Chinese Halloween, Zhonyuan Day (2)

The second commom activity is to prepare the dead a meal regardless of your richness or poverty. After the meal is done, all the family will gather around and pray to the ancestors so as to "invite them over" to eat. Half a minute later, the live can have the meal. And the kids are not supposed to take the rice on the table, as it's supposed to be of too much otherworld's favor.

 

Chinese Halloween, Zhongyuan Day (1)

Halloween is the day when I consider the westerners do different activities to celebrate and exorcise the ghost. In fact, in our country halloween has a counterpart, Zhongyuan Day.

Every year, on Jul.15th in Chinese lunar calender, people will do everything which was transmitted from our ancesters to worship our families in the "other" world and to drive the ghost away. Unlike the happy celebration, such as "trick or treat", costume party, in the west, we Chinese do in a comparatively modest way so as to show our respect to the dead.

In different part of China, people have different activities. But the most epidemic one across the country would be "firing paper-money".Usually, we go out of our house after dinner and choose a place to set the fire. By placing the paper-money, which is yellow in colour and supposed to be the currency in the other world, we send the death money they need to maintain a good life there, away from other ghosts' bullying. While the fire is on, we throw the paper-money and say "xxx, come and get the money. And bring the family good luck..."

to be continued...

Chinese Embroidery History

Chinese embroidery refers to embroidery created by any of the cultures located in the area that makes up modern China. It is some of the oldest extant needlework. The four major regional styles of Chinese embroidery are Suzhou embroidery (Su Xiu), Hunan embroidery (Xiang Xiu), Guangdong embroidery (Yue Xiu) and Sichuan embroidery (Shu Xiu).

The birth of Chinese embroidery is said to be in the Neolithic Period, in about 6000-5000BC.However, we don't have valid evidence, i.e. embroidery pieces, to buttress the saying, except for archeological findings of the wall painting and embroidery equipments. In the Spring and Autumn Period(770-403BC), the art of embroidery was already quite mature, as proven in a large quantity of historical relics unearthed in the past hundred years or so(A concrete piece of embroidery crafts was first found in present Hubei Province,where I and my group members currently live ,from a king's tomb.). Themes ofembroidery in this period include exaggerated figures of dragon, phoenix and tiger, interspersed with flowers, foliage or geometrical shapes.There is often a great sense of rhythm brought out by the vivid animal figures, the decorative patterns, and the richness and harmony of colors.

Entering the Qin(221-206BC) and Han(202BC-220AD) Dynasties, embroidery reached a new height. What deserves special mention is the workshop set up in Linzi, capital of the Qi Kingdom, dedicated exclusively to the making of official court uniforms. Thousands of weavers were hired, and no cost was spared. Not only the royal family had the whole house dress in brocade and their horses and dogs clad in woolen dress, but all the rich wore what was called the “five colored brocade” and decorated their furniture with silks and embroideries. By the end of the late Han Dynasty, Buddhism became increasingly popular in China. Embroidery of Buddha’s portrait remained popular all the way through the Tang Dynasty(618-907AD). This kind of embroidered Buddha can still be seen in museums in England and in Japan, acclaimed for the fine craftsmanship and dazzling colors. Another great achievement of the Tang embroidery art is the invention of a new stitch – the satin stitch, which is popular until the present day. This new stitch brought more freedom to the artist, and brought about a new era of embroidery.

The Song Dynasty(960-1279AD) marks the peak of Chinese embroidery, both in terms of quality and quantity. The refinement of embroidery in the Tang and Song Dynasties was determined by the social environment of that time. In a time of clear division of labor between men and women with men ploughing and women weaving, all women were required to learn needlecraft. Embroidery was a basic skill, aprerequisite for a woman to be accepted by society, and at the same time an elegant pastime, hobby from which women of leisure cultivated their artistic taste and creativity. The function of embroidery can be classified into daily necessities and art pieces intended strictly for artistic appreciation. Even the intelligentsia participated in the creative process of fine embroidery, which often borrowed ideas from painters before it was completed by artisans.

The revival of folk handicraft in the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644AD) injected new vitality into the technique and production of embroidery. Individuals and households talented in embroidery became famous for their crafts, and both the demand and usage of embroidery increased. Practical embroidery pieces became better in quality, finer in material, and more skilled in techniques. In the Ming and later Qing Dynasties(1644-1911AD), embroidery reached its peak in popularity. In the two hundred plus years of the Qing Dynasty, local schools of embroidery appeared like bamboo shoots after the rain, the most famous being Suzhou, Guangdong, Sichuan, Hunan, Beijing and Shandong schools. In addition to their local flavors, these schools all borrowed from other ethnic cultures.

Today, fashion comes and goes, and machines have replaced the human hand in many ways. Fortunately, the art and craft of embroidery have been preserved as China’s great cultural heritage. Besides the local embroidery schools, many ethnic minority people have their own beautiful embroidery, such as the Uygur, the Yi, the Dai, the Bouyi, the Kazak, the Yao, the Miao, the Tujia, the Jingpo, the Dong, the Bai, the Zhuang, the Mongolian, and the Tibetan people. Embroidery is not only found in garments and home furnishings, but also exists on their own as a unique art form that has incorporated the character of Chinese painting and calligraphy.



our handmae embroidery bag:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/108571202/handmade-cross-stitchembroidered

 I may introduce to you all these genres afterwards. Stay tuned.

An insight into our group

We had got 4 members in total in our studio on Oct. 2011: Shanxin Qu, Xiongjian Mo, Hao Wang and Yan Chen.
Everyone participates in the design and produce of all the items. All the 4 members are sophisticated in sewing,dyeing and embroidering, and all the items are made by our own hands. When we make those items, the major difficulty we face is the complexity of the skills and techniques we adopt, which are all quite time-consuming.
Qu is the one doing the painting work. Making the item which requires the composition of figures needs him. His painting skills are highly trusted and praised by all the other members. Carving job is done by Mo, and sometimes Wang carves, too. If you wonder what items we'll make in the next step, Wang is the person you are looking for. He undertakes the most design and development job. About Chen,  he' s much older than the rest of us.Chen is a professor in university and making handicrafts is just one of his amateur hobbies. He is our teacher and doing technical guidance job. All the Tujia brocades, Xilankapu, are made by him. Thanks to his guidance, we learned a lot.
As you may notice, our handicrafts' categories vary. But if you get to know our item-making procedure, you'll find out that the produce of all the items requires only several certain skills and techniques. We don't know much about how other people, especially artists and buyers from other countries, would say about the variation of our items and skills, but it's quite common for one, especially for any of our group members, to have obtained 3 or more skills and techniques with regard to all our artist friends around us.
p.s. I'm Shanxin Qu. You can call me Edward if you prefer English name. I write, translate, and post the articles for the group. Hope to make friends~

A brief selves-introduction

Hi there! We guess a selves-introduction is necessary.

We are dermusensohn2000, travellers, artists, and big fans of culture. We travel around China trying to find interesting places and things. Also we get lots of inspiration during my trip. China is so vast that it'll take us years, or maybe our whole lives, to fully explore. We'd like to share with you all my trips and feelings.

We came across artists who share common interest with us, and we exchanged our ideas on handmade crafts. As the communications deepen, we figured out that the crafts themselves are the priceless heritage of this country and definitely a symbol of the wisdom of the Chinese people who have lived generations after generations on this land. With its modernization, however, those crafts are gradually fading out of the history stage. It's quite a pity. So we tried our best to preserve and recreate them so as to eventually help them get a new life.

Just until recently, we have met other artists who would love to cooperate with us to make handmade crafts. We just began to make some crafts of authentic Chinese characteristic. We will share our experiences with you.

Hope you enjoy our trips as well as our crafts!