Longwen Bamboo Weaving: Intangible Cultural Heritage "Live" Up The countryside is thriving

Baskets, baskets, baskets, baskets... These bamboo products should be familiar to everyone, they are an important tool that hakka people cannot do without in production and life. As the intangible cultural heritage of Meixian District, "Longwen Bamboo Weaving" is the crystallization of the wisdom and labor of Hakka ancestors, and in recent years, with the support of the local town government, Longwen Bamboo Weaving has been revitalized in the inheritance, developed into a local characteristic industry, and helped rural revitalization.

A knife, a pair of skillful hands, only to see the bamboo is cut into a bamboo strip of uniform thickness, and the bamboo strip is cut into various specifications of bamboo, these pieces fly back and forth between the fingers of the craftsman, gradually formed, and finally woven into a delicate and chic, strong and durable grate.

Feng Jianming, 68, a native of Hengkeng Village, Longwen Town, and a representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Meixian District, "Longwen Bamboo Weaving", has been learning and making bamboo weaving under the influence of his parents since he was 16 years old, and has more than 50 years of experience.

Longwen town is rich in moso bamboo resources, bamboo weaving has a long history, due to resource advantages and production, life needs, bamboo weaving technology passed down from generation to generation. At the beginning of this century, with the improvement of social productivity, people's way of life has also changed, and the bamboo handicrafts that were once inseparable from every household have been gradually replaced by modern industrial products, and the "Longwen bamboo weaving" has gradually declined.

In order to change this status quo, in 2019, with the support of the party committee and government of Longwen Town, the Luxi Bamboo Products Professional Cooperative was formally established, and the cooperative adopted the business model of "party branch + cooperative + farmer", relying on rich moso bamboo resources, gathered a large number of craftsmen from neighboring villages to produce various types of bamboo products; and built a supply and marketing platform, successfully breaking the dilemma of the original family workshop-style production with the idea of industrialization development, and leading the villagers to get rich while inheriting traditional craftsmanship. Since the establishment of the cooperative, orders have been hot and in short supply, with an annual output value of nearly 2 million yuan last year.

At present, Luxi Bamboo Products Professional Cooperative has become one of the largest bamboo product production bases in Meixian District, and has also been selected into the public list of "one village, one product, one town and one industry" project in Meixian District. In the next step, on the basis of inheritance and protection, Longwen Town will build intangible cultural heritage into a characteristic industry, so that bamboo weaving products will become a pillar industry for rural revitalization, and at the same time encourage more young people to learn bamboo weaving skills and inherit bamboo weaving culture.

(Text/Jiana Lin Xuan Xuemei)