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She is an outstanding craftsman in Xiangxi Prefecture
External Professor of Jiangsu Intangible Cultural Heritage Research Base
Ambassador of China Textile Intangible Cultural Heritage Embroidery Promotion
Hunan Province' exemplary military achievements
Technical expert of Hunan Province
Winner of the Labor May Day Medal of Hunan Province
Hunan Provincial Youth Post Expert and other honorary titles
The miao flower picking skills with elegant and simple colors and innocent lines
It contains ancient and mysterious Hmong legends
Over the years she has been committed to promoting the inheritance and development of this craft
She is the representative inheritor of the Xiangxi Miao ethnic group picking flowers at the state level
Teng Jingrong
01.
Engraved ancient civilizations
The pattern is in your heart
Xiangxi is a mysterious pure land that haunts people's dreams. Under the pen of the literary master Shen Congwen, the regional image of Xiangxi is like a peach blossom source, pure to the most beautiful, to the true and the most good, here there are beautiful and charming natural scenery, simple and natural folk customs, long stretch of ancient divinity, is the gentle pure land that makes him proud, and it is also the destination that everyone yearns for.
The Miao women of Western Hunan are known for their ingenuity, and between their hands and feet, they carry thousands of years of civilization accumulation. From an early age, the girls began to learn to spin and weave, sew clothes and embroider flowers, and learn to sing and dance. Among them, the level of flower picking is the standard for measuring a woman's intelligence, so Miao family girls often learn to pick flowers from the age of seven or eight, under the words and deeds of their elders. However, with the development of the times, the inheritance of this ancient skill will inevitably encounter the dilemma of lack of successors.
▲ Ancestor worship pattern (top), totem worship pattern (bottom)
Those who persevere are admirable. The young Teng Jingrong, the representative inheritor of the Miao ethnic group picking flowers, was born in Fenghuang County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, and later married into the Luxi Miao area, and formally learned the counting yarn craft with her mother-in-law. Luxi County, is one of the birthplaces of the Miao people to pick flowers, the local Miao people pick more than 60 kinds of patterns, can be roughly divided into clan ancestor worship patterns, totem worship patterns, nature worship patterns, auspicious patterns and other four categories. Teng Jingrong attaches great importance to the introduction of new Miao cultural elements in traditional patterns, she said that picking flowers is not only a "necessary kung fu" handed down from ancestors, but also records and praises the long cultural history, life pursuit and spiritual yearning of the Miao people in a needle and a thread.
▲ Teng Jingrong's mother-in-law's flower picking works
In 2010, the Miao people picked flowers and were included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage project protection, and in 2018, they were included in the first batch of national traditional handicraft revitalization list. This technique originates from the ancient weaving process, the completion of the entire work is based on the cross as the basic stitching, counting the yarn line needles, in accordance with the "vertical number of 3 yarns, horizontal number of 4 yarns" the law of dense latitude and longitude, without the bottom draft, the pattern is in mind, follow the weaving process process from the center of the pattern to the outside, and finally back to the center of the pattern. The final product is a complete pattern of countless "ten" single lines combined into a complete pattern without heavy needles, and the front and back sides are clear and smooth textures.
▲ Bergamot Arrow Flower - Exorcist pattern to avoid evil spirits
Since the age of six or seven, Teng Jingrong has followed her grandmother to learn to pick flowers, "Give me a palm-sized cloth, starting with embroidering a flower." This piece of cloth is like a practice book, embroidered on it, then use scissors to cut off the thread and remove it, and then take it and embroider it again. "But in fact, at that time, there were very few girls who learned to pick flowers, and Teng Jingrong did not understand: Why do I have to learn to pick flowers?" The old people feel that the culture of the Miao people is like this, girls must embroider clothes for themselves, people are wearing beautiful and shiny, the more flowers the more beautiful the clothes, you can't wear very plain and light. But when I was a child, I was very playful, and I did like beautiful clothes, but I calmed down and did it, and I was not so able to withstand loneliness. The process of learning to pick flowers can be called "forced", and sometimes because I can't learn it, I will be "disliked" by my grandmother. Teng Jingrong was not very reluctant, but this experience of repeated honing made her gradually feel the charm of picking flowers since she was a child.
02.
Needles are pens and threads are ink
Colorful patterns carry the philosophy of the universe
With needles as pens and threads as ink, each number of yarn patterns carries the wisdom and character of the Miao family women, telling ancient legends and ardent expectations for the future. "The Hmong don't have a systematically formed script, and all ideas are expressed through patterns. People embroidered patterns carrying good hope on clothes, headdresses, shoes, which is also a way of communicating. ”
▲ Award-winning work "Flowers bloom"
Teng Jingrong, who was not willing to be quiet, will gradually be attracted into the world of picking flowers, and find the calmness of body and mind in a needle and a thread. This is precisely because: there is no ready-made pattern in the flower picking process, and the patterns are in the hearts of the Miao family women, so everyone's flower picking is different, because the pattern is closely related to each person's life experience, thoughts and emotions. Teng Jingrong's first work, a four-corner symmetrical yangsphere flower number yarn work, took more than 20 days to complete. The praise of local folk craft experts has given Teng Jingrong great encouragement and strengthened her determination to develop the inheritance of picking flowers.
▲ Pick butterflies and maple leaves on the placket
Teng Jingrong did not specifically study art, or even understand what art is, that is, to learn from adults, year by year, the skills gradually grew. As a teenager, she would love flowers, flowers, birds, fish and insects, and when she grew up, she could already master a variety of patterns. "Butterfly" and "maple leaf" are one of the most commonly used patterns in many flower picking embroidery works, and teng Jingrong likes it very much: "Miao girls often have butterflies and maple leaves on the placket of flower picking, which reflects their desire to 'pray for the protection of the butterfly mother'." These two patterns are derived from ancient myths and legends: after the death of the god of war, the god of war, you turned into a maple tree, the maple leaf turned into a butterfly, the butterfly laid eggs, turned into a Yanggong and a Yangbo, and after the two brothers and sisters got married, they multiplied human beings - the colorful and intricate patterns reflected the Miao people's worship of "Butterfly Mother", and also contained the recollection of the god of war.
▲ Cross pick pattern
The "cross" pattern, which is most widely used in the decorative pattern of picking flowers, originates from the original symbol of the prehistoric "pole measuring the sun", symbolizing the sun god and indicating light; the "Tian Zi" pattern is a combination of the "checkered" pattern and the "cross" pattern. The Miao people's picking of flowers implies the cosmic consciousness of the ancestors of the "round place of heaven" and the willingness to pray for the eternal light of the earth, the growth of all things, and the harvest of the fields, reflecting the reverence for the gods of heaven and earth. "As long as a needle and a thread, you can embroider a big world, the Miao people are really a very magical and great nation, very wise, not only can decorate and beautify life, but also carry a heavy history and culture."
Whenever learning a new pattern, it is a process of "listening to the story", which makes Teng Jingrong intoxicated by this, often chasing the older generation to chat. "Luxi's apron is a blue-blue bottom, with white thread to embroider flowers, those patterns that drive away evil spirits must use white thread, these are particularly exquisite, more attractive than the big red and purple dress."
Teng Jingrong's mother-in-law is a master of picking flowers, opening one new door after another for her, "for example, the 'Dog God Flower' pattern is a more representative pattern in Luxi area, reflecting the Miao ancestors' worship consciousness of the 'Pan's' totem, which is the totem ancestor of the Miao people in western Hunan Province, and is related to the story of 'Xin Nu Marrying Pan Urn' in Luxi, and there are hundreds of similar patterns." ”
03.
Intangible Cultural Heritage Activation Innovation
Hand in hand with 500 embroidery girls at the fingertip economy
In 2011, Teng Jingrong officially decided to inherit the Miao flower picking as her career direction in this life. She followed her mother-in-law to the countryside to collect traditional flower picking patterns, and met many skilled embroidery girls, "They are very simple, they will say that you see me this is more beautiful, let people feel particularly moved, such a precious thing, should be well preserved." 」 Teng Jingrong collected hundreds of flower picking works, and she began to integrate resources and cooperate with nearly 500 embroidery girls in order to achieve intangible cultural heritage revitalization.
▲ Practice your skills with the embroidery girls
"The inheritance of the flower picking craft is also facing the situation of green and yellow, the age of embroidery girls is generally older, 80% of them are in their 50s, and most of the young people go out to work, so the considerable economic benefits are very important." Teng Jingrong regularly conducts training courses for embroidery girls every year, injecting new vitality into traditional crafts and committing to making national customs a fashion trend. From small tourism handicrafts, ethnic costumes, to mobile power, notebooks and other scientific and technological consumer goods, she has tried to make the Miao people pick flowers into their decorative patterns, and then according to customer needs, the use of hand embroidery or laser printing, the market response is very good.
▲ The works of the embroidery ladies
"Carrying forward and inheriting the Miao people's picking flowers is now a responsibility for me and a kind of spiritual sustenance. The needle and thread we have learned carries our history and culture, and it must not be broken. Such a good craft cannot be buried in the mountains, so it is necessary to turn the handicraft into a fingertip economy, which can more or less improve the family and drive the regional economy to a certain extent. This also makes the embroidery ladies more motivated, eager to work 24 hours a day, and even preferably 48 hours. ”
▲ Hand embroidery 3C products
In addition to encouraging more embroidery girls to participate in the commercialization of flower picking, Teng Jingrong herself also insisted on meditating on cultivating her skills. Since 2015, she has gradually tried to innovate, from the material, texture, color of each dimension of three-dimensional improvement, "it is difficult to do subtraction, do addition to everything, feel that the more the better; but when doing subtraction, in the end to remove which part, how to remove, you need to do experiments continuously." As a commonly used decorative means, picking flowers itself has high aesthetic value and ornamental value. ”
Calm and calm, hard work will eventually pay off, Teng Jingrong's work "Miao Number Yarn Scarf" won the third prize of the 3rd China Intangible Cultural Heritage Handicraft Inheritance design competition, and in 2017, it won the honor of "New Generation Craftsmanship Star" of the 6th Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival. In March 2018, she participated in the 53rd "Golden Phoenix" Cup Innovative Product Design Grand Prix held by the China Arts and Crafts Association in Xi'an and won the Silver Award. In April 2018, he participated in the "Walking Intangible Cultural Heritage" Chinese Embroidery Innovation Works Competition and won the Creativity Award. A number of flower picking works were selected for the "2018 Chaozhou International Embroidery Art Biennale", which confirmed her pragmatism and sincerity.
Nowadays, the "Flower Picking Lady" brand and embroidery base founded by Teng Jingrong have gradually formed an operating model of "company + base + embroidery lady". The orders received by the company are distributed to the embroidery lady, and the finished products of the embroidery lady are recovered and then sent to various companies to be made into a wide range of cultural and creative products. In 2020, the "Flower Picking Lady" embroidery base was awarded the "Miao Flower Picking Productive Protection Base" by the Xiangxi Prefecture People's Government, becoming a brilliant local Miao family cultural business card.
04.
Craftsmanship goes out of the mountains
Good mountains and good water are inspiration
On major festivals, Teng Jingrong wears traditional costumes according to traditional Miao family customs, but to her regret, many young girls are not willing to follow the old rules. "I couldn't understand it before, until now I understand, such a good thing, my own national culture, if I don't pass it on, it will disappear one day." Therefore, Teng Jingrong began to cooperate with the local government to carry out the "Intangible Cultural Heritage into the Campus" volunteer teaching activities, through storytelling, science popularization, and games, targeted research and development of systematic courses for children of different ages, and strived to cultivate children's cognition and creativity of tradition from an early age. Once the interest is ignited, the inheritance is invisibly opened, and Teng Jingrong, as a teacher, can always find surprises in the children's works.
Inheritance and pioneering are just the way forward. Today, Teng Jingrong also has close academic cooperation with many universities such as Nanjing Normal University and Jiangnan University: opening public elective courses or being invited to communicate with students majoring in fashion design and art design. The enthusiasm and vitality of young students made Teng Jingrong feel very deeply: some graduate students will go to their own expense to follow the deep learning flower picking process, rather than simply experiencing intangible cultural heritage and pursuing intangible cultural heritage, "Many young people I have come into contact with are indeed 'rooted' in the heart, very positive, they also inject new vitality into the Miao flower picking, with us to develop some cultural and creative products, and some engineering design students will also participate." ”
▲ A series of activities on campus
As a result, Teng Jingrong not only let the Miao people pick flowers out of the mountains, but also let more people walk into the mountains because the Miao people picked flowers. And her expectations for the future are also closely related to this: "Whether from the market response or education, everyone's awareness of intangible cultural heritage is gradually improving, which is very conducive to the inheritance of Miao flowers." My biggest wish now is to encourage more people to participate in the revitalization of Miao culture, based on practicality, and constantly open up new channels. Teng Jingrong also often participates in official events, trying forms such as live streaming with goods to publicize the beauty of Miao flowers and develop the commercial value of cultural products.
▲ Cultural and creative products with the beauty of Miao flowers picking
Talking about her impression of her hometown, Teng Jingrong's answer was gentle and concise: "Good mountains, good water, good scenery, especially our Miao people picking flowers." The national festival of the Miao people is also the supreme treasure in Teng Jingrong's heart: "We have the Miao Year, which is the most important festival of the year like the Han Chinese People's Spring Festival, and there are 'March 3rd', 'June 6', 'August 8', every year to 'make trouble' for several days, there are very, very many folk activities, reunion and celebration, is the happiest moment." ”
▲ "Fighting the Epidemic with Art" Picking flowers
In November 2020, Teng Jingrong created a special work. Dressed in Miao costumes, she participated in the third China International Import Expo, and the pattern of this flower-picking work is like a sketch: five nurses tightly wrapped in masks and protective clothing, slim figures, calm eyes, two text points: "The most beautiful figure on Women's Day" and "Moving China". This is Teng Jingrong's embroidered work since March, in order to pay tribute to the medical staff in Xiangxi who went to Hubei to support, but also to "fight the epidemic with art", and record the extraordinary history of China's fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic by picking flowers. The outbreak and continuation of the epidemic has brought a fatal blow to the original development trend of the Xiangxi tourism industry, but also let Teng Jingrong worry about the sales of flower picking products, a year later, Teng Jingrong's biggest wish is to end the epidemic soon, restore the tourism market, "We have established a lot of cooperation with the embroidery ladies of Yunguichuan before, hoping that while cultural inheritance, we can help them get rich, while maintaining feelings, but also to achieve the conversion of economic benefits, mobilize the enthusiasm of embroidery ladies, which can better integrate resources." ”
Thank you to Teacher Teng Jingrong for accepting the interview with Linjiao
The copyright of the pictures in this article belongs to him
Written by / Lv Xintong Co-ordinator / ZEN
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