Traditional Cotton Textile Craftsmanship

01 · Historical Records

The Lisu people of Dechang began in the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, unable to bear the oppression of government troops and local chieftains, to migrate successively from the Jinsha River and Yalong River basins at the Sichuan–Yunnan junction to Dechang; the fire-grass cloth-weaving craft was brought to Dechang with them and formed a distinctive local culture.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft is a traditional technique that uses the plant fibers of fire grass and fire hemp, going through more than twenty process steps to weave cloth; it is mainly distributed in Jinsha Lisu Township and Nanshan Lisu Township of Dechang County, Sichuan Province, and their surrounding areas, with sporadic spread to small Lisu settlements such as Tuanjie Village in Badong Township, Xinyu Village in Kuanyu Township, and Shaba Village in Leyue Town of Xinchang County. The Dechang Lisu residential area is known for its distinctive natural and cultural landscapes; the Lisu living here have been little affected by outside culture and retain their ethnic flavor. The cloth the Lisu weave themselves is commonly called "fire-grass cloth": they pick fire-grass leaves from the hillsides and strip off the backing membrane, peel the bark from fire-hemp stalks, twist each separately into thread, and then weave it into cloth on a weaving frame. The Dechang Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft is rather distinctive: in weaving there are two shuttles, one carrying fire-grass thread and one carrying hemp thread, which are then interwoven. The whole making process passes through steps of gathering, tearing, cutting, sunning, rinsing, soaking, arranging, bleaching, winding, and weaving; every step is done by hand, using a simple homemade loom, and the blended cloth is made into women's dresses and skirts, men's clothes and trousers, and satchels. Making a single garment can even take several months. Every year in the sixth and seventh months, Dechang Lisu women go up the mountains in small groups to gather the wild fire-grass leaves from the deep mountain gullies and cut fire-hemp stalks; they gather to help one another and exchange their fire-grass cloth-weaving skills. In traditional society, whether a Lisu girl was considered excellent was judged mainly by whether she could spin and weave; especially in times of extreme material scarcity, the Lisu women living deep in the mountains relied on their own diligent hands and deft skills to weave bolt after bolt of beautiful, elegant fire-grass cloth to sew clothes for the whole family, young and old.

Archived Process-Step Records

The Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft is a traditional technique that uses the plant fibers of fire grass and fire hemp, going through more than twenty process steps to weave cloth; it is mainly distributed in Jinsha Lisu Township and Nanshan Lisu Township of Dechang County, Sichuan Province, and their surrounding areas, with sporadic spread to small Lisu settlements such as Tuanjie Village in Badong Township, Xinyu Village in Kuanyu Township, and Shaba Village in Leyue Town of Xinchang County. The whole making process passes through steps of gathering, tearing, cutting, sunning, rinsing, soaking, arranging, bleaching, winding, and weaving; every step is done by hand, using a simple homemade loom, and the blended cloth is made into women's dresses and skirts, men's clothes and trousers, and satchels.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Dechang branch has its roots in the two Lisu townships of Jinsha and Nanshan, with outlying spread to small villages such as Tuanjie Village in Badong Township, Xinyu Village in Kuanyu Township, and Shaba Village in Leyue Town of Xinchang County; it was those who migrated in the early Ming from the Jinsha and Yalong river basins who brought the whole weaving method into the mountain gullies. Unlike inland cotton spinning, the looms here work with only two shuttles—one of fire-grass thread, one of fire-hemp thread. Li Conghui kept the old rule of passing it only to kin, but now uses the Kuoshi Festival exhibitions to spread it outward.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

This craft is widely transmitted among Lisu women. The fire-grass cloth-weaving craft is an artistic crystallization formed by the Lisu people in their long labor and life; it displays the wisdom of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, is a treasure of traditional culture and folk craft, and embodies the Lisu's distinctive spiritual values, ways of thinking, imagination, and cultural awareness, fully reflecting the Lisu people's aesthetic sensibility and creative ability, with important cultural value. Li Conghui (from the official inheritor archive): Female, Lisu ethnicity, born in May 1962, from Dechang County, Sichuan Province. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the traditional cotton-textile craft (Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving technique) under the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft has been passed down through generations among the local people, and in the past was taught only to kin. Devoted to transmission, every year during the Kuoshi Festival (New Year) she organizes Lisu compatriots to go to Dechang county town and other places to hold activities showcasing Lisu ethnic characteristics, centered on promoting Lisu fire-grass cloth weaving. As a local expert in Lisu fire-grass cloth weaving, she is highly proficient in the craft and is one of the finest fire-grass cloth weavers among the Dechang Lisu. Over the long term she has trained a large number of young women who have mastered the Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft. She actively takes part in activities organized by departments at various levels to show the Lisu fire-grass cloth-weaving craft, and has preserved a complete set of materials documenting the fire-grass cloth-weaving craft.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗