Drawn-work Embroidery
01 · Historical Records
In the 1860s, after the port of Shantou in Guangdong Province was opened to foreign trade, the drawn-thread (choutong) technique was brought to China by foreigners; drawn-thread work began to circulate in Shantou and developed gradually as production and sales expanded, spreading to villages and market towns in the Hanjiang Delta and on the Rongjiang and Lianjiang plains. In the early 1980s, the production area and artistic spread of drawn-thread work expanded to the entire Chaoshan region, covering the Chaoshan plain on the Fujian-Guangdong border, and continued to develop into the neighboring Lufeng and Haifeng areas.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Drawn-thread work is a craft artwork that uses special tools to follow pattern designs and applies various artistic treatments to suitable fabrics and yarns. Shantou drawn-thread work comprises drawn-thread withdrawal, embroidery, weaving, cloth-mending, and piecing categories; each category contains many types of work, and each type of work involves multiple different stitches. Its raw materials are cotton and linen yarns and cloth, and its tools and implements are highly varied; its products have carved out their own style within China's drawn-thread industry through their distinctive patterns and the diversity of work types and stitches. Its production process is lengthy, running through design drafting, stitch drafting, pattern printing, embroidery, and shaping, and it retains a hand-operated mode; it is a precious heritage in the field of traditional fine arts. Its products include tablecloths, hand towels, embroidered garments, decorative items, and other home textiles — everyday articles for decoration and appreciation, and fine traditional craft works for giving as gifts and for collecting. The Shantou City Gazetteer records that during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, a German known as the “Boatmaster's Lady,” the American Briton “Nuohuo” (Nahud), and the Briton “Lady Lai” successively taught the drawn-thread weaving technique to women in the church congregations of the port of Shantou.
Five classes of drawn work
Drawn-thread work, embroidery, plaiting, patching and piecing each contain many trades, every trade its own family of stitches.
Drafting, pouncing, embroidering and setting
A long sequence of drawing, pricking, pouncing, embroidering and setting, all hand-performed, with the design passed from painter to pricker to pouncer.
Foreign designers in Shantou
The county gazetteer records foreign pattern designers at Shantou's drawn-work workshops from the Guangxu era, tracing the origin of its design vocabulary.
Transmission of the draughtsmanship
While the making passed among kin and neighbours, draughtsmanship followed a strict master line, becoming localised after the first generation studied foreign designers.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Shantou drawn-thread work spread to villages and market towns in the Hanjiang Delta and on the Rongjiang and Lianjiang plains. In the early 1980s, the production area and artistic spread of drawn-thread products expanded to the entire Chaoshan region, covering the Chaoshan plain on the Fujian-Guangdong border, and continued to develop into the neighboring Lufeng and Haifeng areas; since the end of the twentieth century it has also been exported as far as Southeast Asia, Europe, and America through foreign trade and overseas-Chinese hometown networks, making it one of the few categories in the Chaoshan region capable of breaking into international markets as a traditional craft.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Drawn-work Embroidery.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
For more than a hundred years, the related production techniques have been passed down from generation to generation in Shantou, mainly among relatives, neighbors, or across regions. In the art of design drafting, however, there is an obvious master-apprentice transmission: it is known that after the first generation of artisans in the port of Shantou learned the art of design drafting from foreign painters, the design art of Shantou drawn-thread work gradually became localized. Shantou drawn-thread work is a vivid witness to the integration and development of Chinese and Western cultures. Over more than a century of transmission it has accumulated rich deposits and formed a style that appeals to both refined and popular tastes; it is a precious resource for the study of the politics, culture, trade, religion, and handicraft development of the Chaoshan region. Its products are widely used by the public and have practical, artistic, and collecting value, and they have also made a definite contribution to increasing local employment and economic development.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Cai Saihua 05-2713
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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