Dai Naxizushougongzaozhijiyi
01 · Historical Records
Baidi Dongba paper is white in color and thick in substance, not easily damaged by insects, and can be preserved for the long term. According to a survey in the 1940s, the Dongba classics written on it numbered more than five thousand volumes.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Naxi Dongba paper, also called Baidi paper, has a rather unique manufacturing craft, now preserved in Baidi Village, Sanba Naxi Township, Shangri-La County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Baidi (that is, Baishuitai) is the birthplace of Naxi Dongba culture. Dongba paper is the most important paper for sutra-writing in the Dongba tradition and has long enjoyed a great reputation among the various ethnic groups of northwest Yunnan. The raw material of Dongba paper is gathered from a locally unique plant called "Adangda," identified as the Daphne family's Lijiang wikstroemia (Wikstroemia lijiangensis). Its papermaking process consists of the steps of gathering raw material, sun-drying, soaking, steaming and boiling, washing, pounding the material, pounding again, sheet pouring, sheet pasting, and sun-drying, with the main tools being the paper screen, wooden frame, drying board, and wooden mortar. The movable paper screen of Dongba paper is rather special; the sheet-drying process clearly shows the influence of the pour-molding method while also bearing traces of the dip-molding method—the result of a synthesis of Chinese papermaking and the papermaking of the Indian-subcontinental region. Baidi Dongba paper has made outstanding contributions to the promotion of Dongba culture, and from the perspective of craft history it is also a rare example for the study of China's handmade paper.
Documented Process Steps
Its papermaking process consists of the steps of gathering raw material, sun-drying, soaking, steaming and boiling, washing, pounding the material, pounding again, sheet pouring, sheet pasting, and sun-drying, with the main tools being the paper screen, wooden frame, drying board, and wooden mortar.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Among the Dai and Naxi handmade-paper crafts in the area of Lincang, Yunnan, the Dai papermaking is especially notable, while the Naxi Dongba paper is preserved in Baidi Village, Sanba Naxi Township, Shangri-La County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The Lincang Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center is the protecting unit for the item.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Dai Naxizushougongzaozhijiyi.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Naxi papermaking craft has the tradition of passing from father to son but not to daughter; it has always been produced in family workshops and never taught outside, so under the pressure of modern commercial society it could vanish at any time and urgently needs rescue and protection. Yu Mengga (from the official archives of the associated inheritor): Female, Dai, born May 1939, a native of Gengma Dai and Wa Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. Representative inheritor of the Dai and Naxi handmade-paper craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the third batch. A handmade-paper craftswoman. Mangtuan Village of Mengding Town is the settlement where the local handmade-paper craft is most completely preserved. More than thirty households in Mangtuan Village engage in papermaking year-round, but the largest in scale and finest in quality is Yu Mengga's family. Over more than forty years of practice she has thoroughly mastered the Dai handmade-paper craft's five-stage process and eleven steps, and handles the key links—timing of material gathering, proportion of lime mixing, heat of steaming and boiling, rinsing, and sheet pouring—with great precision. Dai handmade paper is commonly used for the common people's sacrificial arrangements, copying Buddhist scriptures in Dai temples, bank currency-binding paper, and packaging Pu'er tea, among other things. The paper she makes is of superior quality and fairly priced, winning wide praise from merchants. She actively takes on apprentices and teaches the craft; her daughter-in-law Bing Helin and granddaughter Ying Gong have already thoroughly mastered the papermaking craft. Zhou Xiaosan (from the official archives of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the Dai and Naxi handmade-paper craft, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. A handmade-paper craftswoman. Over more than sixty years of practice she has comprehensively and thoroughly mastered the Dai handmade-paper craft, with precise command of the processes of raw-material soaking, lime-boiling, beating and washing, pounding into pulp, placing the screen in shallow water at the bottom of the vat, adding pulp and patting it evenly to lift the sheet, raising the screen to dry, and calendering. Dai papermaking was once used for copying scriptures, sacrificial rites, and cutting garment patterns; today it is also used for brush calligraphy, painting, binding renminbi, and packaging foods such as tea. The white cotton paper she makes is of superior quality and low price, with good sales; it is smooth, cottony-white like cloth, resistant to folding and abrasion, hard to tear, and highly absorbent of water and ink—giving it a certain influence and renown. Female, Dai, born February 1936, died July 2016, a native of Yongde County, Yunnan Province. She actively takes on apprentices and teaches the craft; she currently has seven apprentices including Li Qiang, Jin Futao, Li Jinju, and Jin Guangqiang.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- He Zhiben 01-0181
- Yumengga 03-1331
- Zhou Xiaosan 04-1856
- He Yuxin
- Jin Xiaoye
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。