Traditional handicrafts in Ningbo: bamboo weaving

Modern assembly line produces more and more handicrafts, which highlights the value of traditional handicrafts. Bamboo weaving is a traditional craft with a long history. Ningbo is rich in bamboo, and intelligent working people use this rich resource to weave bamboo products. Ningbo bamboo weaving is rich in the crystallization of people's hard work, which embodies a strong Ningbo culture.

Su Dongpo's sentence "It is better to live without bamboo than to eat without meat" shows that China culture is very different from other cultures. As early as the Shang Dynasty, there were records of bamboo weaving in Dongyang. The original experts thought that the bamboo weaving process was two or three thousand years ago. This archaeological discovery is the largest of its kind, so bamboo weaving technology may be advanced by about 2000 years.

Ningbo is the hometown of bamboo weaving. Siming Mountain is rich in bamboo, which has been used to compile various simple and practical bamboo baskets and baskets since ancient times. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the examination baskets and vegetable baskets for people from the south of the Yangtze River who went to Beijing to take exams were all made of bamboo. There are dozens of village-run bamboo weaving factories in Yinxian, Fenghua and Yuyao mountainous areas. Bamboo weavers can skillfully weave all kinds of cool and interesting animals with bamboo strips and pieces, and combine them with traditional cans, baskets, boxes and plates to make chicken cans, duck plates and owl boxes, which are both practical and ornamental and become a good gift for relatives and friends. Today, bamboo woven products are exported to Europe, America, Japan, Hong Kong and Macao.

There are also bamboo root carvings, which are based on bamboo root knots. The artist skillfully uses a knife, and the natural shape hides its flaws and reveals its beauty. They are carved into various figures, animals and plants, which are lifelike and unique. Xiangshan county has 12 bamboo root carving factory, which also adopts special treatment technology and has the functions of moth-proofing, mildew-proofing and antique.

The cross-sections of bamboo filaments used for bamboo weaving are all rectangular, and there are strict requirements on the thickness. The thickness is only one or two hairs thick and the width is only four or five hairs wide. All the roots of bamboo filaments are evenly cut to achieve the same thickness, and the viewers all admire its difficulty. Bamboo weaving technology is divided into filament technology and thick silk bamboo weaving technology. The traditional skill block displays different styles of bamboo weaving works, including Qingshen bamboo weaving with a long history and exquisite skills, and Liu bamboo weaving which combines modern fashion with China traditional culture and crafts to learn from each other's strong points.

Bamboo weaving process can be divided into three processes: bottoming, weaving and sewing. In the knitting process, warp knitting and weft knitting are the main methods. On the basis of warp knitting and weft knitting, various techniques can also be inserted, such as thinning, insertion, puncture, cutting, locking, nailing, binding and sleeve, to make the patterns varied. Products with other colors need to be matched, and dyed bamboo chips or bamboo filaments are twisted into various patterns, with strong color contrast and bright colors.

Bamboo woven articles for daily use can be widely circulated among the people. On the one hand, the availability of materials, and more importantly, the practicality of traditional bamboo weaving, which is the original driving force for the initial rise of traditional bamboo weaving.