The origin of Zhuang brocade and its several characteristics.

Traditional hand-woven brocade of the Zhuang people in China. It is rumored to have originated around the Song Dynasty. Cotton, hemp thread for the ground warp, ground weft plain interweaving, with coarse and no flick of silk for the color weft woven into the starting flower, the formation of symmetrical patterns on the front and back of the fabric, and the ground tissue completely covered to increase the thickness of the fabric. Its color contrast is strong, the pattern is mostly diamond-shaped geometric pattern, the structure is rigorous and rich in changes, with a rich and rugged artistic style. It is used to make clothes and skirts, towels and quilts, backpacks, tablecloths and so on. The main places of origin are Jingxi, Xincheng, Binyang and other counties in Guangxi. The traditional patterns mainly include two dragons playing with pearls, back patterns, water patterns, cloud patterns, flowers, animals and more than 20 kinds of patterns, and in recent years there are more than 80 kinds of new patterns such as "Guilin landscape" and "national unity", which are rich in national styles. The Zhuang is an ethnic group with a long history. In ancient times, the Zhuang were called Slang, Biao, Jie and Tu, but from the Song Dynasty, they were renamed as Boys, and now they are called Zhuang again. The Zhuang have a very ancient history and have been living in the southwestern part of China in Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and part of Hunan for generations. Zhuang brocade, also known as "boy brocade" and "velvet quilt", is thicker. Known as one of China's four famous brocade Zhuang brocade is the national cultural treasure of Guangxi, this use of cotton or silk thread woven from the exquisite handicrafts, vivid patterns, strict structure, colorful, full of warm, cheerful national style, reflecting the Zhuang people's pursuit of a better life and yearning. Guangxi Tongzhi: "Zhuang brocade states and counties out of the Zhuang people love color, where the clothes and skirts and towels are the genus do not take the five-color velvet, miscellaneous weaving for the flower and bird-like, from a distance quite clever and dazzling, close-up view and coarse, the Zhuang people expensive." Zhuang brocade is equipped with a support system, transmission, heddle device and jacquard device on the hand loom, cotton yarn for the warp, with a variety of colored velvet for the weft, the use of through the warp and weft method of skillfully interwoven works of art. Zhuang brocade, also known as "boy brocade" and "velvet quilt", is thicker. Zhuang brocade is most suitable for quilts, mattresses, backpacks, bags, aprons and tablecloths. Zhuang brocade is made of cotton or linen stranded yarn as warp, with no twist or slightly twisted two kinds of colored weft woven into the starting flower, forming a symmetrical pattern on the front and back of the fabric, and the ground tissue is completely covered to increase the thickness, and there are also many kinds of colored weft picked out, the pattern is complex organization, mostly geometric patterns, bright colors, strong contrasts, and has a rich and rugged style of art.

[edit]Traceability

As an arts and crafts weaving, Zhuang brocade is one of the most wonderful cultural creations of the Zhuang people, and its history is also very long. It is said that as early as in the Han Dynasty, the local people had already produced "Dong Bu", which is a kind of cloth that is "fine for the summer heat, and soft and ripe to protect from the cold". The clever and intelligent Zhuang people made full use of plant fibers to weave Ge Cloth and Luobu as clothing materials. According to the "Guangdong New Language" quoted at that time, this fabric, "fine for the summer, soft and ripe to keep out the cold". After the founding of new China, archaeologists in guangxi LuoBoWan Han tomb of the seventh residual burial pit excavation unearthed several pieces of orange-red back to brocade fragments, confirmed that the Han dynasty in guangxi has been brocade weaving technology. During the Tang Dynasty, according to the records of "Six Songs of the Tang Dynasty" and "Yuanhe County Records", the nine kinds of fabrics such as banana cloth, bamboo cloth, jibe cloth, ban cloth, duluo cloth, linen cloth, # cloth, silk cloth, and food sheets, etc., which were woven by Zhuang people, had already been listed as tributes by the feudal dynasties. Zhang Ji of the Tang Dynasty praised White Ramie Fabric in his "White # Song", saying, "White Ramie Fabric is white and fresh, and will be used as spring clothes for the youth". This means that people seem to be much younger when they wear clothes made of white ramie fabric. The Zhuang brocade has gone through the development from monochrome to colorful, and the pattern from simple to complex. The fragments of orange-red brocade with black ground unearthed from the Han Tomb in Lopo Bay, Guigang, can be regarded as the goblet of Zhuang brocade. During the Tang Dynasty, the banana cloth, bamboo cloth, jibe cloth, spot cloth and silk cloth of the Zhuang people had already become tributes to the court. But the real textiles that can be called "brocade" appeared in the Song Dynasty. During this period, the Zhuang textile industry further development, in addition to ordinary cloth and silk, but also appeared silk, hemp, silk and cotton interwoven brocade. Song Dynasty "white square pattern, beautiful and heavy" cloth, is the early Zhuang brocade. Yuanfeng years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Lv Dafeng set up in Sichuan Shu Jin Yuan, four kinds of brocade, that is, Guangxi brocade (i.e., Zhuang brocade), one of the tribute to the brocade, visible Zhuang brocade of the famous and valuable. According to the Southern Song Dynasty Fan Chengda's "Gui Hai Yu Heng Zhi" records, Zhuang brocade was produced in Guangxi around the river, known as "carbonyl cloth". At that time, the "light cloth" produced by the "two rivers in the state of Dong", "such as China's thread Luo, on which there is a small square winning pattern all over the place". Zhou to go in the "ridge outside the answer", said: "white texture square pattern, wide large strands, like the line of the city of Luo, and beautiful and heavy, honestly the South above the service also". The so-called "white square pattern" refers to the production of Zhuang brocade, its decorative pattern for the square geometric pattern, its color tone for the monochrome, this is the early Zhuang brocade, with a "heavy" and weaving with the basic characteristics of the chevron pattern. To the Song Dynasty, the Zhuang handmade textile industry is more developed at that time, the Song Dynasty needs "silk silk nabu silk brocade for military needs", set up in Sichuan "Shu brocade courtyard", there are a large number of Shu brocade shipped to Guangxi, and then exported by Guangxi outside the mouth. The Zhuang people soon accepted the craftsmanship of Shu brocade, and the famous Zhuang brocade came into being. (Excerpted from "General History of Zhuang" by Huang Xianfan) In the Ming Dynasty, Zhuang brocade became more and more popular, and the craftsmanship became more and more exquisite. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhuang brocade with dragon and phoenix patterns became the tribute of the imperial court. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Zhuang brocade has been developed to use a variety of colors of floss weaving, so that the Zhuang brocade presents brilliant colors, although still for the royal tribute, but the common people can also enjoy. At that time, the states and counties have production, "Zhuang love to pick, where the clothes and skirts and towels are the genus, do not take the five-color floss mixed to weave, such as flowers and birds."" Dowry trousseau, earth brocade quilt surface is indispensable, to the township everyone can weave so also. Tujin to willow velvet, with five colors, thick and durable, worth five taels, before maturity of the girl will learn to weave". Zhuang brocade has not only become the daily life of the Zhuang people in the supplies and decorations, weaving Zhuang brocade is the Zhuang women essential "women's red", Zhuang brocade is an indispensable thing in the dowry. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Civil War, the Zhuang brocade began to decline.

[edit]Legend of Zhuang brocade

After more than a thousand years of development, the Zhuang brocade has its own system of three major types, more than 20 varieties and more than 50 kinds of patterns, and is known for its durability, skillful technique, chic patterns and exquisite patterns. It is said that in the Song Dynasty, a Zhuang girl named Dani Mei saw the dewdrops on the spider's web glittering with different colors under the sunlight, and was inspired by it, so she used colorful silk threads as the weft, and original color yarns as the warp, which was elaborately spun and made. From then on, the magnificent Zhuang brocade was produced. At that time, the Zhuang brocade was interwoven with silk, hemp, silk and cotton.

There is a moving story about the beauty of Zhuang brocade. Legend has it that in ancient times, an old Zhuang mother who lived at the foot of a great mountain depended on her three sons. The old mother was a skillful weaver. She wove a piece of Zhuang brocade with houses, gardens, fields, orchards, vegetable gardens and fish ponds, as well as chickens, ducks, cows and sheep. One day, a gust of wind, the Zhuang brocade rolled to the east of the sky to go, the original is a group of nymphs there to take the Zhuang brocade to do look to go. The old mother has sent two older sons set out to look for the strong brocade, but they are afraid of the difficult road, take the money to the city to enjoy the happiness. Later, the third son of the old mother, with the help of the big stone horse, crossed the volcano and the sea, found the red fairy, and asked her to return the brocade. The red-clothed fairy was weaving the brocade with the old mother's brocade, and Lao San took the opportunity to take the brocade from his own family and rode back to the old mother's side. When Lao San returned home, the Zhuang brocade gradually stretched wide in the sunlight and turned into a beautiful home. However, what Lao San didn't expect was that the fairy really liked the old mom's Zhuang Jin too much, so she secretly embroidered her own likeness on the Zhuang Jin, which was brought back home by Lao San. So Lao San married her and lived happily ever after.

[edit]Main Features

With delicate patterns and brilliant colors, Zhuang brocade is both an exquisite handicraft and of high practical value. Zhuang brocade is famous in China and abroad for its chic patterns, bright colors, robustness and durability, and strong ethnic characteristics. Zhuang folk brocade varieties are quilt tops, bed blankets, backpacks, hanging bags, tablecloths, aprons, head scarves, clothes, edges and corners of the ornaments.

1, weaving technology

Zhuang people in the long-term labor to figure out a set of Zhuang brocade weaving technology. They use hand looms equipped with support systems, transmission devices, sub-hearing devices and jacquard devices, with cotton yarn as the warp, with a variety of colorful velvet as the weft, using the method of through the warp and weft breaks cleverly interwoven. The traditional small wooden machine, also known as the bamboo cage machine, is equipped with a "flower cage" for weaving patterns, and the flower cage is the most important feature of the Zhuang brocade loom.

2, Zhuang brocade color

"Red with green, look not vulgar", which reflects the Zhuang brocade weavers on some of the requirements of the Zhuang brocade color: not only colorful, but also durable. The Zhuang people like heavy color, red, yellow, blue, green as the basic color, the rest is the complementary color, contrast strong, with red as the background, full of warm, active, cheerful atmosphere; with green as a backdrop, there is a cheerful mood; such as yellow and green configuration, it is gorgeous and moving. A strong brocade, often with several colors or even a dozen colors with the composition, due to the proper configuration, appears splendid, rich and unified. Contrast and harmony, ancient colorful and deep, gorgeous but not vulgar. The characteristics of the Zhuang brocade color application are: less to see more, pure and simple in the see rich, elegant in the see colorful, contrast is sharp and strong. Showing the Zhuang people's warm, bright, brave and simple character.

3, Zhuang brocade pattern

The pattern of Zhuang brocade is composed of three kinds of styles: one is to weave two successive and four successive geometric patterns on the plain pattern, forming continuous geometric patterns, which appear simple and bright; the second is to take various geometric patterns as the base, decorated with animal and plant patterns, forming multi-level composite graphics, with a clear pattern and a sense of relief; the third is to use a variety of geometric patterns with a combination of size, square and round interspersed, weaving into a dense and rich, and the third is to use a variety of geometric patterns with a combination of size, square and round interspersed, weaving into a dense and rich. The third is to use a variety of geometric pattern size combination, interspersed with square and round, woven into a dense and rhythmic composite geometric pattern, there is a rigorous and harmonious beauty. There are dozens of traditional patterns, most of which are selected from the visible life and symbolize the auspicious and happy pattern, especially the geometric pattern. Commonly, there are chevron pattern, "" pattern, water wave pattern, cloud pattern, zigzag pattern, weaving pattern, concentric circle pattern, as well as a variety of flowers and animal images, such as butterfly in love with flowers, phoenix in peony, double dragons playing with beads, lions rolling balls, carp jumping Dragon Gate and so on. The phoenix pattern in the Zhuang brocade takes the lead, "ten pieces of Zhuang brocade nine pieces of phoenix, living like a phoenix out of the brocade". This is because the Zhuang people love the phoenix and regard it as a symbol of good luck. The rich and wonderful patterns fully reflect the simple and healthy aesthetic taste of the Zhuang people and their love and respect for life, nature and national culture. This kind of exquisite handicrafts woven with cotton or silk threads, with vivid patterns, strict structure, colorful, full of warm and cheerful national style, reflecting the pursuit of the Zhuang people's pursuit of a better life and aspirations. In recent decades, it has added the landscape of Guilin, grain harvest, sunflower to the sun, national unity and other patterns reflecting the new life of the Zhuang people, the new style, making it more colorful.