In Southwest China, most ethnic groups, such as the Miao, the Yao, or the Bouyei, have distinct and highly developed batik traditions.
Batik, also known as laran or wax printing, is a form of dyeing or printing folk art made by applying beeswax to create different shapes. The cloth is generally dyed with indigo, and when the wax is removed with hot water, the images appear.
During my years of research, I've found that like written or oral myths and fairy tales, batiks also bear stories from various local religions and ancient cultures that have evolved over the centuries.
A good example is the masks of the local Nuo dramas preserved by the Miaos in Anshun Prefecture, in Southwest China's Guizhou Province. The local people deeply worship their Nuo gods.
According to the local beliefs, Nuo is closely connected with the power of spirits, both evil and good.
The wood masks featuring Nuo gods for the theatrical performances are large and grotesque in shape, and gaudy in color, with an air of solemnity.
The Miao hang pieces of batik cloth featuring Nuo deities at the entrance to their houses to prevent ghosts from entering.
The image could be of a Nuo god standing before the sun; or armed gods representing fighting between different tribes.
We can also see common cultural links between batik works and ancient cultural relics.
For instance, there are batiks based on the finds in the Mawangdui tomb, which belonged to a noblewoman called Xing Zhui of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), which was excavated in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province, in 1972.
Among the many funeral objects found inside was a T-shaped, painted silk funeral banner.
A red sun is featured on the upper right corner and a bird stands in the middle.
In the upper left corner is the crescent moon with a toad and hare and below them stands the Lady in the Moon named Chang E -- all characters in China's mythology. Since the entire painting symbolizes heaven, human society and the nether world, the middle section possibly depicts Xing Zhui's husband offering sacrifices to the gods or his ancestors, common rituals during the Western Han Dynasty.
The bottom of the cloth shows a giant holding up the earth and standing on the backs of a pair of large mythological fish.
This ancient silk banner inspired the creator of "Paradise from silk painting," a batik from the Miao in the western part of Hunan Province. The batik piece also portrays the heavens and paradise. A large scarlet disk in the upper right corner represents the sun, in front of which stands a crow -- representing the Gold Bird, a symbol of the sun's power.
Beneath the sun is a blue dragon with a serpent tail intertwined with the blue-green branches of the tree of life, known as fusang in Chinese. The tree bears eight small scarlet circles, representing eight suns.
Some other batiks reflect the Buddhist culture of the Dunhuang Caves, a great religious sanctuary in Northwest China's Gansu Province. The building of the caves began in AD 366. They were filled with what was to become one of the most extensive and exquisite collections of Buddhist paintings and sculptures in the world.
They are especially famous for the grotto murals discovered in the Mogao Caves.
Over the years, local artists in Hunan have borrowed Buddhist images from the Dunhuang grottoes, such as the Boddhisatva, or the Goddess of Mercy and Buddha's warriors.
Today, a large number of artists have used the traditional art of batik-making in innovative and modern works. They have introduced new themes and have included more cultural and social messages -- adding issues and concepts from the modern era to the long line of batik storytelling.
(The author is a retired professor of English with the Changsha Electric Power University in Central China's Hunan Province.)
(China Daily July 18, 2002)
