Blue Calico Printing and Dyeing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Blue calico (lan yinhua bu) was originally called "jiaohua bu" (poured-flower cloth) and was termed "yaoban bu" (medicinal-spot cloth) in the Song dynasty; it is a textile printing-and-dyeing product long circulated among the Chinese folk. The Ming-dynasty "Tiangong Kaiwu" by Song Yingxing records that indigo can be extracted from indigo plants (lancao), and gives a detailed account of the indigo-making methods of that time. Shaoyang blue calico began roughly during the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty and has a history of over 1,400 years to this day. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, thanks to convenient water and land transport, Shaoyang became the largest blue calico production base in the central-south region.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hunan Province is a major production area of blue calico in China, and the blue calico printing and dyeing of Fenghuang County and Shaoyang County stand out in every respect. The blue calico printing-and-dyeing craft of Tuojiang Town in Fenghuang County has a long and distant history. Blue calico already appeared during the Western Han period. The blue calico printing-and-dyeing craft divides into two major categories—pure blue calico dyeing and colored blue calico dyeing: pure blue calico has a plain surface with no decorative patterns and is generally used to make garments and headscarves; colored blue calico has complex decorative patterns and is generally used to make quilt covers, mattress sheets, bed-curtain valances, aprons, waist wrappers, door curtains, tablecloths, wrapping cloths, and the like. Before dyeing it must go through the treatment processes of paper-mounting the stencil, tracing the draft, carving the stencil, oiling, mixing the dye, scraping the paste, and dipping into the dye; after dyeing it must further go through the process steps of airing, rinsing, rolling the cloth, and fulling the cloth (also called "stepping on the cloth"). The renowned Tuojiang Town artisan Liu Dapao created a double-sided blue calico on the basis of single-sided blue calico; its printing-and-dyeing method is relatively complex and has very precious craft value. According to the "Shaoyang County Annals," the Shaoyang people at that time created a printing-and-dyeing technique that used soy milk and lime to replace wax, based on the Miao ethnic group's batik craft. Shaoyang blue calico features archaic patterns, fine and dense dots and lines, emphasis on large-area contrast and detailed depiction, and a fresh, simple style. Its patterns mostly draw from folk legends and traditional auspicious designs, expressing the yearning and pursuit of a beautiful life.
Archival Account of the Process Steps
Before dyeing, it must go through the treatment processes of paper-mounting the stencil, tracing the draft, carving the stencil, oiling, mixing the dye, scraping the paste, and dipping into the dye; after dyeing it must further go through the process steps of airing, rinsing, rolling the cloth, and fulling the cloth (also called "stepping on the cloth").
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hunan Province is a major production area of blue calico in China, and the blue calico printing and dyeing of Fenghuang County and Shaoyang County stand out in every respect. The blue calico printing-and-dyeing craft of Tuojiang Town in Fenghuang County has a long and distant history; blue calico already appeared during the Western Han period; to this day a number of family workshops in Tuojiang Town and the areas of Guzhang and Luxi excel at hand-scraped paste and indigo dyeing. The Fenghuang County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center is the protecting unit for the item.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Nantong Blue Calico Printing and Dyeing Craftsmanship · Blue Calico Printing and Dyeing Craftsmanship · Blue Calico Printing and Dyeing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the past, over a hundred households in Tuojiang Town were engaged in the dyeing industry; now only a dozen or so small family workshops remain, and most of the dyeing artisans are advanced in age. Under these circumstances, the Fenghuang blue calico printing-and-dyeing craft faces the danger of being lost. With the development of the times and changes in social lifestyles, the blue calico printing-and-dyeing crafts of Fenghuang and Shaoyang have been impacted by mechanical printing and dyeing, are in daily decline, and have fallen into an endangered state, urgently requiring rescue and protection. Liu Dapao (recorded in the official inheritor archive): Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Blue Calico Printing and Dyeing Craft." During his artistic career, on the basis of traditional printing and dyeing he developed and innovated certain dyeing techniques and compositional methods, forming a distinctive printing-and-dyeing craft. His works cover a broad range of subjects; the printing-and-dyeing methods are entirely hand-operated, the manual craft is complex, and from conception to finished product there are over a dozen process steps. His works have pure, vivid colors and a fresh, elegant, plain yet refined style. His works have repeatedly participated in domestic and international exhibitions of folk handicrafts and traditional folk fine arts, and have been collected by numerous museums and research institutions. Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1939, died in November 2016, from Fenghuang County, Hunan Province. Liu Xinjian (recorded in the official inheritor archive): Male, Han ethnicity, born in February 1968, from Fenghuang County, Hunan Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Blue Calico Printing and Dyeing Craft." His printing and dyeing craft is meticulous, his workmanship fine, his composition ingenious, and his imagery profound; his colors are pure and vivid and his style fresh and elegant. Representative works include "Phoenix Playing with Peony," "Goldfish Sporting with Lotus," "Auspiciousness and Abundance," "Double Fish, Fortune and Longevity," "Auspicious Harvest," and "The Eight Treasures Radiant," among others. His works are sold far to Southeast Asia and have repeatedly entered domestic and international folk-arts competitions, deeply loved by consumers.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wu Yuanxin 01-0144
- Liu Dapao 03-1312
- Wang Zhenxing 04-1839
- Zhou Jiming 05-2733
- Jiang Liangshou 05-2734
- Liu Xinjian 05-2735
- Aijingwei
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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