Dongxiang mentioned here refers to the Gaoping area in Liuyang.
According to local records, Liuyang summer cloth made of ramie and hemp was once famous for its exquisite weaving and delicate texture. In the Ming dynasty, it was listed as a tribute to the court. There has always been a saying that Hangzhou spun silk was exchanged for Liuyang Xiabu, which was very famous in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. There is even a record: "Bamboo cloth, a kind of summer cloth ... Liuyang, Xiangxiang, Youxian and Chaling all produce bamboo cloth, which is called the first in Liuyang." At that time, some weak products in the market had the idea of counterfeiting to find a way out, and flax produced in Jiangxi was one of them. Tan Sitong said in "Malizhi of Liuyang" that Liuyang Xiabu's calmness and self-confidence can be found in many historical footnotes, such as the grand occasion of Liuyang Xiabu selling well at various ports in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties (65.438+0.8 million). "During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, Shandong's' Qian Xiang Yi' set up a village in Liuyang to buy the next step, with an annual average of more than 70,000 horses." 190 1 year (the 27th year of Guangxu in Qing dynasty), Liuyang Xiabu, bearing the exquisite textile skills of the Han nationality and the characteristics of China's farming culture, began to cross the ocean and exported to Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and other places.
As early as the Han Dynasty, Shu cloth was recorded, and its top-level "point cloth" and "tube cloth" became tributes in the Tang and Song Dynasties. With the technology of planting hemp and weaving brought by Huguang immigrants, commercial production was formed during Kangxi period. In the 9th year of Guangxu (187 1), Rongchang County Records recorded that hemp was planted everywhere in every township, which was more impressive than other households. Rongchang panlong town summer cloth includes fine cloth, coarse cloth and rib cloth. The fabric of this product is fine and smooth, angular after ironing, simple and generous, cool and sweat-regulating, comfortable and pleasant, and it is the first-class clothing for people in summer.
In the past, all towns and villages in Rongchang produced "Tujia hemp", with Panlong and Baohua as the most. In 25 years (1936), the annual output of white hemp was 5 10 ton. Since the Qing Dynasty, the use of ancient wooden short machines with feet and hands to throw edges requires special operation skills and good climatic conditions. In the early years of the Republic of China, we used the pedal-edge high-speed knitting machine to weave summer cloth, which was simple and efficient. Later, it was gradually eliminated because it was impossible to adjust the warp tightness. During the period of the Republic of China, dyed summer cloth was mostly blue, blue and jade, with blue flowers on a white background, white flowers on a blue background and colored flowers. It's very popular. However, due to poor technology, the sales volume is not large. The bleaching room and pulp room are the most developed in the summer cloth refining industry. During the Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, there were three floating houses, Long Enpu, Mo and Yang, on Guanyin Bridge in the north of the city. During the Republic of China, due to the improvement of bleaching industry, bleached fine cloth was called "hemp silk" and "pearl rib". 12 (1923) Rongchang fine bleached summer cloth participated in the evaluation exhibition in Tianlu and won the first prize. It has the reputation of "Zixi River attaches great importance to the whole country" and has become the exquisite center of Xiabu for a time. According to the statistics in 25 years of the Republic of China, there are 8 bleaching houses and 10 pulp house with more than 200 employees. 1954, Chengguan Xiabu Co., Ltd. was strictly established, and Zhang Zhirong improved on this basis, saving labor and improving work efficiency. 1958, two 1200 ribbed horses were woven by Guo and Li Shuwan, the next social workers of Panlong, and patterns such as Fang, dove of peace, prancing horse and happy characters were woven on cloth and sent to Beijing for exhibition, which received rave reviews.
The width of Rongchang Ramie is wider than that of the summer cloth produced in Hunan and Jiangxi. The common ones are 60cm, 75cm and 100cm, which is suitable for Rongchang Ramie's painting. In recent years, Rongchang Ramie has been widely used in painting, calligraphy, making folding fans, clothing and other handicrafts and daily practical items. His works are simple and dignified, elegant and beautiful, and people compete to collect them, or give them as gifts to relatives and friends or sell them at home and abroad.
Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the weaving technology of Sichuan Longchang summer cloth has been developed. Huguang immigrated to Sichuan in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which brought the experience of flax production in Huguang and exchanged with the local production technology in Longchang. After several generations of inheritance, the technology is improving and the technology is constantly improving. Its production is mainly through the processes of beating hemp, pulling hemp balls, pulling taro, drawing wires, threading, brushing pulp, weaving, rinsing and setting, printing and dyeing. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Longchang Xiabu became a tribute to the court and began to be sold overseas, becoming the earliest textile exported by China. Today, with the highly developed industrial textile technology, there are still individual workshops weaving in Zhouxing Town, Shixiang Town and Shinian Town of Longchang County, Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, which continues the traditional culture of China. In 2009, the weaving skills of Longchang Xiabu were identified as the first batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage by the Sichuan Provincial People's Government, and Xiang Rong Sheng of Shinian Town of Longchang County was identified as the representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage project "Longchang Xiabu Weaving Skills" by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture.
The most famous ramie producing area in Korea is Hanshan in Shuchuan County, Chungcheongnam-do.
Ramie has been planted in Hanshan, Shuchuan County since the Baekje era. In the Korean era, ramie cloth was famous as one of the main trade commodities with the Ming Dynasty. In the Korean era, ramie cloth became a precious tribute of Wang and was recorded in historical materials. Today, Hanshan Ramie is famous for its "Hanshan Ramie Culture Festival" held from May to June every year. Hanshan ramie weaving is also included in the list of representative works of Korean intangible cultural heritage and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of mankind.
Yueyue Shangbu is a kind of summer cloth produced by Nanyuma City and Xiaoqiangu City in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and it is an ancient Japanese tribute (Shangbu). Putting natural ramie fiber on cloth, spinning, weaving, cleaning and drying in snow takes three months, which is called "snow drying". Snow drying, using the bleaching effect of ozone generated by snow evaporation, removes excess dyes and gives the fabric a natural "shrinking" feeling. Hanazono Sakura grain shrinkage in the cloth after Vietnam is also a kind of ramie crepe-white shrinkage mentioned by Yasunari Kawabata in Snow Country. It is woven in white on snowy days and is specially used for making summer kimono dresses. After the Yue Dynasty, the cloth spread out, and the Hanazono Sakura Valley shrank, following the ancient craft of "snow drying" thousands of years ago, and was listed as a world heritage in 2009.