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.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yengisar County is an important production area for flower felt and printed cloth in southern Xinjiang. In the daily dwellings of the local Uygur, every visible place is carefully decorated, and the flower felt used for covering kang, flooring, worship, and wall hangings is among these decorations. Together with earthenware pottery, flower felt forms the two pillars of the local household handicraft industry; the felt material is mostly taken from local sheep's wool, and dyed with local plants such as pomegranate rind and walnut husk.

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. Wujiaximu Wushuer (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): male, Uygur ethnicity, born April 1961, a native of Yengisar County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Flower Felt and Printed-Cloth Weaving and Dyeing Craft." In terms of technique, he has mastered the hand-carving of mold-printing blocks and emphasizes the extraction and preparation of traditional plant dyes, continuously improving printing and dyeing techniques while preserving tradition. He values the transmission of the craft to the next generation, and has long taught the craft to students at local vocational secondary schools, restoring and developing a skill that was on the verge of being lost.

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

1. Huazhanyinhuabuzhiranjiyi (Yingjisha, Xinjiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wujiaximu Wushuer · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗