Wunijing Hand Cotton-textile Craft

The Wunijing cotton-textile craft derives from Huang Daopo of Wunijing in Songjiang, who learned weaving skills in Yazhou (Hainan) and returned home to reform the carding, spinning, weaving and dyeing processes around the late Song and early Yuan. It entered the first national ICH list in 2006 (item VIII-17).

The craft uses a treadle three-spindle wheel along with colour-blending and pattern-picking techniques to weave cotton cloth with motifs such as "broken branches" and "phoenix in a ring"—a landmark advance in Chinese cotton weaving.

Huang Daopo's methods changed the Jiangnan tradition of clothing made chiefly from silk and hemp, helping make the Songjiang area a centre of cotton textiles in Ming and Qing times—an influence felt far and wide.

The craft is remembered and transmitted around Huajing in Xuhui district, where a Huang Daopo memorial hall and a practice base are located.