Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
According to the county gazetteer, Weixian has a long history of cotton cultivation; cotton planting was introduced to Hebei in the late Yuan and early Ming, and in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign (1550) a "convenience (cotton) granary" was built at Sizhuangji, seventy li northeast of the county seat, showing that cotton cultivation was already on a sizable scale by then. During the Jiajing reign of the Ming, Weixian's cotton acreage reached 1,616 mu, and by 1923 it had grown to more than 300,000 mu.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Weixian homespun weaving craft is a traditional handicraft that uses cotton as raw material and, through many process steps, hand-weaves it into homespun with regular warp-wise stripes. The Weixian homespun weaving craft is widely distributed across the villages within Weixian, Hebei Province, and in neighboring Guangzong, Xingtai, and Nangong counties, with influence reaching Handan City and its counties as well as the adjacent Qinghe County. Weixian homespun is finely made and varied in type; its woven motifs and patterns are very rich, embodying auspicious meanings of celebration, good fortune, and prosperity. The Weixian homespun weaving craft involves complex steps, including twisting flower knots, spinning, twisting yarn, sizing yarn, dyeing yarn, winding yarn, threading the heddles, passing the reed, tying the loom, and weaving cloth. These steps cover the entire process from raw-material preparation to finished weaving, reflecting the complexity and refinement of the Weixian homespun weaving craft. The distinguishing feature of the Weixian homespun weaving craft is that the cloth uses only white, black, blue, yellow, and green, rarely the heavy reds and purples, giving it a very pronounced regional character and a strong ornamental and practical quality. The Weixian homespun weaving craft has a history of some 700 years; it has been passed down through families from generation to generation, transmitted orally and by personal instruction. Guandi Village in Weixian had over 400 looms, producing more than 800 bolts of homespun per day, while Dingjiazhai had over 800 looms, producing more than 1,600 bolts per day; the cloth was mainly sold to Taiyuan and Pingyao in Shanxi, and Zhangjiakou and Yuzhou in Hebei. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Weixian—an important cotton region on the North China Plain, Hebei's top cotton-growing county, and a national high-quality cotton base—retained the traditional homespun weaving craft very widely, with more than 40,000 women in the county engaged in homespun weaving and numerous hand looms found in households throughout. In recent years, Weixian homespun, made from natural materials, has won people's favor, and the craft is moving toward revival.
Archived Process-Step Records
The Weixian homespun weaving craft is a traditional handicraft that uses cotton as raw material and, through many process steps, hand-weaves it into homespun with regular warp-wise stripes. Its process is complex, including twisting flower knots, spinning, twisting yarn, sizing yarn, dyeing yarn, winding yarn, threading the heddles, passing the reed, tying the loom, and weaving cloth. These steps cover the entire process from raw-material preparation to finished weaving, reflecting the complexity and refinement of the craft.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The route by which Weixian homespun spread outward was sustained by sales volume: with over 400 looms in Guandi Village and over 800 in Dingjiazhai working day and night, the cloth traveled north along the Taihang Mountain roads to Taiyuan and Pingyao, and south to Zhangjiakou and Yuzhou, while the craft dispersed with the goods into the Guangzong, Xingtai, Nangong, and Qinghe areas. The villages recognized only white, black, blue, yellow, and green; Chen Aiguo replaced the "matching-sample, counting-threads" method with a "lining-sample, picking-threads" method, expanding the patterns to character cloth and flower-bird-insect-fish cloth.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Weixian homespun weaving craft carries the traditional Chinese cultural connotations since the late Yuan and early Ming, embodies important cultural information such as folk craft and customs, and displays the wisdom and creativity of the working people. It has high cultural value and important academic value for studying the developmental thread of China's textile technology. Chen Aiguo (from the official inheritor archive): Female, Han ethnicity, born in October 1970, from Weixian, Hebei Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the traditional cotton-textile craft (Weixian homespun weaving technique) under the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Weixian homespun weaving artisan. Building on a full command of the craft's more than ten process steps, she has vigorously improved weaving technology, innovated pattern styles, and explored a model for scaled development. Emphasizing science and diversity, she replaced the "matching-sample, counting-threads" method with a "lining-sample, picking-threads" method and other techniques, raising weaving efficiency. Her works are rich in subject matter and varied in type, including check cloth, character cloth, and flower-bird-insect-fish cloth. Her works feature exquisite patterns, clear weaves, and bright colors; while practical, they also have ornamental and collectible value. She actively participates in public-interest activities for ICH display and dissemination; through her efforts, more than two thousand new jobs have been created in Weixian's cotton-textile industry.
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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