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Across China: 1,000-year-old straw patchwork art sees revival

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E-mail Xinhua, June 09, 2018

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WUHAN, June 9 (Xinhua) -- As farmers in Sanfutan town in central China's Hubei Province were busy harvesting wheat, Deng Youpu and his son Deng Xiaojun eyed something else: wheat straw.

Farmers once threw it away, but the Deng's use it to create art, using a craft passed down from generations.

Straw patchwork art is a Chinese folk art dating back to the Sui Dynasty (581-618). It was once enjoyed by royalty.

Wheat straw is bleached, steamed, ironed, pressed and cut to create different shapes and shades of color.

The art was listed as a national intangible heritage in 2014, and Deng Youpu is a practitioner of the art.

Deng senior, 70, has been creating straw patchwork for decades. He uses a pen-shaped iron for painting the straw. Heat on the iron works like a pen, changing color of the straw. Different forces create different shades of color.

"Precision is the key. Pressing too hard or too light can ruin a work," Deng said. "I can't even remember how many irons I have worn out."

Processing the wheat straw can take nearly two weeks, and it takes further days to paint a 50 centimeter by 40 centimeter artwork.

Deng's most satisfactory work, however, took him three years.

In 2008, Deng used the art to recreate China's panoramic 12th century painting "Along the River during the Qingming Festival." It is a five meter long scroll that captures the festive atmosphere of people on China's tomb sweeping day in the then capital city.

The straw patchwork was later collected by the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology.

Despite the laborious process and time spent on the art, the wheat straw patchwork was not well received years ago.

Deng Xiaojun hired local farmers to process the straw, and at the most difficult time could not even afford to pay their salaries.

"It was the hardest time. I nearly gave up creating work," Deng senior said.

Only in recent years has the business picked up. Part of the reason, according to the younger Deng, is exhibitions promoting the art, both home and abroad.

"Exhibitions are a great way for communication," the younger Deng said. "We can use pictures, live performances and our works to impress visitors."

Father and son have participated in dozens of exhibitions, many organized by local government, and found many business opportunities.

In 2017, they set up a company promoting and selling the art, making around 1 million yuan (about 156,000 U.S. dollars) in the first year.

More people want to have their own customized straw patchwork, Deng senior said, and the Internet has helped boost publicity.

"A couple of college students got to know us from the Internet and came to learn from us," Deng senior said. "We believe straw pictures can pass down from generation to generation." Enditem