Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Palaz is a Uyghur term meaning a kind of plain-woven woolen fabric. Wherever Uyghur people live and work in Xinjiang, one can find palaz weaving, and it is most prominent in Heiying Mountain Township, Baicheng County. This trade has long been undertaken by women, who in their spare time away from farming spin wool, floss, cotton, and hemp into thread and weave it into cloth, then use it to make untufted carpets, wall hangings, kang (heatable bed) surrounds, pouches, and horse packsaddles (called "ghorjun" in Uyghur). Paretam Turdi began learning the craft from her mother at age 14 and started taking apprentices in 2001; she has taught nearly a hundred students, keeping the craft from dying out as the older generation passes away.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Palaz, in Uyghur, means a kind of plain-woven woolen fabric. It can be sewn into untufted carpets, wall hangings, kang surrounds, pouches, and horse packsaddles (called "ghorjun" in Uyghur). In Xinjiang, wherever Uyghur people live and work, one can see palaz weaving. This weaving craft is especially prominent in Heiying Mountain Township, Baicheng County, and is most representative in Mingbulake Village of that township. About half of the village's housewives—more than 120 people—master the palaz weaving craft. The Uyghur palaz weaving of Heiying Mountain Township uses rich raw materials; though its products are few in variety, the craft is ancient and bears ethnic and local character. Its dyeing materials are special and uncommon—fresh walnut husks, fresh pomegranate rinds, dandelion, black hollyhock, and colored mineral ores—and the dyed fabrics display plain, elegant, subdued, and natural colors, carrying the natural scent of plant juices. The palaz weaving craft of Heiying Mountain Township is quite distinctive; its process flow of material selection, coloring, thread making, and weaving forms a complete textile craft.
Archived Process-Step Records
The palaz weaving craft of Heiying Mountain Township is quite distinctive; its process flow of material selection, coloring, thread making, and weaving forms a complete textile craft.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The palaz weaving craft is most representative in Mingbulake Village, Heiying Mountain Township, Baicheng County, where about half the housewives—more than 120 people—master the skill. The weaving tools are simple: just a small wooden frame and a knife-shaped turning board, weaving about three meters a day. The dyes are drawn from local materials; fresh walnut husks, fresh pomegranate rinds, dandelion, black hollyhock, and colored mineral ores are all common, and the dyed cloth shows plain, elegant, subdued, and natural colors, still bearing the scent of plant juices. The Baicheng County Cultural Center, together with the local song-and-dance troupe and film projection center, serves as the protecting unit for this item; the craft's survival currently depends mainly on the perseverance of a few people such as Paretam Turdi.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Under the constant impact of industrialization and with elderly inheritors passing away one after another, the Uyghur palaz weaving craft now faces an endangered condition; there is an urgent need to provide a sound environment for the transmission of the craft for its few highly skilled representative inheritors such as Paretam Turdi. Paretam Turdi (from the official inheritor archive): Female, Uyghur ethnicity, born in July 1965, from Baicheng County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the traditional cotton-textile craft (Uyghur palaz weaving technique) under the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Uyghur palaz weaving artisan. She began learning palaz weaving from her mother at age 14 and is highly skilled; her main raw materials are wool, floss, cotton, and hemp, and she weaves using only a small wooden frame and a knife-shaped turning board, about three meters a day. Building on her mother's dyeing skills and combining them with practice, she uses local materials extensively—walnut rinds, pomegranate rinds, dandelion, and the black hollyhock common on the Gobi, as well as other colored mineral powders—to print and dye the cloth; the palaz she weaves shows brilliant colors and a strong natural scent. Starting in 2001, she has taught the palaz weaving craft, and nearly a hundred students have now mastered it.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chang Zhangqin 03-1358
- Tuerxunmusha 03-1359
- Paretanmu Tuerdi 04-1878
- Chen Aiguo 05-2798
- Wang Guifeng 05-2799
- Li Conghui 05-2800
- Yu Yanping
- Liu Yune
- Zheng Yunxiang
- Su Jinfang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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