Liu Xianglan, The National Representative Inheritor Of The Traditional Textile, Dyeing, Weaving And Embroidery Skills Of The Li Nationality

Liu Xianglan, the national representative inheritor of the traditional textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li nationality, has been particularly busy these days. She has demonstrated her intangible cultural heritage skills in various activities held in Wuzhishan City, Hainan Province.

When the reporter saw Liu Xianglan at the intangible cultural heritage skills inheritance activity in Shilan Village, Nansheng Town, Wuzhishan City recently, he saw her sitting on the ground, her belt wrapped around her waist, straightened her legs, and stepped on the warp stick tightly... After fixing the warp shafts at both ends of the loom, Liu Xianglan divided the warp yarn into upper and lower layers with the warp dividing stick, inserted the weft with both hands, and tightened the weft thread between pulling and pulling... Heald pole jacquard, broken weft weaving, color weaving, Complex techniques weave exquisite patterns. Liu Xianglan uses a waist loom as her knitting tool, and her knitting technique is the traditional brocade weaving technique of the Li nationality.

The traditional spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidering skills of the Li nationality are created by the women of the Li nationality in Hainan Province. They have a history of about 3000 years. In the long-term practice, Li women have constantly improved their form and level, forming a complete skill system consisting of four types of skills: spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery. This skill was included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2006, and in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List in urgent need of human protection in 2009.

Liu Xianglan is a native of Wuzhi Mountain. When she was 13 or 14 years old, she learned the handicrafts of spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery from her mother. "Li brocade is an art that needs time to polish." Liu Xianglan said that every finished product must go through four steps, namely spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidering, which takes three or four months; If the weaving is complicated, it will take longer.

The embroidery of Li brocade includes single-sided embroidery, double-sided embroidery, counting yarn embroidery and other embroidery methods, producing more than 100 patterns. The traditional patterns, such as human pattern and animal pattern, record the production activities and folk customs of Li nationality, and also express the yearning of Li people for a better life. In Liu Xianglan's Li Jin works, the background color is mostly black and blue black, occasionally red. White, yellow, green, purple and so on appear more as comprehensive colors. "The traditional Li brocade is mostly blue and black, which is resistant to dirt during labor and convenient to wash." Liu Xianglan said, "Now life is better, and color matching is more abundant than before."

Liu Xianglan has been associated with textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery for more than 40 years. "From ignorance at that time to basic proficiency now, the traditional textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li nationality have almost become all of my life." Liu Xianglan said that she is now devoting her energy to promoting and inheriting the traditional textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li nationality.

Li Jin was once faced with the situation of no successor. In the past, Li brocade was a difficult skill to learn, which could only be practiced by the master with his apprentice hand in hand. In Liu Xianglan's view, the inheritance of Li brocade needs to adapt to the changes of the times. In 2005, she set up Wuzhishan Xianglan Li Brocade Transmission Co., Ltd. to gather all women in the village to weave brocades. Two years later, with the help of relevant departments, she founded the Wuzhishan Li Brocade Institute, which offered brocade skills training classes for free.

In order to inherit her skills, Liu Xianglan not only regularly goes to each village for on-site teaching, but also often goes to Hainan Ethnic Technical School and some primary and secondary schools for teaching. She said: "It is hoped that students can better inherit the intangible cultural heritage by learning and mastering the techniques of Li brocade, so that the traditional Li brocade culture and Li brocade art can glow in the new era."

Liu Xianglan also led the team to combine traditional Li brocade with modern technology to develop cultural and creative products. At the recently held intangible cultural heritage publicity and exhibition activity in Wuzhishan City, Wuzhishan Xianglan Li Nationality Brocade Promotion Co., Ltd. displayed Li brocade craft clothing, mobile phone bags, sachets, dolls, mouse pads and other products, attracting the attention of citizens and tourists.

Liu Xianglan knew that it was not enough to rely solely on personal strength to carry forward the traditional textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li nationality. Therefore, wherever there are promotional activities, she always signs up for them at the first time and takes the lead in demonstrating each time. "I hope that through hard work, more people will fall in love with the traditional textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li nationality, so that Li brocade can enter more ordinary people's homes." Liu Xianglan, who is now nearly sixty years old, still keeps her hands on the line every day, with exquisite workmanship and passionate feelings, writing the inheritance story of the traditional textile, dyeing, weaving and embroidery skills of the Li nationality.

As Li Jin gets more and more people's attention and walks into more people's lives, the millennium art is constantly radiating new vitality. "There are no two identical Li brocades in the world, and Li brocades should be constantly innovated and developed." Liu Xianglan said, "The color of Li brocades is to show vitality in a strong visual impact. Inheriting old techniques, we must not stick to the old, but constantly seek innovation and change, so that Li brocades can show a stronger vitality."

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