Huabian Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
During the Republican period, embroidery (tiaohua) factories gradually developed. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Xiaoshan lace-making technique entered a flourishing period; the number of women lace workers reached more than 200,000 at its height, and many products were sold overseas.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Xiaoshan lace, also known as "wanlusi" (ten-thousand-thread silk), is a drawn-work embroidery craft formed on the basis of folk embroidery; it is named for being abundantly produced in Xiaoshan, Zhejiang, and its making technique is distributed throughout all 22 towns (subdistricts) of Xiaoshan. Xiaoshan District lies in northern Zhejiang Province and has a subtropical monsoon humid climate. Its northern part is mainly formed by silt deposited by the tides of the Qiantang River and is also called "shadi" (sand land); it is a major producing and distributing area for silk cocoons and cotton. The Kanshan area of Xiaoshan is the birthplace of the Xiaoshan lace-making technique and also the main production area for Xiaoshan lace. The Xiaoshan lace-making technique differs from both embroidery and drawn-thread work: it ingeniously "picks out" a great variety of patterns and then connects them with the distinctive pangfu (side-support) motifs, such as six-foot, tortoise-back, eight-foot, chrysanthemum, fennel, coin, eight-foot chrysanthemum circle, six-foot single ring, and eight-foot multiple ring, thereby completing a fine piece of lace. Xiaoshan lace is characterized by openwork and falls mainly into two categories: wanlusi (pure cotton-thread work) and bordered lace (a combination of wanlusi and fabric embroidery). It is noted for ingenious design, delicate composition, and superb stitching. The range of products is rich, including bedspreads, table covers, plate mats, tea-table mats, sofa covers, piano covers, shawls, dresses, and more. The Xiaoshan lace-making technique generally falls into the four process stages of design, brushing and matching, picking and embroidering, and finishing and pressing, comprising more than 20 links; a large work must be picked and woven collectively by hundreds or even thousands of people. As the technique was continuously innovated and improved, eight major methods gradually developed: attaching, picking, winding, pulling, bordering, wrapping, buttoning, and carving. There are also more than 30 stitches, including solid stitch, transformed three-stitch, removed four-stitch, thread stringing, mesh eye, snake-skin stitch, piled thread, small-button stitch, field stitch, nail stitch, and wrapped-flower stitch, with special emphasis on variation of stitch in the knotting. Folk embroidery has a long history in Xiaoshan, and at the end of the Qing dynasty it absorbed European lace-weaving craft, forming a distinctive technical system. The Xiaoshan lace-making technique is the product of the fusion of China's ancient folk embroidery craft with European folk embroidery, and is a vehicle and witness of cultural and economic exchange between China and foreign countries.
Archival Records of Process Steps
The Xiaoshan lace-making technique generally falls into the four process stages of design, brushing and matching, picking and embroidering, and finishing and pressing, comprising more than 20 links; a large work must be picked and woven collectively by hundreds or even thousands of people.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In its development it combined with the local folk custom of worshipping the stars and begging for skill (jixing qiqiao), giving it a strong local folk character. Xiaoshan lace products are exported in considerable volume, which has both driven the local economy and played an important role in cultural exchange with foreign countries and in promoting rural revitalization.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Xiaoshan lace-making technique is transmitted in a collective manner, and its inheritors are mainly women. At present the project has more than a thousand inheritors, among them 1 provincial-level representative inheritor, 2 Chinese Arts and Crafts Masters, and several Zhejiang provincial Arts and Crafts Masters.
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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