Huizhou Bamboo Weaving

Huizhou Bamboo Weaving

　　“Huizhou Bamboo Weaving” originated in the Tang and Song dynasties, flourishing in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Surviving bamboo weaving artifacts from these periods mainly include bowls, cups, plates, bottles, as well as boxes, book chests, ceremonial trays, and fruit containers. For example, the Anhui Provincial Museum houses a “gold-traced polychrome lacquered fruit container” from the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty and a “gold-lacquered embossed round fruit container” from the Qing Dynasty. Both feature bamboo frames, with intricate patterns woven using fine bamboo strips, then coated with colored lacquer and gilded designs. In recent years, to meet the demands of foreign trade and tourism, “Huizhou Bamboo Weaving” has evolved beyond traditional rectangular, circular, square, and flat shapes and simple patterns into bamboo paintings, bamboo carvings, bamboo figurines, and bamboo animal sculptures. Among them, landscapes, flowers, birds, and rare animals feature complex shapes and elaborate patterns, requiring artisans to split bamboo strips less than an inch wide into 10–140 strands as fine as hair. The bamboo becomes as soft as silk floss and as thin as a strand of hair. Additional techniques such as gold stamping, floral stamping, decoupage, dyed bamboo strips, bleaching, as well as anti-mold and anti-insect treatments have also been introduced. The color palette has expanded from just black and natural bamboo tones to include red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and more. By using hand-weaving methods such as pattern weaving, openwork, and reinforced ribs, bamboo crafts have become even more vibrant and colorful. In 1983, Tunxi’s bamboo animal sculptures ranked third in a national industry competition and won the Hundred Flowers Award. (Huangshan)