Cixi Straw Hat

Cixi Straw Hat

　　　　Product Name: Cixi Straw Hat

　　Place of Origin: Cixi, Ningbo, Zhejiang

　　Product Features: Exquisitely woven, glossy and elegant, with a superior hand feel.

　　Product Introduction: Cixi straw weaving, having developed from the gold-thread straw hat, now encompasses dozens of product types including various hats, baskets, carpets, door curtains, shoes, toys, gifts, bags, mats, and more, with over 1,000 designs. The straw handicrafts have received widespread acclaim for their fine craftsmanship and novel patterns. In recent years, a large number of Cixi straw handicrafts have been exported to more than 80 countries and regions, including the UK, the US, France, and Japan. Notably, the saltgrass cool hat woven by women in Cixi using locally produced saltgrass has become the most popular straw hat product after the gold-thread straw hat, earning high praise from foreign merchants at the Canton Fair.

　　Product History: Straw weaving is an outstanding traditional folk craft in China with a long history. Historical records indicate that Cixi straw weaving dates back at least 200 years. During the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, the craft of straw hat weaving was introduced to the present-day Changhe area of Cixi from other regions, making straw weaving a major household side industry for local women. The "Yuyao Liucang Annals" state: “Straw hats, commonly known as cool hats, are made by women. There are cool hat shops in Qutang, Miaohouqiao, Chaotang, and Changhe Market, with those from Changhe Market being the most prominent.” A folk rhyme once circulated among the people of Cixi: “The three treasures of Yao Bei (now the western Cixi areas of Changhe and Andong): cotton, white salt, and straw cool hats.” Around 1922, the owner of a French trading company learned that women in the Changhe area of Cixi were skilled in weaving with low labor costs, seeing potential profits. He transported gold-thread straw materials produced in Southeast Asia to places like Changhe, organized weaving into straw hats, and then sold them to European and American countries. Later, Chinese and foreign merchants successively set up dozens of large and small straw hat shops in Changhe. Agents hired by these shops were frequently active in the area, supplying straw materials and purchasing cool hats. Since then, a commercial network for gold-thread straw hats naturally formed around Changhe, which also became the production and processing center for gold-thread straw hats. The scene thrived with “no idle women along ten miles of streets, every household a hat weaver,” and Cixi gained worldwide fame as the “hometown of straw weaving.”