Rattan Weaving
01 · Historical Records
It began in the late Qing period, developed rapidly during the Republican era, and has a history of more than a century to the present.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Huaiyuan rattan weaving is a traditional handicraft practiced in Huaiyuan Town, Chongzhou City, Chengdu, Sichuan Province. It uses locally grown rattan as its main raw material and, through more than ten process steps of treatment, processing, and weaving, produces articles for production and daily life and furniture that combine practicality with artistry, such as tea sets, rattan chairs, sofas, and rattan beds. In recent years it has also produced interior and exterior decorations and installations, used in the decoration of hotels, restaurants, schools, and other public spaces and in the creation of environmental and artistic atmospheres. The surface of the rattan skin bears a faint grain and a smooth texture; after weaving, the rattan core forms a distinctive uneven woven surface with a fine, springy feel to the touch. There are five shaping techniques: bulging, hollowing, folding, curving, and arcing. Traditional rattan weaving mostly uses the natural color of the rattan, usually a pale yellow, giving a soft, light visual sensation and creating a natural, fresh style of furniture. Modern rattan weaving pursues rich and varied colors, using two treatments—dyeing and coating—to give the rattan artificial colors and a broader range of color expression. Huaiyuan rattan weaving is made by weaving natural rattan, using interlacing solid-and-void and overlapping weaving techniques, so that it presents warm materials, beautiful forms, exquisite craftsmanship, and an eco-friendly, healthy character. It can both meet the needs of daily life and be combined with other decorative materials, and is widely used in interior decoration and the creation of space; it is an important achievement in combining China's traditional rattan weaving craft with modern life. Its works have fine patterns and graceful lines, giving a unique sense of beauty that is warm, natural, and plain, and combining practicality with artistry.
Archival Record of Process Steps
It uses locally grown rattan as its main raw material and, through more than ten process steps of treatment, processing, and weaving, produces articles for production and daily life and furniture that combine practicality with artistry, such as tea sets, rattan chairs, sofas, and rattan beds. In recent years it has also produced interior and exterior decorations and installations, used in the decoration of hotels, restaurants, schools, and other public spaces and in the creation of environmental and artistic atmospheres.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The rattan materials of Huaiyuan take the blue rattan, gourd rattan, and three-leaf nanmu rattan native to the local Jiguan Mountain as their raw materials; their grain is fine and their color warm and moist. Their forms have diverse curves—'M'-shaped, 'S'-shaped, scroll-flower, and wave patterns. The frames are complex in shape, mostly composed of arcs, triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids. The patterns are numerous: some express traditional culture through fortune, emolument, longevity, and joy, others humanistic taste through plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum; among them, the nine-chrysanthemum, chain-flower, and coiled-flower patterns have distinctly Ba-Shu regional characteristics. Huaiyuan rattan weaving has rich subjects and strong regional character, reflecting a wealth of traditional cultural substance. It has many practitioners, drives local employment, benefits local livelihoods, and supports rural revitalization, giving it considerable socio-cultural and economic value.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Rattan Weaving.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Master-apprentice transmission is the main mode of transmission for Huaiyuan rattan weaving, which has now reached its fifth generation. Its transmission community consists of teams engaged in the production and sale of rattan ware in the 'shop in front, workshop behind' format, together with rattan weaving associations tasked with product innovation and technical exchange activities. The representative inheritors of Huaiyuan rattan weaving all come from rattan-weaving families and are leaders of the transmission community.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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