Oil paper umbrellas

When was the last time you saw a paper umbrella (except the one in your cocktail on Saturday night)?

I used to associate bright red oil paper umbrellas with China, but since I moved to Shanghai I still hadn`t seen any. Then, during a recent trip to Suzhou (that will be featured in my next post), I finally spotted some. But that wasn`t what I was looking for unfortunately, it was just a cheap souvenir for tourists, like those you can find online or in every China town around the world.

To find the best oil paper umbrellas we have to travel all the way to Luzhou, a city in Sichuan Province (the one famous for spicy food and pandas).

The origins of oil paper umbrella are still a mystery, they might be dating back to more than one thousand years to the Tang Dynasty, but there is no doubt about the fact they have been invented in South China, where, because of the wet weather, they were a necessity.

The history of Luzhou’s oil paper umbrella can be traced back more than 400 years to the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and up to the 1970`s two third of the oil paper umbrellas sold in China used to be manufactured here.

Luzhou’s oil paper umbrellas enjoy an excellent reputation, not only because people believed that they protect against bad luck, but also because they are beautifully crafted and very resistant. Yes, you can walk under the rain holding an oil paper umbrella and you won`t neither get wet, nor struck by lightning, since no metal is being used.

Luzhou’s oil paper umbrellas are made of 100% natural materials, mainly different kind of bamboos and bark paper sourced locally, making it an environmentally sustainable craft.

Luzhou`s Red oil paper umbrellas with the Intangible Cultural Heritage logo

The craft work of making paper umbrella is nearly a full manual process, the only tools used are simple self-produced tools, and it`s quite interesting to watch. More than hundred steps are involved in making these umbrellas, which include splitting bamboos, drilling, threading, paper cutting, gluing, sun drying, etc.

During this process up to 2000 stitches can be made 

Oil paper umbrellas drying outside a workshop

Since the process is so lengthy and complex, I won`t describe it this time. 
Instead, I found this

CCTV`s video (in English) 

you can enjoy. It`s a little bit slow, so don`t expect an action movie, but you will be amazed by the manual skills of the manufacturers.

Until the mid-19th century, when the lithographic printing technology allowed introducing diverse colors to the umbrellas, Luzhou’s oil paper umbrellas came only in red, which in China is a symbol of wealth and good omen.

Nowadays we can find umbrellas hand-painted with images inspired by Chinese folklore, such as “auspicious dragon and phoenix” (seen in the video), “peacock spreading feathers” and “fairy splashing flowers.”

Oil paper umbrellas displayed in a workshop

We can certainly say that Luzhou’s oil paper umbrellas combine gracefully both practical function and artistic appeal thanks to a successful union between traditional crafts and creative innovation, making them valuable collectible items.

If you live in Shanghai, next time it rains keep your eyes peeled, you might spot me walking around holding an oil paper umbrella!

Bai Tie-Dyeing

You might start thinking I`m obsessed with textile dyeing techniques…

The truth is I`m not obsessed, but it`s really hot in Shanghai lately and the blue and white colors of this kind of crafts give me a fresh and cool feeling like when sitting by the ocean.

But now let`s get back to the Bai tie-dyeing.

The Bai (which means “white” in Chinese) are a minority ethnic group living mostly in southwest China's Yunnan Province, more specifically in the Bai Autonomous Prefecture, where the textile tie-dyeing technique is passed on from generation to generation.

The Bai Tie dyeing industry in Zhoucheng village is 200 hundred years old, and so famous that in China the place is known as the “National Tie-dyeing hometown”.

The concept behind tie-dyeing is basically to prevent some areas of the cloth from absorbing the dye, which is achieved through tying parts of the fabric using knots, threads, etc. The color of the parts reached by the dye reaches changes, but the restricted parts stay untouched, creating an unlimited variety of patterns. 

Tie-dyeing process consists of the three parts of tying, dyeing and rinsing before hanging the fabric out to dry.

The fabric, usually a white cotton cloth, is tied, twisted, folded and sewn into various patterns by hand, and it could take several days to prepare the required pattern. Multicolored pieces need to be tied and dyed twice, imagine how complicated the procedure can be!

The tying process

The tied white cloth is soaked into the dye pot and taken out for dry; the procedure is repeated twice a day and continued for seven days.

The dye is made of woad leaves, which are fermented in a pit until they are indigo in color. In Chinese traditional medicine is believed that this plant has anti-inflammatory and detoxing effects, beneficial to health. Its qualities would also make Bai tie-dyed garments and bedding comfortable to wear and soothing to the skin, especially in hot weather.

The stitches are then carefully removed one by one, the cloth is rinsed and hung out to dry.

Before removing the stitches

The more than 1,000 tie-dye design patterns reflect Bai history, culture and customs, and include flowers, plants, bees, butterflies, fish, folk characters and symbols, most of which are wishes for auspiciousness and good luck.

Fish pattern

Complicated flower and geometrical pattern

The manual skills developed over time and passed down from generation to generation make each work a unique masterpiece! It`s really amazing!

It`s still boiling hot out there, but I feel refreshed! What about you? :)

Changing your view of China

When thinking about Made in China the first image that comes to your mind is the mass produced health threatening low quality cheap things sold everywhere in the world.

But China, with five thousand years of history, is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and this means that it must have a very rich and diverse culture, which, as in any civilization, finds expression in art and crafts.

Unfortunately, you most likely don't see those kinds of things on the market, as traditional arts and crafts and their associated knowledge are being threatened by globalization and replaced by mass produced less valuable objects.

With this blog I want to show you that valuable and unique handicraft products still exist in China, they are just very hard to find!

In each post I will introduce a traditional craft, telling the story of artists and people behind it, and documenting my travels to remote Chinese regions where the traditional heritage of art and crafts is still preserved.