Dongjin Weaving Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Dong brocade weaving technique is mainly distributed in Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province, and its history can be traced back more than two thousand years to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, as the Dong ethnicity took shape and its traditional culture matured, the Dong brocade weaving technique also developed greatly. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the social economy of China's ethnic regions has advanced by leaps and bounds, and the traditional customs and daily life of ethnic minorities have come under the impact of industrial civilization; the transmission of Dong brocade, a traditional craft, has likewise been affected.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
From the Han through Tang and Song periods, the textile and dyeing craft of the Dong ancestors had already formed its own distinctive style. Dong brocade is divided into two kinds, plain brocade and colored brocade, both woven entirely by hand, requiring such process steps as cotton ginning, yarn spinning, yarn dyeing, yarn twisting, warp twisting, warp arrangement, and brocade weaving. Dong women display their intelligence and exquisite manual skill through brocade weaving. The patterns of Dong brocade recount the history and culture of the Dong people, reflecting their totem worship, religious beliefs, and the ethnic cultural psychology of averting misfortune and seeking good fortune, dispelling disaster and inviting blessing, and coexisting harmoniously with nature.
Archival Record of Process Steps
Dong brocade is divided into two kinds, plain brocade and colored brocade, both woven entirely by hand, requiring such process steps as cotton ginning, yarn spinning, yarn dyeing, yarn twisting, warp twisting, warp arrangement, and brocade weaving.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Dong brocade of Tongdao is divided into plain brocade and colored brocade, yet both streams cannot escape the seven steps from cotton ginning, yarn spinning, yarn dyeing, yarn twisting, warp twisting, and warp arrangement to brocade weaving. Today the relay is carried by workshops around Yatunbu: Su Tianmei served as supervisor of the Dong brocade workshop in the county weaving factory from 1982, moved to Yatunbu Town in 1990 to open a craft shop, and in June 2008 founded the Xiongguan Dong Brocade Factory, training more than a hundred apprentices in her town's villages and in neighboring villages.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Its richly ethnic patterns, abundant and profound cultural content, bright and harmonious colors, and elegant and dignified quality have made Dong brocade one of China's famous woven brocades, possessing unique cultural-artistic, social-historical, and scientific-technological value. Protecting the traditional culture of ethnic minorities and protecting Dong brocade, this fine ethnic traditional craft, has become a matter of urgency. Su Tianmei (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): female, Dong ethnicity, born August 1964, from Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province. Representative inheritor of the third batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item, the Dong brocade weaving technique. Dong brocade weaving technician. From 1982 to 1989 she served as supervisor of the Dong brocade workshop in the county weaving factory. From 1990 to 2008 she ran a Dong brocade craft shop in Yatunbu Town. Over the decades, from imitating traditional patterns to innovating them, she added luster upon luster to Dong brocade, making it ever richer and more varied. She actively opened up sales markets, enabling Dong brocade products to leave the locality and sell overseas. In June 2008, with the state's increasing emphasis on protecting intangible cultural heritage items, she founded the Xiongguan Dong Brocade Factory in Yatunbu Town. She trained more than a hundred apprentices in the village groups of her town and in neighboring villages. She received a nomination at the 2018 China Intangible Cultural Heritage Person of the Year selection activity sponsored by Guangming Daily and others.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Sutianmei 03-1364
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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