Bamboo weaving in Shengzhou

Bamboo weaving in Shengzhou

Shengzhou bamboo weaving is one of the traditional handicraft products in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province. Shengzhou bamboo weaving technology is distributed in the bamboo producing areas of the city, including urban areas, Changle, Chongren, Huangze, Tongyuan, Shijuan, Ganlin and other areas. Bamboo weaving began in the Warring States Period 2000 years ago. At that time, the industrious and intelligent Chinese working people used bamboo to make simple tools. During the Han and Jin Dynasties, bamboo weaving developed in fine aspects. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, bamboo weaving technology was further improved, and bamboo weaving utensils became an indispensable daily necessities of the people. In Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, bamboo weaving workshop appeared. According to the Records of Shengxian County, at the beginning of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, there were more than 90 fine silk artisans, most of them in the area of Cangyan. In the 26 years of the Republic of China (1937), the basket of "Ye Guanghua" won the first prize of "Joint Exhibition of Zhejiang and Jiangxi Special Products".

On May 20, 2006, Shengzhou bamboo weaving was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Historical Origin

Shengzhou bamboo weaving began in the Warring States Period 2000 years ago. The industrious and intelligent working people of China used bamboo to weave simple utensils, such as "square pattern", "meter pattern" and "herringbone pattern". By the time of the Han and Jin Dynasties, the craft had been refined. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, bamboo products produced by Shengzhou Bamboo Knitting Workshop were quite exquisite. Bamboo knitting became an indispensable daily necessities for the people, and was sold to Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities. Bamboo knitting in Shengzhou became a well-known folk craft in China. During the reign of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, bamboo knitting workshops appeared in Shengzhou, mainly compiling fine baskets of bamboo knitting utensils such as baskets, examination baskets, baskets, food baskets, shoe baskets and so on.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Shengzhou bamboo weaving has developed from a traditional handicraft into a world-class art wonder. Bamboo weaving artists co-founded a bamboo weaving industry production and marketing workshop in Shengxian (prefecture), and later renamed the craft bamboo weaving factory, known as "the first bamboo weaving factory at home and abroad".

In the early 1980s, more than 30,000 people were engaged in bamboo knitting industry throughout the city, forming a number of professional enterprises, villages and households. By 1988, Shengzhou bamboo knitting had developed and developed more than 360 knitting patterns and more than 6,000 varieties of patterns, and innovated six processes such as bleaching, tendon, blue tire paint, moth-proof, degreasing and imitating animals. It has the reputation of "the first bamboo knitting home in China and abroad". The State Council has named it the only "home of bamboo weaving in China".

Inheritance Significance

Shengzhou handicraft bamboo weaving is famous for its exquisite shape, delicate weaving and vivid charm. It has a unique artistic charm and is well known both at home and abroad. By the 1980s, Shengzhou bamboo weaving had been sold well in more than 80 countries and regions, such as Japan, the United States, Italy and Germany, and won the praise of "Oriental treasures" and "the world's best products". Among them, the bamboo weaving "white-tailed sea sculpture" was praised by President Carter and Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and the bamboo weaving "running horse" was praised by Comrade Jiang Zemin.

Shengzhou bamboo weaving has a long history and profound cultural connotations. Besides its high practical value and artistic value, it also provides an important clue for the study of the history of bamboo weaving production and the folk customs in rural areas of Jiangnan. Since 1990s, various kinds of plastic products have replaced bamboo knitting daily necessities. The demand for bamboo knitting is decreasing day by day, and bamboo knitting artists are unable to continue. The production of Shengzhou Bamboo Knitting Factory was discontinued in November 2002. There are few successors in Shengzhou Bamboo Knitting Plant, which is in urgent need of rescue and support.

Picture: The bamboo edition Canghai Huanzhu is a gift from Zhejiang Provincial People's Government to the new government of Macao Special Administrative Region.

The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the intangible cultural heritage was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. On June 5, 2007, the Ministry of Culture confirmed that Yu Zhanggen of Shengzhou City, Zhejiang Province was the representative successor of this cultural heritage project, and was listed in the first batch of 226 representative successors of national intangible cultural heritage projects.

Material and Processing

I. Bamboo Species Used in Bamboo Knitting

1. Phyllostachys pubescens, also known as "Nanzhu", "Mengzongzhu" and "Cattou", is the most widely distributed, best material and most useful bamboo species in bamboo plants. The bamboo material is hard and tough. It is not easy to crack. It has a straight culture and good performance. It is widely used in bamboo knitting and can be knitted into bamboo knitting products for various purposes. Because of its thick wall and strong fastness, bamboo is often used as the framework of bamboo knitting products, such as clamping, lifting handle, pendulum foot and chassis.

2. Zaozhu. Early bamboo has straight texture, tough material and strong pulling force. It can be split into thin bamboo filaments. Bamboo silk is easy to dye and bleach, but its slub is brittle and easy to crack. It is often used in knitting of popular and middle-grade products.

3. Water bamboo, also known as "tobacco". Water bamboo fiber is fine, soft and strong, dense lines, flat knots, can split more fine bamboo silk, color is also cleaner than early bamboo, is a good material for weaving, often used in pattern picture weaving.

4. Green hedge bamboo, also known as "Tea stem bamboo" and "Shabai bamboo". The origin is not in Shengzhou, but purchased from other places. Green hedgerow bamboo is smooth, well-proportioned, tough, straight, flexible and can open very fine silk. It is an excellent material for knitting fine products.

2. Common hand tools for bamboo weaving

1. Tape ruler is mainly used for measuring size and weaving. It is used for stirring up warp and inserting weft strips.

2. The bamboo knife is the main tool for bamboo knitting artists. It is indispensable for bamboo breaking, bamboo opening and silk separating operations.

3. Sword is a tool to make bamboo slices and silk strips uniform in width and narrowness.

4. Scraper, which is specially used to scrape bamboo strips and silk.

5. Hand drill is a tool for drilling bamboo knitting products, such as jacket gluing and product sealing.

6. Roller planer, also known as "one-character planer", is used to planer the clamps, handles and other components in bamboo weaving.

7. Hammer, bamboo weaving hammer is smaller than woodworking hammer. It is used to knock off bamboo poles and round nails when bamboo weaving is assembled.

8. Files, commonly used with pointed and flat-headed files, are used to clamp or ring the file products to make them flat.

3. Innovation of Bamboo Knitting Machinery

In 1958, Zhang Jinqiao, Zhang Senyuan, Yu Zhanggen and others developed the first machine of chopping and scrapering in China. Its efficiency was 16 times higher than that of manual work, which changed the situation of bending when chopping and scraping with teeth.

In 1967, the first printing machine was designed and manufactured by Ma Gaohua. It was used in the process of ribs on the strip floor and produced certain effect.

In 1970, the filament separator, created by Yu Zhanggen and Wu Jirui, was used for the filament separation of strips of strips. It has simple structure and easy operation.

In 1977, the water curtain solvent-free constant temperature spraying machine was successfully imitated.

In 1981, the rolling gilding machine was designed and manufactured by ourselves, which has the advantages of high efficiency, reasonable structure, power saving and safety, and further improved the gilding process.

In 1985, Cai Yongcai and others trial-produced the planer, which is 40 times more efficient than manual operation.

representative figure

1. Yu Zhanggen (1932-), Shengzhou native, senior arts and crafts artist. He was awarded the honorary titles of "Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts" and "Labor Model of Zhejiang Province". He was elected as the 4th Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts, the 7th National People's Congress representative and the 8th National People's Congress representative of Zhejiang Province. In 1966, Yu Zhanggen, with the cooperation of relevant personnel, initiated the editors-in-chief of Animal Simulator Elephant and Cock. In 1976, with the cooperation of designers, models and staffs, he presided over the creation of large-scale bamboo editions such as goldfish dish, Old Life Star, Nine Lions Dance Embroidery Ball, Suwu Shepherd, Ma Gu Xianshou, Return to My River and Mountain, Peony Pavilion, Yuexiang Ancient Platform, Qinling Bronze Car and Horse. His works have participated in many exhibitions and fairs held at home and abroad, and won many awards. A reward.

2. Cao Shuigen (187-1962), born in Xinchang County, came to Shengxian at the age of 18, and later created his own brand "Cao Daxing" in the East Front Street of the county town to engage in fine bamboo baskets, autocratic baskets, food baskets, baskets and other traditional folk craft baskets. In 1925, at the invitation of the owner of Hartong Garden in Shanghai, a batch of cigarette boxes were woven with fine bamboo strips, which were appreciated by British users. At the end of 1949, Cao Shuigen became the technical backbone of the factory. In March 1955, the hexagonal flower basket was created and displayed at the 2nd National Arts and Crafts Exhibition. Then it was transferred to Paris, France, to participate in the Paris World Exposition and won the third prize. The photo was published in the 12th issue of People's Pictorial in 1956.

3. Yu Xiangliao (1913-1958), a famous bamboo weaver. In 1949, after the establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the Trade Union of Chengguan Town, it was elected Chairman. In January 1957, it took four months to weave Chairman Mao with 4200 golden bamboo silks. These works became the representative works of Shengxian bamboo weaving in the 1950s, which had a certain impact on the development of bamboo weaving technology in the future.

4. Ma Gaohua (1923-2000), a craft artist, graduated from Shanghai Shien Vocational Middle School in 1937, majoring in bamboo weaving, has designed more than 200 new products. He has designed and created more than 30 kinds of bamboo weaving products, such as Peace Pigeon, Octagonal Box, Bleaching Box, Penguin Cans and Bronze Vase. He has made great contributions to the research of bamboo weaving products in the field of moth prevention and mildew prevention. The third prize of the conference.

5. Fan Pingchao (1933 -), a craftsman and artist, was the vice director of technology of Shengxian Craft Bamboo Knitting Factory. He specializes in bamboo weaving and has created over 200 pieces such as Flower Pagoda, Liuhe Pagoda and Dragon Boat. His works have been exhibited in the United States, Britain, Japan and Germany. He was awarded the title of "Excellent Quality Management Worker in National Arts and Crafts Industry". In 1983, he was appointed as a member of the Judgment Committee of the Hundred Flowers Award for Chinese Arts and Crafts.

6. Xu Huadang (1944 -), a master of bamboo craftsmanship in China, was a member of the Second, Third and Fourth CPPCC sessions in Shaoxing City. He studied fine arts in Hangzhou Art College in 1960 and graduated from the Sculpture Department of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1983. He has devoted himself to the study of traditional arts and bamboo crafts for a long time. He has published 43 monographs such as "Chinese Bamboo Art", "Bamboo Editing", "Chinese Bamboo Carving Art".

7. Qian Zhaoyun (1943 -), art and crafts artist, deputy director of Shengzhou Bamboo Knitting Factory. Long-term engaged in innovative design of bamboo weaving process, creating hundreds of products. Among them, "Six Juns in Zhaoling", a large-scale production co-created by people, is the largest bamboo weaving handicraft in China at present. It has won the first prize in the evaluation, comparison and design of the 1986 Chinese Arts and Crafts 100 Flowers Award. The bamboo weaving "White Peacock" has been exhibited in many international expositions and exhibitions.

Representative Works

Running Horse

On the evening of September 26, 1994, when visiting the Zhejiang Pavilion of the 40th Anniversary National Forest Products Exposition held by the Ministry of Forestry, General Secretary Jiang Zemin praised the "running horse" produced by Shengzhou Bamboo Knitting Factory for its "Chinese national characteristics".

He said happily, "This horse has great momentum, very much like Xu Beihong's"Running Horse".

Mountain Eagle

"Mountain Eagle" flies into the White House: Bamboo knitting "Mountain Eagle" is made of bamboo silk and bamboo slices. Bamboo Knitters are ingenious and unique. They use knitting, insertion, flicker and other bamboo knitting techniques to make the "Mountain Eagle" look cool and lifelike. In early 1977, during Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States, he visited then President Carter at the White House. In the President's office, the two leaders enjoyed the eagle with great interest and passed on the good news of friendship between China and the United States.

Large Standing Screen "Six Juns in Zhaoling"

"Six Juns in Zhaoling", a large-scale upright screen, has stirred up three British islands: "Six Juns in Zhaoling" is the largest bamboo weaving handicraft in China. The 1984 World Ideal Family Fair in London, England, caused a sensation. Diana personally cut the ribbon for the work, which had a wide impact on nearly a million audiences. Bamboo plait Li Ping "Zhao Ling six Jun" is 8.22 meters long, 2.35 meters high, and 0.68 meters thick. The creation lasted for one year, and more than ten thousand workers were sent to work. The artists made up over 150 traditional techniques of chrysanthemum silk string, turtle back and spring shells, and then innovated and merged them into this large work.

Yuefei

"Yuefei" is a masterpiece of bamboo weaving in Eastern Europe. Yuefei has vivid shape, exquisite weaving and great momentum. The work is 110 cm long and 116 cm high. The creator has made full use of the specialty of bamboo weaving technology in this kind of product. By delicate and meticulous means, the characters are weaved tightly, completely and intact. The character's boutique is an outstanding bamboo woven masterpiece. When it was exhibited in Hong Kong, it was praised as a treasure of the mainland by people from all walks of life in Hong Kong and Macao. He has participated in many international expositions and fairs held in Eastern Europe and North America.