Xingyang Straw Hats

Xingyang Straw Hats

　　 Straw Hats Straw hats come in both handmade and machine-made varieties, with finished products available in yellow and white. In rural areas, most are made using uncolored straw braids, sewn by hand, resulting in a ivory-yellow color. Some skilled artisans also dye the braids red, green, yellow, or purple, and hand-sew colorful children’s and women’s hats, which are quite popular.

　　 The production of machine-made straw hats began in the early 20th century. In the first year of the Republic of China (1911), Zhang Zhiming’s son from Liangzhuang Village in Wangcun Township traveled to Shandong to learn how to make machine-made straw hats. Machine-made hats were first treated with sulfur and bleaching powder to fumigate and bleach the straw braids, then sewn by machine. The products were in high demand locally. By the 13th year of the Republic of China (1924), there were 11 straw hat processing factories in Xingyang, Xushui, Ershilipu, Zhaozhuang, Xiangying, and Wanggou, producing 227,000 hats annually. The styles of these hats varied with the trends of the times: one type was the ordinary model, which could be bent without breaking, was easy to carry, required simple labor, and was reasonably priced, selling well nationwide and remaining popular for years. The other type was the top hat model, featuring a concave crown, flat brim, hard shell, silk or cloth lining, inner trademark, rubber hatband, and clear silk hatband. These hats were beautifully shaped, exquisitely crafted, had an ivory-white color, and used finely selected materials (such as broken stalk braids). Commonly known as “foreign straw hats,” they were highly favored by bureaucrats, the wealthy, merchants, professors, and scholars, and were mainly sold in major domestic cities and exported to countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. During the Anti-Japanese War, the sales of straw hats stagnated, and production sharply declined. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, straw hat factories not only produced hats but also crafted delicate and elegant decorative items such as baskets, table mats, chair pads, kang mats, and door curtains, offering over 100 varieties to meet the needs of both domestic and international markets.