Historic Xinzhuang is home to crochet art and plum blossoms
Print Edition
AS a roll of traditional Chinese paintings spread, a mural depicting Old Xinzhuang Street was recently painted on a historic home on Xinjian Road in Xinzhuang Town.
Portraits of residents wearing cheongsam or qipao appeared on pebbled lanes near the riverfront, thriving with azurite-colored trees and ancient houses in the painting; one of the houses was the Wu Xie He crocheted lace trading store.
In a more contemporary scene, families pass the entrance of Xinzhuang Park, noted for its blossoms of plum tree flowers. This is Xinzhuang, where the Hangzhou-Shanghai railway opened its Xinzhuang Station as early as 1909, and the convenient traffic hereafter nurtured its bustling trade.
Lacemaking skills
Historically, Xinzhuang was a fledged town with a population of thousands as early as the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It had a developed ancient water transportation system thanks to its Xin Creek, in the area of what is now Xinbang Road. Along the sides of its creek, there was its signature plant: the Chinese wild ginger.
The Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo rail route opened its Shanghai-Hangzhou section for traffic in 1909 and set up the Xinzhuang Railway Station along the route. The transportation facilities helped Xinzhuang to evolve and develop.
After an arson in 1898, the town rebuilt the Roman-style Nanzhang Cathedral, which became a local landmark for its grandiose pose. Handmade lace was among the favorite decorations for European aristocrats since the 18th century.
In 1813, John Levers from Nottingham, England, invented the lacemaking Leavers machine, and lace looms became almost functionally perfect after 1840. Handmade lace production in Europe started to shift toward China, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Paraguay and Brazil.
In Shanghai drawn works, a craft of lacemaking through reducing thread, creating hollows and making embroidery, was first introduced to the city through missionaries and was popular among believers of churches. The lace skill was introduced to Nanzhang Cathedral from downtown Xujiahui and learned by nimble-fingered women in nearby villages, who combined it with the local crochet skill, a craft that uses a crochet hook made of bamboo, bones or stainless steel to add patterns with cotton, linen, silk or woolen yarns.
The flourishing commerce thanks to the railway helped boost the hand crochet lace industry in Xinzhuang.
Hand crochet
“Crocheting is a village culture in Xinzhuang and used to be a source of income for village women,” said Jin Longhua, an inheritor of the now intangible cultural heritage.
“In its peak time, crocheting had engaged a labor force of about 130,000 people. Village women of the trade relied on it to cover daily expenditures such as cooking ingredients, costume making and even dowries for their daughters,” Jin recalled.
Though a means of supporting life, Xinzhuang crochet is highly original and visually appealing.
“We have Afghan stitches from Afghanistan, jujube stitches, a maple pattern, an Irish weaving style and one-thread weaving,” said Jin.
“When I was doing the one-thread weaving to connect little patterns into bigger patterns, I was like guiding my thread through a maze where I might be easily getting lost.”
As the regional economy developed, fewer local people engaged themselves in crocheting, and the number of overseas orders declined.
“I started crocheting when I was 5 or 6 years old. I was a professional crochet craftsperson when I was 17 and kept the practice nonstop. After crocheting turned into an intangible cultural heritage of Shanghai in 2007, I became one of its inheritors,” said Jin.
During the inaugural China International Import Expo in 2018, a group of Xinzhuang crochet inheritors and artists created a “patchwork” map that shaped the geography of Minhang District. They achieved this by crocheting each of the district’s 14 towns, subdistricts and industrial zones with a unique color and pattern, and then networking them.
The district’s Powerlong Art Museum has displayed the work permanently.
Some artists also try to apply Xinzhuang crochet to couture costumes.
On March 10, the town opened its new cultural landmark, The Crochet Studio, at 398 Likang Road. The venue has exhibition, teaching and experiencing areas and promotes crocheting both online and offline.
Among the highlights of the exhibited items are 100 crochet flower patterns, three tapestries illustrating the history of crocheting, tropical flower works, and the crochet hooks from ancient times and those used by Jin since her childhood.
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