Mongolian Leileiche Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The origins of the lele cart can be traced back to the shaft-and-spoke carts recorded in the Han Shu (Book of Han).
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The lele cart is a Mongolian-style ox cart, also called the lulu cart, the luoluo cart and the niuniu cart; the word lele was originally the sound herders used to urge on their animals. For more than two thousand years, from the Qin and Han dynasties to the 1970s and 1980s, the lele cart was the most important means of transport for grassland herders; it is known as the boat of the grasslands and played an enormous role in the production and life of the Mongolian people. The lele cart is the herder's mobile home: when moving, the cart is the dwelling; when stopped, the felt tent is the shelter. It has a small body and large double wheels, made entirely of birch, pine, willow and elm without any iron fittings, so it is easy to build and repair and moves readily over the grassland; it is praised as the grass-flyer. Besides hauling felt tents, supplies and household water, in wartime it was often used as a cart for transporting army provisions and equipment.
The small-bodied, high-wheeled cart
A small body on tall wheels, built of timber and hide, and roofed over so the cart itself becomes the moving dwelling.
The word behind the name
The name records the call the herdsman used: lelelelelelo, the sound that drove the cattle and named the cart.
The cart as the tent
For two millennia it served as the boat of the grassland, carrying the household itself into the field.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The lele cart making craft is concentrated in the Xilingol and Ulanqab grassland zones, such as East Ujimqin Banner in Inner Mongolia, where the pasture has limited bearing capacity; the small body and large double wheels are designed precisely for pushing over soft ground. The herder's mobile home moves with the cart, so the lele cart becomes a component part of the grassland settlement. In deep winter and spring snow, carts mostly travel coupled together, with more than ten in a line, which herders call a cart train. The East Ujimqin Banner Culture Center is the project's protecting unit, and the cart makers mostly come from a few families, passing the craft down through the generations. The lele cart making craft is concentrated in the Xilingol and Ulanqab grassland zones, such as East Ujimqin Banner in Inner Mongolia, where the pasture has limited bearing capacity; the small body and large double wheels are designed precisely for pushing over soft ground. The herder's mobile home moves with the cart, so the lele cart becomes a component part of the grassland settlement. In deep winter and spring snow, carts mostly travel coupled together, with more than ten in a line, which herders call a cart train. The East Ujimqin Banner Culture Center is the project's protecting unit, and the cart makers mostly come from a few families, passing the craft down through the generations. Herders making carts generally use locally available materials: the wheel rims are pieced together from bent wood and covered with hide, the shafts are cut into square beams, and the axle is made of hardwood wrapped with leather to reduce friction; from completion to usability, one lele cart takes roughly a month or more, and it must be regularly re-hooped and have its spokes replaced. The felt tents, trunks, grain bags and teapots loaded on the cart are configured according to the size of the family, so buying a cart is in fact assembling a household migration.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mongolian Leileiche Making Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The lele cart is a means of transport made to suit the natural environment of the northern grasslands and the living habits of the Mongolian people; it can still be seen in East Ujimqin Banner and the surrounding areas. With rapid economic development, the lele cart has gradually been replaced by motor vehicles; apart from a few remote areas where herders still use them, they are now hard to find on the grasslands. Most of the artisans who have mastered the lele cart making craft are already advanced in age, and there are few successors, so this traditional craft urgently needs rescue and protection. East Ujimqin Banner lies in the heart of the Xilingol Grassland, one of the four great grasslands; a certain number of lele carts still survive there and the types are fairly complete, so conditions exist for protecting the lele cart making craft, and the relevant authorities should promptly set to work in light of local conditions.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Bai Yinchagan 03-1321
- Saiyindouleng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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