Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi
01 · Historical Records
Until the 1990s, felt carpets (flower felt) had never been absent from Uygur daily life, and to this day a few households with earthen kang still use them.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The weaving and dyeing techniques of the Xinjiang Uygur people have a long history, among which the weaving and dyeing of flower felt and printed cloth are the most renowned. The Uygur have a tradition of using wool felt; in daily dwellings, every visible place is carefully decorated, and the flower felt used for covering kang, flooring, worship, and as wall hangings is among these decorations. The flower-felt making craft of Qiemo County includes pressed flower felt, printed flower felt, painted flower felt, and appliqué-embroidered flower felt, among others. Its motifs are rich in subject matter, bright in color, and numerous in type, varying by region. They include the longevity pattern, meander pattern, and antique-pattern influenced by Han culture; Arabic-style geometric and floral motifs; motifs of Uygur daily utensils and tools; Islamic-style ewer and mihrab motifs; and even Nestorian and Buddhist motifs. Flower felt is also an important daily necessity of the Kazak people, who call it "Syrmaq" in their language. Kazak flower felt is mostly double-layered, thicker than ordinary wool felt, densely sewn, durable, and can be passed down through several generations. It is mainly distributed in Kazak pastoral areas such as Tacheng, Yili, Altay, Mori, and Barkol. Tacheng is a region where Xinjiang's Kazak people are relatively concentrated, and flower felt is used very widely. The making of Kazak flower felt has a history of over two thousand years. Its main raw materials are wool, wool yarn, colored cloth, and dyes. The entire process consists of shearing wool, beating wool, felting, drawing and designing, and pattern dyeing. The making methods include felt appliqué, cloth appliqué, combined felt and cloth, and embroidery. Kazak flower felt mainly includes types such as seat-cushion felt, bed felt, dowry felt, and felt used beside the stove. These flower felts are brilliantly colored with richly meaningful patterns, reflecting the ideals and wishes of Kazak herders and providing concrete material for research into Kazak ethnic traditional culture, aesthetic thought, and life customs. Their making craft and process are strict and reasonable, meet scientific requirements, and also hold research value for the history of ethnic-minority crafts. At present, industrial carpet production and the advent of chemical-fiber carpets have greatly impacted the market for hand-felted and embroidered flower felt. Under these circumstances, most young people are unwilling to learn flower-felt making; only a few elderly people master the craft, and the traditional flower-felt making craft has no successors and faces the danger of being lost. Mold-stamped earthen printed cloth is an ancient traditional manual craft of the Uygur people in Yengisar County, Xinjiang; people use self-woven white cloth as the base and print it with relief-patterned blocks. The molds used for printing and dyeing are all hand-carved from wood, their size determined by the size of the pattern. The colors of mold-stamped earthen printed cloth are mostly bright red, pink, fruit green, medium yellow, and pale yellow, with patterns mostly drawn from flowers, fruits, plants, and household utensils. This printed cloth is mainly used to make wall borders, wall hangings, waist scarves, tablecloths, mattress pads, and curtains, among others. It has a strong ethnic style and local color, giving a sense of archaic simplicity, refined elegance, and grace, and is deeply loved by the Uygur people.
Geometric borders and repeated rosettes
Borders of repeated geometry and rosettes make the felt coordinate with carpets and tent hangings, and stay even when made in quantity.
Matching the tent and carpet
Where tent walls and carpets are produced at scale, felt mats are made to match, both rolling up with the household on the move.
The felt tradition
Felt has long served the tent, the mattress, the prayer mat and the wall, its range widening as the pastoral household's needs grew.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tacheng region is one of the areas where the Xinjiang flower-felt and printed-cloth weaving and dyeing craft is distributed. In Kazakh and Uygur villages in the Ili River valley and on the southern edge of the Junggar Basin, there is a common habit of decorating dwellings with wool felt and covering kang for worship. The flower felt made there is mainly pressed and printed, convenient for mass production, with patterns mostly of geometric borders and continuous clustered flowers, suitable as matching items for carpets and yurts. The Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center of the Tacheng region, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, is the protecting unit for the item.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Uyghur Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi · Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi · Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The mold-stamped earthen printed cloth of Yengisar County reflects the living conditions of the local people a thousand years ago, providing material for exploring the development and changes of the Uygur people, and holds relatively high historical research value. Musilimujiang Qiaerfuhan (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): female, Kazak ethnicity, born April 1952, a native of Toli County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Flower Felt and Printed-Cloth Weaving and Dyeing Craft." Her skill comes from family tradition; from childhood she loved flower-felt design, making, and research. The flower felt she makes has a compact composition, mostly using large geometric figures as the main motif, surrounded by symmetrical sheep-horn variant patterns, combining grand openness with gentle softness, with bold coloring, brilliant hues, and fine workmanship. She has conducted some research into Kazak flower-felt patterns and published several articles in various newspapers. She has trained more than 100 inheritors of the flower-felt making craft, helping local herders escape poverty and become prosperous. She has participated many times in various Xinjiang handicraft competitions and won awards.
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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