Li nationality tree bark cloth making technique

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Li nationality tree bark cloth making skills

Applicant: Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province

Project No.: 434

Project No.: VIII - 84

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional art

Region:

Type: new item

Applicant: Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province

Protection unit: Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County Cultural Center

Brief introduction of Li people's tree bark cloth making technology:

Applicant: Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province

Tree bark cloth is also called NaBu, Chupi cloth and millet bark cloth. In ancient literature, Chu Guan and Gu Bu Yi are made of bark. The Li tree bark cloth in Hainan Island is mainly distributed in the Li gathering areas in the central and southern part of Hainan Island, including Sanya, Wuzhishan, Dongfang and other cities, as well as Qiongzhong, Baoting, Lingshui, Ledong, Changjiang, Baisha and other counties.

The origin of shupibu culture of Li Nationality in Baoting county can be traced back to the stone age. Before weaving with hemp and kapok, the ancestors experienced a long period of "non-woven" era, and the clothing used for body covering was mainly this kind of coarse fiber "tree bark cloth". It can be seen from Peizhou's dongguanhanji that bark cloth was used as crown in the Han Dynasty. At that time, the frontier minorities also used bark cloth to make clothes and bedding.

After the ancestors of Li Nationality in Hainan Island mastered cotton textile technology, bark cloth did not give way to hemp and cotton products. Some people still used Broussonetia papyrifera bark to make bedding sheets, clothes, belts and other daily necessities. This is mainly because the bark is rich in raw materials and easy to collect, the Li people are quite skilled in its skills, and the finished products are very durable.

There are many kinds of bark that can be used for processing in Li nationality area, such as thick bark tree, huangjiu tree, arrow poison tree, Broussonetia papyrifera, etc.

There are seven steps in "sewing bark into clothes" of Li Nationality: peeling bark, trimming, soaking bark in water, degumming, rinsing, drying, flapping and sewing. People use the processed bark cloth to cut and sew hats, pillows, quilts, coats, skirts, pocket cloth and other daily necessities. Although this technique is divided into several processes, there are not many tools used, among which hammering tools are the most important. Stone racket is a tool for making bark cloth, and also a symbol of bark cloth culture.

For nearly half a century, with the development of society and the change of people's life style, the tree bark cloth and stone pat on Hainan Island have entered the museum and disappeared in life. In the Li nationality area, the younger generation no longer know what the bark cloth is. Therefore, it is of great significance for the protection, excavation and finishing of tree bark cloth making technology.