Uyghur Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi
01 · Historical Records
Since the 1980s, living conditions have gradually improved and lifestyles have changed accordingly, leading to the gradual disappearance of patterned felt. Urban and rural residents in Xinjiang have mostly moved into new homes and no longer need wall-hanging cloth or kang (heated brick bed) border cloth; the uses of colored printed cloth in Uyghur life are decreasing, and it finds few buyers in the market.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The weaving and printing/dyeing techniques of the Uyghur people of Xinjiang have a long history, among which patterned felt and printed cloth are the most famous. According to Uyghur traditional custom, every surface within sight in the home must be carefully decorated, and wool felt is one of the traditional handicrafts used for interior decoration. It is used mainly for covering kangs (heated brick beds), flooring, prayer mats, and wall hangings, and was still in wide use until a little more than ten years ago. There are many kinds of patterned felt, including pressed felt, printed felt, painted felt, and embroidered felt. There are more than one hundred patterns used in patterned felt and printed cloth. These include longevity character motifs, hui-style script, and archaic-object motifs influenced by Han culture; geometric and floral patterns in Arab style; distinctive Uyghur patterns of everyday objects and tools; Islamic-style patterns such as the ewer and the mihrab; and even some patterns handed down from the ancient Western Regions. Uyghur printing and dyeing techniques are centered on the color printing of cloth, and include block printing, tie-dyeing, and wooden-stamp printing, of which wooden-stamp printing is the most widespread, most used, and longest-established technique. Colored printed cloth has long been used as the lining of cotton robes, waist sashes, bed covers, curtains, door curtains, dust-mat covers, wall hangings, prayer cloths, and wall and kang border cloth. Wooden-stamp printing uses carved wooden stamps dipped in various natural plant and mineral dyes, stamped onto hand-woven homespun white cloth; multiple different stamp patterns are combined to form the colored printed cloth. The colored printed cloths designed and made by folk artisans themselves are colorful and varied, and some, being finely made, can be called artistic treasures. Wooden-stamp printed cloth has more than one hundred patterns, unconstrained in style and richly varied. These patterns contain no human or animal figures, however, owing to the Islamic prohibition on representing beings with souls. The making of patterned felt and colored printed cloth are both traditional hand techniques passed down from generation to generation among the Uyghur people. In this situation, patterned felt and colored printed cloth artisans have one after another changed trades, and their descendants no longer inherit this ancient technique.
Pressed, printed, painted and embroidered felt
Four families — pressed, printed, painted and embroidered — from moulded relief to plant-dyed colour and the most laborious embroidery.
Mats for bed, floor, prayer and wall
Used for bedding, floors, prayer mats and wall hangings, and still everyday until a decade or so ago, it dresses every surface in view.
Ground patterns and overprinting
Printed with wooden blocks and dye paste in seven or eight passes, the cloth combines geometric grounds with flowers and serves as door hangings and waistcoats.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Patterned felt and printed cloth are made in many parts of Xinjiang; the Turpan area excels in felt mats for yurts, prayer mats, and wall hangings. In the local homes, every surface within sight must be carefully decorated, and wool felt is one of these, still in wide use until a little more than ten years ago. There are many kinds of patterned felt, including pressed felt, printed felt, painted felt, and embroidered felt. The Xinjiang Great Desert Folk Art Museum serves as the project protection unit.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi · Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi · Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Although now rarely seen, they are still used by a few households that sleep on earthen kangs. The patterns of patterned felt are rich and brightly colored, reflecting the living conditions of the Uyghur people and the long history of exchange between foreign cultures and Han culture; they have high humanistic and artistic value. Most of the surviving veteran artisans are now in their declining years, and the ancient hand techniques face the prospect of dying out with their practitioners; rescue and protection are urgently needed. Yasheng Abudureheman (record from the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Uyghur ethnicity, born in 1957, of Hotan, Xinjiang. Representative inheritor of the Uyghur patterned felt and printed cloth weaving and dyeing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the first batch. He began learning the patterned felt technique in 1975 and is now a master of folk felt-making in the Xinjiang area. The colors and varieties he has designed are rich and diverse, numbering more than fifty; the sun, the moon, mountains, sheep horns, and objects of daily life and production can all serve as decorative material. He has also studied the appliqué-embroidery methods of nomadic peoples such as the Kazakh, Kirgiz, and Tajik for use in making his own people's patterned felt. In 2005, with the Xinjiang exhibition delegation, he demonstrated felt-making techniques at the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair. He has taken on ten apprentices in succession, of whom two are still making felt today. In 2002, Yasheng Abudureheman received the Outstanding Artisan Award of Hotan Prefecture. Yaoer Daxi Ahong (record from the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Uyghur ethnicity, born in 1948, of Lop, Xinjiang. Representative inheritor of the Uyghur patterned felt and printed cloth weaving and dyeing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the first batch. At present, he is the most skilled artisan of earth printed cloth in Hotan. He can not only print dozens of earth printed cloths in different styles, but can also design and carve wooden stamps. The patterns of the earth printed cloth he prints are mainly transformed, abstract flowers and geometric figures, combined with images of architectural components and production tools and symbols such as the wan and cross signs; he also lays stress on absorbing the decorative traditions of Han culture. One inheritor he trained can now print cloth independently. In 2002, Yaoer Daxi Ahong received the Outstanding Artisan Award of Hotan Prefecture.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yasheng Abudoureheman 01-0142
- Yaoerdaxi Ahong 01-0143
- Maiterouzi Maimaiti 03-1311
- Musileimujiangqiaerfuhan 04-1838
- Wujiaximu Wushuer 05-2732
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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