions, or have been collected by foreign friends and museums.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yanghuazhen 04-1819
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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