"Living Fossil Of Textile Technology" -- Weaving And Dyeing In Weixian

" Basic necessities of life "Is the four essential elements of human survival, and in these four basic elements," clothing "is the first, so we can see the necessity of" clothes "in human life. For thousands of years, in order to wear clothes and dress warmly, we have to dress more beautifully. Generations of simple and good working people have created many distinctive folk textile and dyeing skills with their wisdom and hands. Influenced by the natural and cultural environment in different regions, these folk arts show different regional characteristics.

Weixian weaving dyeing is the representative of textile technology in the south of Hebei Province. Before the Yuan Dynasty, Weixian textile was mainly made of silk and hemp textiles. In the late Yuan Dynasty, cotton was introduced into the Central Plains by the Chinese frontier, and Weixian is located in the southern part of Hebei province. It has four distinct seasons, mild climate, adequate light and moderate rainfall. It is very suitable for cotton production. With the extensive cultivation of cotton and the continuous progress of cotton textile technology, cotton textile industry gradually takes the place of silk and linen textile as the main pillar of Weixian textile industry. By the end of the Ming and early Qing Dynasty, the cotton cloth was quite popular among the people in Weixian, and became the main material and essential necessities for the general public.

However, the great increase in the output of cloth cloth did not make the people of Weixian feel self satisfied. They grow large amounts of blue grass, enrich coloured dyes, add dye houses, and boldly absorb patterns in traditional arts such as paper cutting, embroidery and New Year paintings, and constantly enrich the patterns of handmade cloth. At the same time, they also changed the past woodcut flower plates into water resistant, scratch resistant and brush resistant engraved plates of tung oil paper, which not only save labour and time, but also have rich patterns and good printing and dyeing effect. After a series of inheritance and innovation, Weixian weaving and dyeing technology has developed to a new stage of maturity.

after the Qing dynasty With the rapid development of the Republic of China, from the beginning of the founding of new China to 1980s, Weixian's weaving and dyeing developed to its heyday. At present, the Hebei folk custom museum collects part of Weixian's weaving and dyeing works. According to historical records, before 1980, almost all farm households in Weixian had spinning machines, looms, spinning homes, weaving household fabrics, and drumming drums in the printing and dyeing business. "The year of the girl is eighteen, weaving and spinning flowers, the mind and the hand are clever, finding a good husband's family." We can also see the popularity of weaving and dyeing techniques from the folk sayings spread in Weixian. It has almost become the basic skill that local women must acquire.

After 1960s, the machine textile industry developed rapidly. People's clothes were replaced by woven fabrics and all kinds of chemical fiber cloth. The weaving cloth of Weixian was gradually neglected. Most of the farmers' spinning machines and spinning machines were idle, and some handicraft cloth shops were also shut down. The scene of weaving and weaving gradually dropped out of people's lives, and the weaving and dyeing skills of Weixian were once faced with being eliminated. The embarrassing situation.

Weaving and dyeing in Weixian are divided into "weaving" and "dyeing". "Weaving" is the technology of soil weaving. The Weixian soil weaving is the crystallization of women's unique creativity, imaginative power and unique expressive power in Weixian's past dynasties. During the process of creating and inheriting this folk art, the process is summarized as 12 processes: rubbing flower, spinning, thread making, dyeing, thread making, thread drawing, warping, printing, digging, rushing, weaving, and weaving. The modeling of Weixian soil textile weaving is an abstract geometric deformation of the objective objects in the daily life of the working people, and it is a reflection of the realistic image in the living environment. Such as "five point plum", "mat grain", "Pepper flower", "cucumber road", "pomegranate seed" and so on, are all abstract geometric patterns, all drawn from life. In terms of color application, Weixian's indigenous textiles are mostly brightly colored, bright red, orange, emerald, sky blue, orange, and so on.

"Dyeing" refers to the process of printing and dyeing of cloth. Weixian handmade cloth includes two kinds of blue printed cloth and color printed cloth. Blue calico is famous for its pure, simple, bright and harmonious blue and white beauty. The color printed cloth is famous for its bright colors, richness and luxury. The blue print technology has been inherited for hundreds of years, and has developed into a production process of mounting paper, drawing for replacement, engraving, printing, dyeing, printing and dyeing. The production of color printed cloth is done through color printing. After continuous inheritance and development, the process of painting, stereotype, oiling, dyeing and printing has been gradually formed. In pattern design, blue prints are interlaced with dots, lines and surfaces, and the patterns are mostly rugged. And the color printed cloth with blue, green and red against each other is magnificent and colorful. The theme of Weixian handmade cloth is mostly the auspicious flowers and fruits, the birds and beasts that symbolize auspiciousness, and a small number of characters, gods, themes and characters. Peony, lotus, plum, grape, pomegranate and peach in flowers and fruits; dragon, Phoenix, unicorn and lion in animals; Fu Lu Shou Xi, auspicious signs, and characters in character symbols. These objects, which exist objectively in nature, are endowed with auspicious allegory and beautiful connotation through the unique artistic creation of folk artists, expressing the desire and pursuit of happy life of the people of Weixian.

　　 Weixian Weaving dyeing has a long history, exquisite workmanship, simple style, colorful, rich themes, and auspicious, and has been praised as "the essence of China's folk handicrafts, and the living fossil of China's textile technology". However, under the influence of the global industrialization process, many folk arts and crafts are faced with the danger of being submerged by the long history of rivers. Weixian's dyeing and weaving is no exception. Fortunately, this grim situation has attracted the attention of the people of Weixian who are keen to inherit and protect folk skills. With the support of the government and the help and care of the people from all walks of life, the weaving and dyeing of Weixian has been made by restoring the weaving and dyeing techniques, applying for entry into the list of non-material cultural heritage protection, editing books, and opening the Weixian earth dyed fabric and cloths collection. An ancient traditional technique has renewed its vitality in the new era.