The originality of traditional craft

"Little Basket, swaying leisurely ..." A song "Little Basket" not only made Xiangxi popular, but also made bamboo baskets in Xiangxi come into public view. There are either things or children in the basket. Even in today's rich material life, bamboo baskets are still common items in Xiangxi people's lives, and they can be seen everywhere in the streets.

Xiangxi bamboo weaving has a long history and is a typical representative of traditional handicrafts. It is mainly distributed in towns and villages such as Furong, Xiaoxi, langxi, Yongmao, Shidi, Shaba and Wanping in Yongshun County.

The Records of Yongshun County in the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty once described: "In February and March, women carried cages together ..." It was also recorded in the Records of Yongshun County in the Tongzhi period that "when going out, they picked baskets to help the mountains collect wages ...". The back cages and baskets recorded here are all made of bamboo. Through processing, the main woven products are: laundry baskets, dustpans, rice screens, beds, chairs, bamboo mats and so on. Yongshun's bamboo weaving skills have been taught from generation to generation by craftsmen since ancient times, and gradually mastered the weaving skills in practice. Bamboo weaving technology has formed its own unique style through the inheritance and development of countless generations of artists.

Bamboo weaving tools mainly include small saws, knives, scrapers, even knives, clips, awls, bamboo rulers and so on. The technological process of bamboo weaving is to select materials first, choose different bamboos according to different bamboo tools, and then cut them. After cutting, flatten the bamboo joints, cut with a bamboo knife, and then cut into thin bamboo strips. Cutting bamboo strips is the basic skill of a bamboo craftsman. Cut the bamboo strips, and then scrape off the surface to make them uniform in size. In ancient times, the juice of plants was used for dyeing. First, mash the fruit, take the juice, infect it, and then dry it in the shade, so that it can be woven, and various patterns can be woven into exquisite handicrafts. In the development history of Tujia nationality, the changes of folk customs can also be found in the formation of bamboo weaving, which also develops with the progress of human civilization. These skills are the crystallization of people's long-term wisdom, their technology is irreplaceable by modern machines, and their unique technology is unique.

"Xiangxi Bamboo Weaving" is a provincial non-legacy project. Inheritor Yao Benshun 10 years old began to learn bamboo weaving with his father. At the age of 67, he has been a weaver for 60 years. When I was a teenager, I followed my father to Sichuan Guzhang, Yongshun and Longshan to make bamboo weaving. Cleaning balls, bamboo mats and baskets are the best-selling products. Under the guidance of his father and his own practice, Yao Benshun's bamboo weaving skills became more and more exquisite and gradually became a household name.

Today, with abundant living materials, craftsman Yao Benshun still struggles with bamboo with his own hands and weaves a different gorgeous life with bamboo strips. There is a display of bamboo weaving in Xiangxi in the exhibition hall of Shaoshan Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park. Interested people can visit this website to learn about the traditional craft of bamboo weaving. Of course, there are many other intangible projects in Shaoshan Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park, which can appreciate the charm of Huxiang culture.