70 year-old craftsmen look forward to inheritance traditional Bamboo Weaving – Li Fuqing

 

The picture shows the basket made by Li Fuqing. Photo courtesy of Jiaocheng District Rong Media Center

China News Service, Ningde, September 12th (Li Kun Huang Lu) “People often say that slow work produces meticulous work, building baskets are slow work and meticulous work, and they can’t make money. Now many people don’t do it, and no one learns.” For bamboo weaving Li Fuqing, who has dealt with bamboo all his life, is deeply worried about the inheritance of skills.

Building baskets are bamboo woven gift baskets that are stacked one by one and carried around. In the past days, it can be seen in every household in Jiaocheng District, Ningde City, Fujian Province.

The picture shows Li Fuqing compiling a basket. Photo courtesy of Jiaocheng District Rong Media Center

In Qinhou Village, Shihou Township, Jiaocheng District, the village is rich in bamboo resources, and the villagers are good at using bamboo to make various daily necessities such as dustpans and bamboo baskets. Among them, the building basket craft is particularly exquisite.

In a courtyard in the village, 71-year-old traditional bamboo weaving artist Li Fuqing is full of bamboo strips, pliers, saw knives, pegboards and other tools on the workbench in front of him. Beside him are a few samples of woven gift baskets with the words “Beautiful Flowers and Full Moon”. “Family reunion”, “good luck” and other words.

The picture shows Li Fuqing’s hands and bamboo silk. Photo courtesy of Jiaocheng District Rong Media Center

Li Fuqing took a section of bamboo, split it with a bamboo knife, removed the middle bamboo knot, and cut it into even bamboo pieces.

“A piece of bamboo must be thin and thin to make a good thing.” During the speech, Li Fuqing held the knife in one hand and pulled the bamboo strip with the other. A bamboo thread about 3 mm wide and less than 1 mm thick was easily pulled out.

The picture shows Li Fuqing weaving the words “2021”. Photo courtesy of Jiaocheng District Rong Media Center

When he was a child, Li Fuqing was exposed to bamboo weaving skills under the guidance of his uncle. At the age of 16, he went to Fuzhou to learn from a teacher. Afterwards, he walked in various counties and urban areas of Ningde City for many years and made a living by bamboo weaving craftsmanship.

“Bamboo weaving is a delicate work, and it is very sophisticated, and there is no difference in the slightest.” Li Fuqing said that building baskets must go through processes such as material selection, bamboo breaking, bamboo repairing, splitting, cutting, plate-making, basket-making, and weaving. The cover is the most complicated, with more than 20 processes including lifting the bottom of the basket, receiving the corners of the basket, folding the mouth of the basket, weaving the basket cover, anti-handle and painting and painting.

The picture shows the word “hi” on bamboo products. Photo courtesy of Jiaocheng District Rong Media Center

It is an ancient traditional handicraft to use bamboo silk strips to weave all kinds of supplies vertically, horizontally, warp and weft. Li Fuqing said that an excellent bamboo stripe craftsman must have solid basic skills and be proficient in everything.

The dyed bamboo strips are matched with the primary color bamboo threads to make the bamboo weaving patterns colorful. In the past, Li Fuqing went to the mountains to pick leaves and extract plant dyes in the traditional way; with the maturity of dye products, he now also saves the process of making dyes.

In the process of weaving, Li Fuqing picked and pulled, and dozens of bamboo threads were easily “played” at his fingertips; his hands were extremely dexterous to walk between the bamboo threads, threading, inserting, nailing, wrapping… a piece of scattered bamboo The silk, soon under his fingertips, joined into pieces. In less than a quarter of an hour, the words “2021” appeared in front of us.

The picture shows the basket made by Li Fuqing. Photo courtesy of Jiaocheng District Rong Media Center

Li Fuqing said that there is no need to measure the size of the baskets when compiling. It is all based on experience and imagination. He can easily weave them with a little idea. After weaving, paint the edge of the basket with red paint, which means festive auspiciousness.

Due to his outstanding craftsmanship, Li Fuqing became a well-known bamboo striper in Jiaocheng. However, with the popularization of plastic products and metal products, many bamboo products are gradually eliminated from the market, and Li Fuqing’s bamboo products are basically only gift baskets.

He said that occasionally people come to visit, or specialize in custom-made bamboo weaving products, or stop to appreciate the bamboo weaving craftsmanship, and take a photo or two of his bamboo products. “This makes me very satisfied.”