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Hangzhou laced with new talent to revive old art of lacemaking
By Wu Huixin |
November 6, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
When US President Richard Nixon visited Hangzhou on his historic China trip in 1972, the then-humble airport was decorated with a huge ornamental lace curtain featuring a panoramic view of West Lake.
The curtain, with delicate stitching and intricate scenes, measured 18.6 meters by 6.8 meters. It was made by Zhao Xixiang, now 76 years of age and one of China's only 400 craft masters who have developed lace-making skills for 60 years.
Last Thursday, Zhao and four other local craft masters publicly recruited apprentices at the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum in Xiaoshan District.
Xiaoshan, formerly a county of Hangzhou, was famous for its lacemaking throughout China. When the industry was booming in the 1970s, around 200,000 people were working in the industry.
Xiaoshan lace is completely made by hand, using sewing needles to twist very fine threads of cotton to form decorative patterns. Unlike traditional Chinese embroidery on cloth, Xiaoshan lace is made on paper, following a pattern on the paper and then carefully removing the paper.
Kanshan Town, the center of Xiaoshan lace, is the birthplace of master Zhao. Early in the 19th century the art of lacemaking spread from Venice, Italy, because of cheap labor in China.
"After more than 100 years of development, locals have expanded the original, three or four stitch methods, to more than 30 and have produced 1,000 kinds of lace," Zhao says.
When Zhao was 16 years old, he began to carry on his father's career in lacemaking. From 1952 to 1958, he worked as a salesman in Xiaoshan Lace Factory. Over that time, Zhao went to village women, taking sewing needles, cotton thread and paper covered with designs. At that time there was considerable female surplus labor.
Gradually, Zhao himself learned how to make lace.
"In the 1970s, one Xiaoshan woman could earn 0.5 yuan (today 8 US cents) per day by making lace, which was about the same as farmer's wages," says Zhao.
Many local men like to marry women who were good at making lace because that meant extra income, Zhao recalls.
Since most of the then rural women were illiterate, the lace designers had to use the simplest characters to represent corresponding stitch methods, such as "米" "十" and "花."
In the second half of 1958, the factory sent Zhao to Zhejiang Art Academy (today the China Academy of Art) to learn the lace pattern design.
"Only people who are very familiar with the process of making lace by hand can design appropriate patters for lace," Zhao says.
"My four years as a salesman helped me gain that knowledge."
Two years later he finished his studies and returned to the lace factory, where he became a pattern designer and eventually a master.
In the mid 1980s he was named director of the Xiaoshan Lace Factory; he retired in 1985.
Zhao's works decorate the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, as well as the royal palace in Morocco.
Although Xiaoshan lace making flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, the Chinese handcraft began to decline when China opened to the outside world and machine-made lace poured in.
"As the planned economy collapsed, people had more job opportunities and the low pay from making lace was no longer attractive. Today a woman has to spend a whole year making a lace bedspread and can only sell it for 4,000 yuan. The return and effort are disproportionate," master Zhao says.
"Moreover, the one-child policy make parents place high hopes on their children, and fewer people want their children to do this kind of low-cost manual labor," Zhao says.
Today there are only around 5,000 people involved in the lace industry in Xiaoshan, The Xiaoshan Lace Factory, which once employed 1,500 workers, was closed in the late 1990s.
But as a craftsman, Zhao didn't abandon his work and continued to produce beautiful work. "If the craft of lacemaking is lost in my generation, I will feel sorry for my descendants," Zhao says.
Zhao's four sons and daughters did not take up lace needles and one of his four apprentices has continued, so Zhao is anxious to find successors.
Hangzhou places great emphasis on preserving and passing on crafts and folk arts. The city was the first in China to be named a UNESCO Crafts and Folk Arts City. The city provides financial aid and social security to help craftsmen cultivate successors.
In the recruitment sponsored by government last Thursday, Zhao directed candidates to design a circular pattern, 25 centimeters in diameter. He chose three as apprentices, based on their creativity.
"Actually, I value their enthusiasm more than their professional ability. Lace craft is relatively tedious and it takes at least 10 years to achieve some success. Passion can help them get through the following tough years."
The curtain, with delicate stitching and intricate scenes, measured 18.6 meters by 6.8 meters. It was made by Zhao Xixiang, now 76 years of age and one of China's only 400 craft masters who have developed lace-making skills for 60 years.
Last Thursday, Zhao and four other local craft masters publicly recruited apprentices at the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum in Xiaoshan District.
Xiaoshan, formerly a county of Hangzhou, was famous for its lacemaking throughout China. When the industry was booming in the 1970s, around 200,000 people were working in the industry.
Xiaoshan lace is completely made by hand, using sewing needles to twist very fine threads of cotton to form decorative patterns. Unlike traditional Chinese embroidery on cloth, Xiaoshan lace is made on paper, following a pattern on the paper and then carefully removing the paper.
Kanshan Town, the center of Xiaoshan lace, is the birthplace of master Zhao. Early in the 19th century the art of lacemaking spread from Venice, Italy, because of cheap labor in China.
"After more than 100 years of development, locals have expanded the original, three or four stitch methods, to more than 30 and have produced 1,000 kinds of lace," Zhao says.
When Zhao was 16 years old, he began to carry on his father's career in lacemaking. From 1952 to 1958, he worked as a salesman in Xiaoshan Lace Factory. Over that time, Zhao went to village women, taking sewing needles, cotton thread and paper covered with designs. At that time there was considerable female surplus labor.
Gradually, Zhao himself learned how to make lace.
"In the 1970s, one Xiaoshan woman could earn 0.5 yuan (today 8 US cents) per day by making lace, which was about the same as farmer's wages," says Zhao.
Many local men like to marry women who were good at making lace because that meant extra income, Zhao recalls.
Since most of the then rural women were illiterate, the lace designers had to use the simplest characters to represent corresponding stitch methods, such as "米" "十" and "花."
In the second half of 1958, the factory sent Zhao to Zhejiang Art Academy (today the China Academy of Art) to learn the lace pattern design.
"Only people who are very familiar with the process of making lace by hand can design appropriate patters for lace," Zhao says.
"My four years as a salesman helped me gain that knowledge."
Two years later he finished his studies and returned to the lace factory, where he became a pattern designer and eventually a master.
In the mid 1980s he was named director of the Xiaoshan Lace Factory; he retired in 1985.
Zhao's works decorate the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, as well as the royal palace in Morocco.
Although Xiaoshan lace making flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, the Chinese handcraft began to decline when China opened to the outside world and machine-made lace poured in.
"As the planned economy collapsed, people had more job opportunities and the low pay from making lace was no longer attractive. Today a woman has to spend a whole year making a lace bedspread and can only sell it for 4,000 yuan. The return and effort are disproportionate," master Zhao says.
"Moreover, the one-child policy make parents place high hopes on their children, and fewer people want their children to do this kind of low-cost manual labor," Zhao says.
Today there are only around 5,000 people involved in the lace industry in Xiaoshan, The Xiaoshan Lace Factory, which once employed 1,500 workers, was closed in the late 1990s.
But as a craftsman, Zhao didn't abandon his work and continued to produce beautiful work. "If the craft of lacemaking is lost in my generation, I will feel sorry for my descendants," Zhao says.
Zhao's four sons and daughters did not take up lace needles and one of his four apprentices has continued, so Zhao is anxious to find successors.
Hangzhou places great emphasis on preserving and passing on crafts and folk arts. The city was the first in China to be named a UNESCO Crafts and Folk Arts City. The city provides financial aid and social security to help craftsmen cultivate successors.
In the recruitment sponsored by government last Thursday, Zhao directed candidates to design a circular pattern, 25 centimeters in diameter. He chose three as apprentices, based on their creativity.
"Actually, I value their enthusiasm more than their professional ability. Lace craft is relatively tedious and it takes at least 10 years to achieve some success. Passion can help them get through the following tough years."
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