Xiangyunsharanzhengjiyi
01 · Historical Records
Records of the dye plant Dioscorea cirrhosa (shuliang) already existed in the Tang dynasty, and both Shen Kuo of the Northern Song and Li Shizhen of the Ming dynasty described its dyeing properties. During the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty, Guangdong's gambiered gauze was already being exported abroad, and the gambiered gauze produced in the late Qing and early Republican period was even more welcomed by domestic and foreign markets. The sericulture and silk-reeling industry of Shunde District, Foshan City, has a long history. At its height in the 1920s, Shunde had more than five hundred sun-curing factories, over ten thousand workers, and a daily output of more than four thousand meters of aromatic cloud gauze.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Shunde District of Foshan City lies in the heart of the Pearl River Delta and has long enjoyed the reputation of being the "silk capital of the south," where the full dyeing and finishing technique of aromatic cloud gauze has been preserved intact. The aromatic cloud gauze dyeing and finishing technique, also called sun-curing (shailiang), is a process that uses the plant dye Dioscorea cirrhosa to color silk. Aromatic cloud gauze, also called "rustling cloud gauze" (xiangyunsha), has many advantages: it is crisp yet soft and smooth, has excellent fastness to sunlight and washing, strong water resistance, is easy to wash and quick to dry, has deep color and resists soiling, does not stick to the skin, is light and resists wrinkling, and is soft yet substantial, durable for long wear. It is especially suited to wearing in hot summers, and is therefore deeply favored by consumers, famous at home and abroad; it was once exported to Europe and America, India, and Southeast Asia, and was praised by overseas people as "black shimmering pearl" attire, becoming a renowned product of Chinese silk. In its fourteen-step dyeing process, aromatic cloud gauze uses only the juice of the natural plant Dioscorea cirrhosa and river-mud containing high-valent iron ions, containing no chemical auxiliaries whatsoever, and producing no harmful waste that pollutes the environment. Because aromatic cloud gauze is purely handmade, its process is complex, its output is small, and it is constrained by weather and environment, its production is low and the number of practitioners is steadily decreasing.
Archival Record of Process Steps
In its fourteen-step dyeing process, aromatic cloud gauze uses only the juice of the natural plant Dioscorea cirrhosa and river-mud containing high-valent iron ions, containing no chemical auxiliaries whatsoever, and producing no harmful waste that pollutes the environment.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The chief town for Shunde's sun-curing was around Lunjiao, amid villages threaded by waterways; the dyes are only two: the juice of Dioscorea cirrhosa and river-mud containing high-valent iron ions. In the late Qing and early Republican period gambiered gauze already reached foreign markets; in the 1920s all of Shunde had as many as five hundred-plus sun-curing factories and over ten thousand workers, with a daily output of more than four thousand meters. Today only the Lunjiao Chengyi Sun-curing Factory remains, and no more than two old hands thoroughly understand sun-curing.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Now the Lunjiao Chengyi Sun-curing Factory in Shunde has become the only surviving sun-curing factory, and within it only two masters understand sun-curing. The aromatic cloud gauze dyeing and finishing technique is short of successors and on the verge of being lost, and urgently needs rescue. Liang Zhu (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born January 1935, from Foshan City, Guangdong Province. Representative inheritor of the third batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item, the aromatic cloud gauze dyeing and finishing technique. Aromatic cloud gauze dyeing and finishing technician. At age fifteen he began as an apprentice at the Lunjiao United Sun-curing Factory, sun-curing aromatic cloud gauze; at sixteen he had already mastered the production flow and the complete set of dyeing and finishing techniques of aromatic cloud gauze, and is one of the few veteran sun-curing masters skilled in the craft. He has consistently worked to develop the aromatic cloud gauze industry; not only does he insist on using traditional grey silk and grey gauze and the traditional dyeing and finishing technique, he has also actively experimented with modern fabrics such as printed silk and cotton-linen goods as base materials, and with modern processes such as water washing and sanding for the later-stage treatment of aromatic cloud gauze, so that the traditional aromatic cloud gauze dyeing and finishing technique is both transmitted and given new development.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liang Zhu 03-1366
- Huang Tiansheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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