Editor's Note
Batik is a traditional Chinese craft, together with tie-dye and cut-out printing, known as the three major printing techniques of ancient mainland China, which have been passed down from generation to generation in the lives of the Miao people. Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, the earliest and only Miao Autonomous County in Guangxi, is famous for its beautiful landscapes and ethnic customs, and the Miao batik handicraft skills born here will be inclusive of landscape scenery and characteristic folk customs, forming its unique local ethnic style.
In this issue, we walk into Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, Liuzhou City, and experience the representative project of intangible cultural heritage at the autonomous region level - Miao batik handicraft.
Hmong batik handicraft
Category: Traditional Skills
Level: Autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage list
Batch: Fifth batch
Region: Liuzhou, Guangxi
Batik is a traditional printing and dyeing handicraft in mainland China. Meltwater Miao batik handicraft uses wax as an anti-dyeing material, draws a graphic on the natural fiber fabric, and dips it into the indigo dye jar with a suitable temperature for many times, and after wax removal, the cloth surface presents a variety of patterns such as white flowers on a blue background or blue flowers on a white background. In 2014, the Miao batik handicraft was included in the fifth batch of representative items of intangible cultural heritage at the autonomous region level.
Batik dyeing, known as wax valerian (xié) in ancient times, and stranded valerian (tie-dyeing), clip valerian (hollow printing) and known as the three major printing techniques of ancient China.
Hmong women making Hmong batik works. Source Guangxi News Network
As early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ancestors of the Miao people have mastered the batik technology, which was once known as "dry patch cloth".
Dot wax raw flowers, indigo dye ink color. This ancient, simple and beautiful handicraft has been continued from generation to generation in the Miao village of Dashan, Guangxi, and every household has made batik, which has become a unique landscape of meltwater. According to the traditional customs of the Miao people, Miao women need to learn batik skills from an early age, take on the responsibility of inheritance, and plant indigo cotton, spin yarn and weave fabrics, paint wax embroidery, dip dyeing and cutting in a self-sufficient life, and pass it on from generation to generation.
Hmong women dyeing cloth. Source Guangxi News Network
The traditional meltwater Hmong batik handicraft is mainly divided into three steps: waxing, dyeing and dewaxing.
Before dispensing wax, the wax needs to be heated and melted to a suitable temperature. Photo by Guo Xinhua
Ma Jian, a representative inheritor of miao batik handicrafts, introduced that traditional Miao batik is mixed with sheep fat, butter, etc., mixed into light yellow wax, stored in ceramic bowls or metal jars, and heated the wax to more than 60 ° C and maintained a constant temperature with fire before each painting. When painting, use a bamboo stick or copper knife dipped in wax liquid dots to paint on the soil cloth and draw a pattern.
The representative inheritor of the Hmong batik handicraft technique, Ma Jian, draws a pattern in point wax. Photo by Guo Xinhua
Dip the wax liquid with an axe-shaped wax knife and draw a pattern on the cloth. Lin Baoli filmed
After the pattern is dried, it is repeatedly dipped with a plant dye of suitable temperature - blue indigo water, and after coloring, it is boiled in straw ash water, the yellow wax is removed, and a complete batik pattern will be formed after drying.
Finished Hmong batik. Photo by Guo Xinhua
It is worth mentioning that in the process of dipping and dyeing, due to the uneven penetration of the dye due to the folding and bursting of the wax block, some dye lines with abstract colors are produced, forming a unique texture effect and artistic style of batik.
Batik works with various patterns. Photo by Guo Xinhua
Birds, beasts, mountains, rivers, the sun and the moon... After the natural objects are deformed, exaggerated and other artistic processing, they constitute vivid and abstract patterns in the Hmong batik works.
A variety of Hmong batik works with exquisite patterns. Lin Baoli filmed
Miao batik patterns are rich, including geometric figures, natural scenes, of which the drawings are mostly based on the Miao people's daily life of the objects, folklore, primitive totems, etc., the most common of which are "sun mang" pattern, bird clothes totem symbols, etc., reflecting the Miao people's gratitude and reverence for nature.
Hmong women dotted wax in a sketch. Source Guangxi News Network
Influenced by his grandmother and mother, Ma Jian learned batik making from an early age and soon mastered the craft. Since then, in long-term practice, the process and pattern expression of Miao batik have been innovated, so that the process production efficiency is improved, and it is more suitable for the innovation of modern aesthetics.
Tools used to wax the dots. Photo by Guo Xinhua
First of all, in painting, unlike the traditional dot line, the innovative use of copper knives, brushes and other tools directly dipped in wax lines, accelerating the production efficiency; secondly, dyeing, on the basis of blue and white batik to develop color batik, the form of expression is more abundant, and used in the design of turbans, clothes, backpacks, straps and other clothing accessories, highlighting the national wisdom and aesthetics.
Hmong batik costumes. Photo by Guo Xinhua
Nowadays, Miao batik has been integrated into art education courses such as fashion design and cultural and creative design, and this handicraft has been passed on in an innovative way.
"Bringing batik into the classroom and into the society to inherit can make batik develop more new opportunities than a single family inheritance." If I teach a hundred thousand students, even if two or three of them have actually passed on this skill, it is a great thing. Ma Jian said.
— Ends —
About falling in love with intangible cultural heritage
The "Love intangible cultural heritage" series is an important part of the "Guangxi Non-Genetic Inheritance Plan" launched by Guangxi Daily-Guangxi Yun. We hope to use our own brushstrokes and perspectives to sincerely present those intangible cultural heritages rooted in the magnificent land of Guangxi, and those cultural imprints that are deeply integrated into the blood of the sons and daughters of Zhuangxiang. As a result, a trickle of nurturing national pride and cultural self-confidence is gathered, so that everyone can become a practitioner, inheritor and beneficiary of intangible cultural heritage.
Planning coordinator 丨 Zeng Junfeng Rosa
This issue is written by Tao Jie guo xinhua
Editor of this issue 丨 Xie Linlin
Visual design 丨 Feng Shanwei
Image production 丨 Lin Baoli
Total duty 丨 Yuying Li Xuejuan
Produced by Guangxi Cloud Intangible Cultural Heritage Communication Team