Carpet weaving skills (Alxa carpet weaving skills)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: carpet weaving skills (Alxa carpet weaving skills)

Applicant: Alxa Left Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Project No.: 893

Project No.: VIII - 110

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Type: new item

Applicant: Alxa Left Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Protected by: Alxa Left Banner Cultural Center

Brief introduction of carpet weaving technology (Alxa carpet weaving technology)

Applicant: Alxa Left Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

The weaving technique of hand-made wool tufted carpet is a handicraft technique rich in national characteristics in China. It coils the wool thread into a knot and plants it on the carpet base interwoven with warp and weft cotton threads to form a higher pile surface. The weaving of carpets with wool thread began in the Neolithic Age in China. Judging from the double stranded wool thread tufted carpets unearthed from the Han Tombs in Lop Nor and Minfeng County of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the weaving of carpets in the Eastern Han Dynasty has reached a very high level. Carpets were laid in the court and the houses of the rich in the Tang Dynasty. In the Yuan Dynasty, influenced by the Mongolian lifestyle, the court set up a workshop for wool cutting and tapestry. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, carpet weaving developed rapidly in Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Beijing.

The weaving skills of carpet include design, weaving, flattening, slicing (using scissors to cut the plane pattern into body shape), washing and finishing. Some of the wool threads for weaving blankets are still dyed with ancient plant dyes. Carpets in China are not only necessities for ethnic minorities, but also exported to overseas. The patterns of carpets absorb the characteristics of ancient bronze, embroidery, brocade, porcelain and other patterns. The carpets of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Ningxia, Tibet and other places present their own artistic characteristics.

The weaving technique of Alxa carpet in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region inherits the tradition of Arabian carpet and Beijing style palace carpet weaving, and is unique in the carpet weaving industry. It is famous for its fine and unique workmanship and simple and beautiful patterns.

The carpet manufacturing industry in Alxa has a long history. It rose in the early years of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty, and has a history of more than 270 years. By the 1940s, there were more than 20 carpet workshops in dingyuanying, Alxa Left Banner. Their carpets were famous in Inner Mongolia and all over the country.

Alxa Zuoqi is located in Mobei, the soil is dry, the wool is thick and white, the physical properties are excellent, the carpet has the characteristics of rigidity, elasticity and tensile strength, good gloss and so on. The weaving technique of Alxa Left Banner carpet is complex. From design to completion, it has to go through the process of conception design, weaving, flattening, shearing, washing and making old. Its representative product "three blue" (three different shades of blue) antique carpet is mainly made of blue and yellow of sky and earth. It follows the folk knot craft of thousands of years, and is carefully woven with palace pattern. The appearance of this kind of antique carpet is closely related to the Mongolian living habits and the psychology of advocating blue. It shows the regional ecological culture and aesthetic taste of the western Inner Mongolia, and becomes a miniature of the Mongolian cultural history.