Ditan Weaving Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Historically, this technique originated in Baoning Town and Jiangnan Town of Langzhong City, which lie beside the Jialing River, and has now expanded to six townships including Qili, Shuanglong, Wencheng, and Hexi. Guo Zizhang, a Ming-dynasty scholar, wrote in his "Treatise on Sericulture": "From Zhejiang to Sichuan, Langzhong's sericulture is the most flourishing." In 1924, the "Lotus Brand" raw silk produced by the Taifeng Silk Factory of Langzhong won a special gold medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition. In the early 1980s, Langzhong established a light-industry textile group; as a foreign-trade product, the silk carpets were in short supply, the number of carpet-weaving workers rose sharply, and the production area began to expand outward.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Langzhong silk carpet weaving technique is a traditional craft that uses silk as raw material to make silk carpets through complex hand-knotting and fine weaving processes. Langzhong silk carpets are divided into two major categories, floor carpets and wall hangings, in various shapes and specifications such as rectangular, square, round, and screen-strip, and come in four grades of mulberry-silk carpets of 260, 300, 350, and 400 lines. The Langzhong silk carpet weaving technique involves intricate process steps and takes an extremely long time. Using silk as raw material, it is meticulously woven through seven major process steps: designing, dyeing, weaving, shearing the pile, washing the carpet, carving the pattern, and finishing. Among these, the core craft is the high-density hand-knotting technique, with more than a thousand silk threads per meter on the carpet back, all knots and wraps of warp and weft done entirely by hand. Another special skill is relief clipping and ornamenting: the craftsman, according to the woven pattern, uses different techniques of opening, slicing, clipping, and inlaying to ornament it, giving the pattern a "relief" effect. Overall, the craft characteristics of the Langzhong silk carpet weaving technique lie in fully exploiting the properties of silk: the weave is fine, dense, and tight; the carpet is soft yet elastic; the colors are bright; the patterns are delicate; and the finished product is water-resistant, wrinkle-resistant, colorfast, and non-deforming. Langzhong's silk production has a long history; the "Changqu Ba Annals" of the Huayang Guo Zhi records that "the Ba vassal state flourished in sericulture." The "Tang History" records that "Langzhong Commandery's tribute included lotus, ling, juan, and silk." The Langzhong silk carpet weaving technique inherits the primitive weaving method of the initial stage of carpets, blends in China's traditional pictorial and plastic arts, and is praised as the "Oriental soft relief."
Archival Record of Process Steps
The Langzhong silk carpet weaving technique involves intricate process steps and takes an extremely long time.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The production area of Langzhong silk carpets began at Baoning Town and Jiangnan Town, and now extends to six townships including Qili, Shuanglong, Wencheng, and Hexi. Guo Zizhang, a Ming-dynasty scholar, wrote in his "Treatise on Sericulture" that from Zhejiang to Sichuan, Langzhong's sericulture was the most flourishing; the "Changqu Ba Annals" of the Huayang Guo Zhi records that the Ba vassal state flourished in sericulture, and the "Tang History" further records that Langzhong Commandery's tribute included lotus, ling, juan, and silk, showing that the link between the silk industry and tributary tribute has been long established. In 1924 the Lotus Brand raw silk of the Langzhong Taifeng Silk Factory won a special gold medal at the Panama Pacific International Exposition; in the early 1980s Langzhong established a light-industry textile group, silk carpets were once in short supply, the number of weavers greatly increased, and the production area expanded outward accordingly; today production is carried on by Sichuan Yinhe Carpet Co., Ltd.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Behind this technique lies the development of the region's sericulture, which has accumulated into an exquisite and distinctive manual craft, transmitted for several hundred years without decline, and possessing considerable cultural-artistic, historical-research, and craft value.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Kang Yusheng 03-1367
- Liu Fuguo 03-1368
- Maitusong Tudi 03-1369
- Wang Guoying 05-2806
- Liu Jingbo 05-2807
- Li Yukun
- Lu Xingqiong
- Duan Lizhen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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