Enyang Bamboo Mats

Enyang Bamboo Mats

　　Enyang Specialty — Nationally Renowned Enyang Bamboo Mats

　　The Enyang area is crisscrossed with streams and abundant in cizhu (a type of thin bamboo) and shuizhu (water bamboo), providing an endless supply of materials for bamboo weaving. The ingenious locals cut small cizhu or shuizhu from the riverbanks and use techniques called “cunmiezi” (inch-wide strips) and “sanshouyigong” (three-finger one-bow method) to split the bamboo into small sections, producing extremely thin bamboo strips to weave mats. Legend has it that when they first started making mats, they couldn’t figure out how to finish the edges. Open-edged bamboo mats were neither durable nor safe. The bamboo weavers prayed to Lu Ban (the patron saint of carpenters and craftsmen) for guidance on how to finish the edges. After they knelt in prayer, a slanting beam of light shot straight onto the mat surface and reflected brilliantly. The weavers pondered this repeatedly but couldn’t understand its meaning. Later, a weaver surnamed Han realized the principles of “diagonal interlacing” and “reverse interlacing” — weaving diagonally from the center toward the corners, and when the rectangular mat was formed, using “reverse interlacing” to lock the edges. This method proved successful. The technique has been passed down through generations to this day. Han Mingde and Lü Hengde, who are still alive today, have trained batches of highly skilled mat weavers who continue to innovate, enabling the development of Enyang bamboo mats to reach a large scale and earning them the reputation of being “a unique flower in the garden of bamboo weaving art” nationwide.

　　Enyang bamboo mats are rectangular and come in various sizes to fit different beds. They are as soft as cloth and as smooth as leather. In summer, lying on one helps you fall asleep with its cool touch. Particularly notable are those woven with black bamboo strips to create various patterns, such as blooming flowers, magpies celebrating plum blossoms, two dragons fighting over a pearl, dragons coiling around pillars, a sky full of golden stars, and a golden rooster standing alone. These are accented with decorative borders resembling a grid of Chinese characters, making them not only sleeping mats but also exquisite works of art. The reason Enyang bamboo mats are so exquisitely crafted lies mainly in their superior weaving techniques and finely made bamboo strips. The weaving process involves dozens of meticulous and strictly followed steps. In summary, it must pass through five key stages: bamboo selection, strip splitting, bamboo steaming, sweating, and weaving. The bamboo must be selected from two- to three-year-old cizhu and one-year-old shuizhu that grow in loamy, wind-facing, sunny environments. Splitting the strips requires sharp knives, steady hands, even force, and the use of specially made even-bladed tools to ensure uniform width, thickness, and thinness. Steaming involves rolling the split strips into circles with diameters of 30–60 centimeters and steaming them in a steamer for 2–3 hours to enhance flexibility and toughness. Sweating is done by digging a pit in the house with equal length, width, and height of two meters, placing the steamed bamboo circles inside, covering them with soil, and retrieving them after half a month to allow toxins to dissipate and preserve the fresh scent. Of course, there are also counterfeit Enyang bamboo mats — ordinary mats that haven’t gone through the “five stages.” In the 1960s, Enyang bamboo mats made their debut at the Guangzhou Trade Fair and quickly gained favor among merchants. Since then, Enyang bamboo mats have sold well across China and in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Today, merchants from all over place orders for more than 200,000 mats annually. Currently, Mingyang Bamboo Mats have formed a specialized cooperative for weaving, along with dedicated bases, markets, and services — a comprehensive “four-specialties one-stop” production model.

　　In addition to bamboo mats, Enyang bamboo products also include bamboo fans, bamboo curtains, bamboo screens, bamboo baskets, and various decorative handicrafts such as bamboo-woven porcelain bases. These items not only enrich daily life but also hold collectible value.