Yunnan Ximeng On The Border Between China And Myanmar: Wa People Weave Brocade To Live A Happy Life

In her spare time, Yang Xiaoxiang, a Wa woman from Bamu Village, Mengsuo Town, Ximeng Wa Autonomous County, Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, will weave brocades. She has been learning the Wa brocade with her mother since she was 8 years old. She has already mastered this skill and helped her family increase income.

Ximeng County is located in the southwest of China, bordering Myanmar, and is the birthplace of "The Awa People Sing New Songs". The Wa brocade technique in this county is a representative project of national intangible cultural heritage. Yang Xiaoxiang, 40, is one of the representative inheritors of this project.

On April 28, Yang Xiaoxiang made brocade in her spare time. Photographed by Huang Xinghong

Wa brocade uses a waist loom made of bamboo and wood. The spinning materials used are mainly cotton and hemp. The basic colors are black and red, and other colors are auxiliary colors.

Yang Xiaoxiang introduced that the Wa brocade is a traditional skill passed down from generation to generation by the Wa women. Its colors and patterns cover the essence of the traditional culture of the Wa people and are an important national cultural symbol of the Wa people.

"Originally, the Wa brocade was just to meet their own needs, but now it has become a commodity and is sold all over the country." Yang Xiaoxiang said that weaving a 40 cm wide and 100 cm long piece of Wa brocade would take about two days and would earn six or seven hundred yuan. Many women in the village weave a happy life relying on a pair of hardworking and skillful hands.

On April 29, businesses displayed Wa brocade handicrafts. Photographed by Huang Xinghong

In order to broaden the income increasing channels of the villagers in Banmu Village, the village team of Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs guided the village to take the lead in setting up the first farmer's cooperative specializing in the production of Wa brocades in Ximeng, formulate production specifications, registered trademarks, etc., and promote the transformation of rural decentralized handicrafts to large-scale operation.

"Our unit also coordinated with coffee enterprises to provide waste coffee grounds, and contacted enterprises in Shanghai and Jiangsu to process them into yarn for the production of Wa brocade." Chen Tao, village staff member of Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that coffee yarn enriched brocade materials, increased coffee value-added, and created a combination of tradition and modernity New rural handicraft products in line with the development direction of new quality productivity. Coffee yarn has the characteristics of moisture absorption and sweat elimination, anti-bacterial, breathable, warm keeping, lightweight, etc. The Wa brocade products made of coffee yarn will be unveiled at the 8th China South Asia Expo held in Kunming in July 2024, and will be snapped up by businessmen from all over the world within three hours.

On April 29, people in Ximeng learned about the Wa brocade. Photographed by Huang Xinghong

"Now, we are helping the cooperatives to establish a Wa brocade product traceability system and maintain the brand image." Chen Tao introduced that the traceability system gives the product "ID card", and the whole process information of production, processing and sales can be checked by scanning the two-dimensional code of the product.

Li Xianlan is also one of the representative inheritors of the Wa brocade skills in Ximeng. "When I was 22 years old and went to Ximeng to engage in education, I liked the Wa brocade and learned to make it. After retirement, I set up a company and a Wa brocade intangible heritage workshop." She introduced that in order to make the Wa brocade go to a larger market and drive more people to increase their income, it continued to improve and innovate, integrating more colors and patterns while preserving the ancient Wa brocade skills, Launch a batch of products more in line with modern aesthetic needs; Several intangible cultural heritage workshops have been opened in Simao District, Puer City, Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County, Lincang City and other places; More than 5000 person times of Wa brocade weaving staff in Ximeng have been trained.

Li Xianlan introduced that several large enterprises are now looking for her to customize products, and some garment enterprises are looking for joint branding negotiations. Some places in Myanmar have invited her to go to production, and she is full of confidence in the Wa brocade industry.

In recent years, Ximeng County has continuously increased its policy support for Wa brocade. Up to now, it has trained 50 representative inheritors of Wa brocade skills, and built a number of training bases, intangible cultural heritage workshops, and emerging cultural enterprises; More than 4000 people have been trained to become brocade experts. The annual production of Wa brocade handmade products is more than 20000, and the per capita income is more than 9000 yuan. The Wa brocade products, such as clothes, costumes and pendants, are exported to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities. Wa brocade has achieved creative transformation and innovative development in the protection and inheritance, and is continuing to provide momentum for rural revitalization. (Author Huang Xinghong)

(Source: China News Network)