Hand Weaving New Scenery, Thousands Of Years Of Li Brocade

On December 5, the 19th ordinary session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO held in Asuncion, Paraguay, passed the review and decided to transfer the "traditional textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li nationality" from the list of intangible cultural heritage in urgent need of protection to the list of representative works of intangible cultural heritage of mankind.

Li brocade is a unique brocade created by the Li people in Hainan in their long life. For about 3000 years, it has told folk legends, farming stories, daily life, and people's sustenance and yearning for good wishes.

The picture shows the geometric patterns, human patterns, deer patterns, patterns and other distinctive patterns in the Li brocade. (Courtesy of Hainan Provincial Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports Department)

The ecological materials are spun into thread, dyed by the ancient method, woven into cloth by the waist looms, and embroidered into flowers in brilliant colors. This kind of Li brocade, which integrates the skills of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery, is called the "living fossil" of China's textile industry.

The raw material for spinning and weaving of Li people is Jibei cotton, also known as island cotton, which is unique to Hainan. Dyes are also derived from the rich vegetation resources of tropical rainforests.

The reporter visited many inheritors of intangible cultural heritage to observe their textile techniques, during which he found that the spinning thread was broken several times and the weaving mother patiently wired. When weaving, the weaving mother mostly sits on the ground, picks up the shuttle and picks up the weft, holds the warp divider in her left hand to separate the warp yarn, and holds the brocade wooden knife in her right hand to tighten the weft yarn.

On November 28, in the Hainan Oriental Zhiniang Li Brocade Digital Exhibition Hall, Li nationality girls showed their Li brocade weaving skills on the spot. Photographed by Zhang Qianyi, a reporter of China News Service

If we pursue the technological level, this technology can not be replaced by machines. If machine weaving is used, industrial lines must be used. The finished products are not only rough in workmanship, but also lack of characteristics due to the same pattern.

Liu Dongmei, a researcher at the Humanities College of Hainan University who is engaged in the study of Li culture, believes that Li brocade is all made by hand. The exquisite patterns of Li brocade created by hand are the soul of Li brocade and an important part of the value of Li brocade.

A group of skill inheritors gradually changed from "craftsmen" to "craftsmen". Liu Xianglan began to cultivate her son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Later, the student team expanded from relatives, friends and neighbors to handicraft lovers all over the country, with a scale of thousands.

Chen Lingyu, a Hainan girl who returned from studying abroad in Italy, tried to deconstruct and reprocess the traditional elements of Li Jin and integrate them into her new Chinese style clothing design brand in order to conform to modern aesthetics.

"The embroidery patterns of Li brocade contain rich national customs and colors of national customs." Chen Lingyu said that the traditional brocade of Li nationality not only stresses the beauty of form, but also emphasizes the meaning of auspiciousness, which is the carrier of the original picture and character symbols and national culture of Li nationality.

According to statistics, there are more than 160 patterns on Li brocade fabrics, which can be roughly divided into six categories: plants, animals, people, scenery, characters and myths.

"The butterfly pattern in Run dialect area of Li nationality often appears in my design," said Chen Lingyu, whose main meaning is auspiciousness and happiness. The flying posture of the butterfly symbolizes freedom, hope and the courage to pursue dreams. Butterflies are homonymous with "Die", and are also often used as a metaphor for "longevity". These meanings reflect the Li people's profound understanding and respect for nature, love, life and spirit.

The picture shows Lijin element cultural and creative products. Photographed by Zhang Qianyi, a reporter of China News Service

Li Jin took the "express train" of Shanghaichuang, and young cultural and creative products such as handbags, bookmarks, table flags, wrist bands, earrings, notebooks, and improved Li Jin clothing were welcomed by the market. Chaoplay hand-operated shops and Li brocade pattern series hand-operated music boxes dressed in Li brocade clothing... These Li brocade cultural and creative products, which have not been officially launched, were displayed in a time-honored teahouse on the old arcade street of Haikou in September, and dozens of products were sold out.

In Dongfang City, Hainan Province, Fu Aina, a "post-95" Li nationality girl, is actively exploring the cross-border combination of Li brocade and other crafts, such as auspicious deer designed with Li brocade elements, blind box decorations of the Chinese zodiac, cartoon dolls, etc. Many Li brochures have been created and sold all over the country. "Cartoon dolls sell best, and some foreign netizens are also interested in them."

Fu Aina said that Li culture could be spread in this way, but she did not expect that there would be technical problems with online communication of brocades.

In order to promote the sustainable development of Lijin, Dongfang City, Hainan Province launched the Lijin digital industrial base in October this year to build the Oriental Weaving Mother database, product design research and development center, cultural consumption experience center, etc.

Song Xiaolin, the head of the Oriental Zhiniang Li Brocade Digital Exhibition Hall, said that the base invited domestic and foreign designers to digitize information such as the craftsmanship and historical patterns of Li brocade production, and build a research and development center for the oriental Li brocade cultural gene pattern data. At the same time, combined with pattern science and modern design system, realize the secondary creation of patterns, so as to facilitate the application of market-oriented design.

At present, the "Oriental Weaving Mother" database includes more than 4000 craftsmen of Lijin and more than 500 patterns redesigned according to the traditional aesthetics of Lijin.

(Source: China News Network)