Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Before the 1990s, the fashion of brocade weaving prevailed in these rural Miao villages.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Kaili City in Guizhou Province is the county-level administrative area with the largest Miao population in China; apart from the urban blocks, Miao natural villages are found everywhere. Kaili Miao brocade formerly used hemp and silk, and now uses cotton and silk, with some cotton-silk blends; the silk brocade woven from silk is the finest grade. Among the finest silk brocades, the first is the fine silk baby-carrier brocade of the "Middle-Skirt Miao" of Zhouxi. The fineness of its silk reaches a high density of 60 warps and 90 wefts per square centimeter; it feels soft, smooth, and supple, with fresh and bright patterns, exquisite beyond compare. Kaili Miao brocade has rich patterns, comprising animal motifs, plant motifs, celestial motifs, object motifs, geometric motifs, and more, too many to enumerate. The animal and plant motifs mostly take their images from nature and, after abstract simplification and deformation, appear highly exaggerated, vivid, and lifelike; or they take distinctive parts such as the head, horns, feet, claws, eyes, and hair whorls to symbolize the animal itself — a truly ingenious approach. Especially the frequent and apt use of diamond patterns makes the composition rigorous, regular, full, and symmetrical. Combined with skillful fine work and exquisite craftsmanship, the patterns stand out as concise, bright, unified, harmonious, beautiful, and dignified, with high aesthetic value and excellent decorative effect. At present, the traditional Kaili Miao brocade weaving craft already faces a crisis of having no successors; the main reason is that young women are either busy studying for exams or working away from home for wages, their attitudes have changed, and they are unwilling to learn the brocade craft that is fine, troublesome, time-consuming, and of little benefit.
The fine silk carrier band of Zhouxi
Zhouxi baby-carrier silk reaches sixty warp and ninety weft threads per square centimetre, light and lustrous.
Cotton-silk mixing and pure silk
Hemp and silk gave way to cotton and silk; pure silk still ranks highest, cotton cloth serves daily wear.
Motifs taken from head, horn, foot and claw
Animal motifs isolate the head, horn, foot, claw, eye or whorl, and the diamond ground keeps the layout strict and full.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Kaili City is the county-level administrative area with the largest Miao population in China; apart from the urban blocks, Miao natural villages are found everywhere, and in these villages every household originally had a loom. The raw material in earlier years was hemp and silk, now mostly cotton and silk, with some cotton-silk blends, among which the silk brocade is the finest. The fine silk baby-carrier brocade of the Middle-Skirt Miao around Zhouxi is the most exquisite; the fineness of its silk reaches sixty warps and ninety wefts per square centimeter, and it feels soft, smooth, and supple with fresh, bright patterns.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship · Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship · Miao Brocade Weaving Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Kaili Miao brocade has rich patterns, comprising animal, plant, celestial, object, and geometric motifs; the animal and plant motifs mostly take images from nature and, through abstraction, simplification, and deformation, appear exaggerated, vivid, and lifelike, or specifically take distinctive parts such as the head, horns, feet, claws, eyes, and hair whorls to symbolize the animal itself, while the frequent and apt use of diamond patterns makes the composition rigorous, regular, full, and symmetrical. Coupled with exquisite craftsmanship, the patterns are concise, bright, unified, and harmonious, with high aesthetic value and excellent decorative effect. The hidden worry is also direct: young women are either busy studying for exams or working away for wages, their attitudes have changed, and they are unwilling to learn this fine, troublesome, time-consuming, and barely beneficial brocade craft; the crisis of a lack of successors has already emerged.
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)
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