"The Secret of Brocade" in Textile Art

As a wonderful work in China's textile art, Li Jincan be called the “living fossil” in the history of Chinese textiles and passed down for thousands of years.

Compared with the fate of Hainan's traditional folk arts, Li Jin has an advantage, that is, there are relatively many people who are weaving. In the vast area of ​​the Li nationality in central Hainan, most of the older Li women in rural areas will be woven in Lijin, and as the value of Li Jin has been rediscovered in recent years, some young girls have also joined the brocade team.

52-year-old Zhou Qiumei is a native of the Li ethnic group in the village of Fantao Village in Baoting. He has been learning brocade since his early teens and has been in forty years. In 2006, Zhou Qiumei was awarded the title of "China's outstanding brocade craft inheritor" by the Chinese Academy of Art and Crafts Association, and was awarded the title of "Lee traditional cotton textile craft" representative inheritor of Hainan intangible cultural heritage project in 2010.

As a brocade master, Zhou Qiumei is best at composing Li Jin's choreography, and the role of choreography in Li Jin weaving is equivalent to the role of construction drawings in construction projects. By orchestrating, it is possible to accurately position each color block that needs to be jacquard in the graphic design pattern so that weavers can easily weave corresponding fabrics. This has a very realistic significance for accelerating the innovation of traditional textile techniques of the Li nationality, especially in the aspect of innovation in the brocade design.

Although Zhou Qiumei only has junior high school culture, she has several digital editions of "The Secret of Brocade." The top is full of Arabic numerals, but the reporter holds this "brocade secret" and he can't see the slightest doorway.

The original yellow diary is the artistic crystallization of Zhou Qiumei's decades of brocade. For example, weaving Li Jin, especially the modern Li Jin pattern, is like building a house. Many beginners are just porters. Some skilled tapestry people are masons, and Zhou Qiumei is a designer. The number recorded in this notebook is the weave of the various patterns of the Brocade.

There are more than 100 kinds of traditional brocade designs of the Li nationality, which can be roughly divided into human-shaped patterns, animal patterns, plant patterns, geometric patterns, as well as patterns reflecting everyday production equipment, natural phenomena, and Chinese symbols. Humanoid patterns, animal prints, and plant patterns are the most commonly used brocade designs. Zhou Qiumei continued to innovate and integrate more patterns into the Li Jinzhong. No matter how complex modern patterns, birds, beasts and fish, Chinese calligraphy or foreign languages, Zhou Qiumei has the ability to turn it into a set of group numbers on a notebook, and then use ancient techniques to present the patterns on beautiful Lijin.

In the early years, when he was just starting a leisure festival, Baoting had to prepare some gift cards for guests who had been printed with a cane of birds and birds. When they ran across the county, they could not find anyone who could take this single job. Finally, Zhou Qiumei was in danger. Complete the mission successfully. At this point, Zhou Qiumei became famous. Even Fandao Village, where she lived, became the famous Brocade Village.

Since then, the county leaders have also introduced foreign investors to her. This week, Zhou Qiumei also wonders which country’s “white-skinned, big-nose” foreigners personally came to the door, hoping to cooperate with her, and invited her to teach around the world. The skills of Li Jin were rejected by Zhou Qiumei who had not been out of the door several times.

Speaking of this, Huang Xiumei, who was quick in her mouth, couldn't help but intervene: "You are so old, but are you afraid that people will sell you?"

Zhou Qiumei's "secret weapon"

Zhou Qiumei spent most of his energy trying to figure out how to innovate Li Jin's designs. When she was immersed in the pattern of Li Jin, she often reached the level of ecstasy. According to Zhou Qiumei’s memory, there was once a complex dragon pattern. She had been pondering for a year and a long time. The digital sketches drawn were even more difficult to calculate.

Here is also a secret weapon of Zhou Qiumei. This Lai design instrument designed by her husband more than 10 years ago was actually made up of three parts: the iron shelf of a used table, the old wooden frame resembling a window frame, and dozens of twine. Li traditional brocade is generally the warp. The reporter saw that Zhou Qiumei was testing the brocade on this machine. The hemp rope was the warp, the bamboo was the weft, and the figures on the notebook were blueprints. After the amendments were made, they entered the final stage of actual operation.

If you don't see it with your own eyes, you can't think of these three inconsequential things. In Zhou Qiumei's hands, she became a ** treasure in her study of Li Jin's designs. As the saying goes, “Turning into decay is magical” and “the use of magic is purely a matter of heart”. , Its practical tool for tapestry is not based on the wood of Park Sung. The so-called "Epee without front, big and clever", "bamboo trees can be sword" is probably the case.

Because most of the energy was devoted to the research of tapestry, Zhou Qiumei seemed to be "confused" about other things. For example, the reporter asked her how many apprentices she had taught in her lifetime to study Zhili Lijin. Zhou Qiumei first said that it was thirty to forty. It will add: "It should be less than thirty."

Beside her acute apprentice Huang Xiuqiang, “How could it be only thirty? Now and you are not only learning this number!” Huang Xiuqiang worked as a cleaner in Baoting County and saw reporters interview her teacher and put down her hand. Live together to make fun.

Huang Xiuqiang has been learning brocade in leisure time and Zhou Qiumei. It has been more than five years since she told reporters that Zhou Xiumei’s apprentices taught for so many years are not limited to hundreds of people. Not only do many rural women in Baoting’s townships come here to learn, but also many other cities. The county’s sisters also came to her to study the arts, and Zhou Qiumei never refused to accept the penny, did not receive the penny, there is no class, teach and teach.

When interviewed by reporters, there were just two new apprentices. One named Huang Xiuli worked in the county government office. She has been studying for more than one month. From the point of view of the reporter, this layman has already been very well-knit; the other is Mei Guirong who just studied for two days. The main business is For decoration, Zhou Qiumei is the same villager who came back to study tapestry with her.

Brocade is a way of life In fact, the most admired by reporters is the attitude of Zhou Qiumei and her husband to treat tapestry. People familiar with Lijin know that tapestry is not an easy task. In particular, using a traditional loin loom is even more of a "bitter" errand. No wonder some old people lament that young people do not want to learn brocade.

In the interview, however, the reporter felt the love of Zhou Qiumei and her friends for the brocade. From the beginning to the end, they were happily brocaded. Li Jin had warp and weft, and when they were engaged in brocade, It is completely immersed in the world of Li Jin, and does not care about everything in the surrounding world.

Just like their place of activity is definitely the most special one of the brocade workshops the reporter has ever seen. It is not only extremely simple, but also very special. Although Fandao Village is a rural area, it is close to the county town. With the economic development of Baoting in recent years, it has almost become a village in the city, and their brocade workshops are in the village entrance, bustling in front of the road, traffic is very heavy.

And Zhou Qiumei and her apprentices put a woven bag in front of the door to work on the ground, weaving Li Jinlai on their own, and leaving a few meters outside for a long ride. The crowds are loud, and I’m not moving, quite a bit. Zen fun. It is said that when there were many people, dozens of people filled the house in front of them and the scene was spectacular, attracting passers-by onlookers.

After entering the night, Zhou Qiumei and her beggars, dressed in their own Lijin costumes, danced to the national dance in the nearby square, and specially invited the actor of Baoting National Song and Dance Ensemble to do the instruction.

Brocade deeply affected their lives. Although she only learned tapestry for a month, Huang Xiuli had already felt that she was living more happily and happily than before. “I used to play cards before I was free, and I often lost money, at least for the moment, but I still have to lose!”

For Zhou Qiumei and her husband, life is so simple and happy. When busy during the day, work, leisurely tapestry, dancing at night, let the river of life slowly flow.