Li nationality's traditional skills of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Li nationality's traditional spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills

Applicant: Baisha Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province

Item No.: 369

Project No.: VIII - 19

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Hainan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Baisha Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province

Protected by: cultural center of Baisha Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province

Brief introduction of Li nationality's traditional spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery techniques:

Applicant: Baisha Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province

The weaving and dyeing skills of Li nationality have a long history and distinctive characteristics, including hemp weaving, cotton weaving, brocade, printing and dyeing (including tie dyeing), embroidery, dragon quilt, etc.

Li inhabited areas are rich in kapok, hemp and other textile, printing and dyeing raw materials. Before the popularization of cotton textiles, wild hemp textiles were popular in Li nationality areas. In the rainy season, the skin of wild hemp is usually picked, soaked and rinsed to make hemp. After dyeing, hemp pieces are twisted into hemp yarn by hand, or twisted with spinning wheel, and then woven into cloth. The hemp cloth is of solid texture, and is mostly used for making coats and underclothes for labor.

There are more than 160 kinds of patterns in Li brocade, mainly including figures, animals, plants, flowers, living utensils, geometric patterns and so on. There are mainly two kinds of looms for weaving Li Brocade: foot loom and waist loom. Juyao loom is a very old loom, which can be used by Li women to weave exquisite and gorgeous complex patterns. Li Jin with different patterns, colors and styles is an important symbol to distinguish tribal groups with different blood relations, which has extremely important humanistic value.

Tie dyeing was the main dyeing method of Li nationality, which was called jiaoxie in ancient times. After ligation, dyeing, drying, folding and other steps, the fabric finally forms a colorful cloth. The dyestuffs used in printing and dyeing are mainly plant leaves, flowers, bark and roots, supplemented by natural mineral pigments.

There are two kinds of embroidery of Li Nationality: plane embroidery and double-sided embroidery. Among them, the double-sided embroidery of Li Nationality in run dialect of Baisha area is the most famous, with exquisite composition and patterns.

Dragon quilt is a treasure of Li Jinzhong. It integrates various skills such as textile, printing and dyeing, embroidery, weaving and so on. It is exquisitely made with bright colors, elegant patterns and various styles. It is the most outstanding skill and the highest cultural and artistic value in Li Jinzhong. Therefore, it has become a treasure of Hainan in the past dynasties. Longbei, also known as Dabei, is called Yazhou quilt in history books. Because of the different dialects and living areas of Li nationality, dragon quilt embroidery has different artistic styles and characteristics, which has become a valuable material for studying the evolution of Li culture. After 1950, some Li women no longer made dragon quilts. Nowadays, most of the women who master this skill are old and lack successors, so they need to be saved.