The Style Change And Aesthetic Transformation Of Miao Batik In Danzhai And Rongjiang

The Hmong people are an ancient ethnic group born in China and their ancestors have made significant contributions to the early formation of Chinese civilization.During their development with long-distance migration and geographic isolation,Hmong have formed hundreds of subcultures of historical cultural homology and varied features;and fertilized enormous superb dyeing,textile,embroidery and costume systems.The Danzhai Hmong batik and the Rongjiang Hmong batik originate from traditional village culture ecology in term of collective creation,comprehensive function and stable inheritance.They preserve heritages of the very beginning of Chinese plastic arts and condense the historical memory,world cognition and emotional expect of the Hmong people.Their traditional patterns and symbols are both windows to the Hmong spiritual world and living examples of the primitive Chinese culture.Owing to the flexibility of their blue and white drawings,the plasticity of their material technology,and the rapid feedback of their cultural field,Hmong batiks of Danzhai and Rongjiang have been recording the Hmong people’s change in life situation,artistic thinking and aesthetic psychology;and refracting different discourse and opinions in the field of ethnic village touristification,cultural heritage utilization and Oriental cultural self-confidence.Regarding the ontology of art,the Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks have rich patterns,unique styles and strong appeal.They are model examples of batik industry in Southeast Guizhou and even Guizhou province in terms of art collection,commercialization and industrial development.It is of practical significance to deeply describe their artistic and aesthetic characteristics for perfecting the research of Chinese folk art and the sustainable development of Chinese excellent traditional culture.Danzhai Hmong batik is rich in precise and graceful spiral patterns and flower bird patterns,while Rongjiang Hmong batik is outstanding with rugged and grotesque animal patterns full of ferocious beauty.These two types of batik share equal reputation among the traditional Hmong batik in Southeast Guizhou.Meanwhile,they are forming a community with common form and common destiny through style imitation and personnel flow during the regional economic and cultural integration in Southeastern Guizhou.Therefore,it is urgent to launch the horizontal comparison,investigate the integration and interaction between Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks,not only for the research need by multifaceted Hmong culture and art,but also for maintaining regional cultural diversity and exploring the differential survival path of various Hmong batiks.This thesis consists of six chapters and the logical train is arranged as follow.Firstly,in the clue of the time sequence when Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks’ different styles arose,place their style change in the evolution scenarios of primitive symbol,witchcraft art,classical art and modern design.Then,present the development process of Hmong batik patterns from memorabilia,symbolism,decoration to reproducibility,narrative and expressiveness.Furthermore,reveal the development track;in which,its creation methods vary from collective inheritance to individual innovation,aesthetic consciousness grow from hazy confusion to clear independence,creation concept expand from livelihood to pursuit of quality,national characteristics expression develop from fuzzy ignorance to active strengthening.Chapter Ⅰ introduces an overall analysis on the cultural background of Hmong in Danzhai and Rongjiang.Based on Hmong’s origin and migration from the archaeology,historical discussion and records by experts and scholars,the generation history of Hmong’s culture and art is divided into three phases,which defines the scope of the temporal-spatial trace and the comparison objects for traditional batik patterns.Local records and field materials were then referred to analyze the spirit,material and cultural features of Hmong traditional village life,and to outline the folk ecology of Hmong batik.The Hmong branches who make Danzhai and Rongjiang batiks were further emphasized in costume to describe the usage and forms of Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks in traditional society.Chapter Ⅱ,Ⅲ,Ⅳ provide the analysis on the traditional patterns of Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks.Field and literature data were referred,as well as the theoretical achievements of fine arts,anthropology and archaeology.Style type induction and iconographic analysis were utilized to trace the culture-historical opportunities and creative thinking which classic Hmong patterns began with.Aesthetics and aesthetic anthropology methods were also used to analyze the traditional style of Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks.Chapter Ⅱ describes the shape origin of abstract patterns and geometric rules in Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks,and traces how direction schemas,summarized by the Chinese ancestors from natural observation and survival wisdom,have transformed into decorative composition rules and aesthetic rhythms.Firstly,the original ’Sun Worship’ schemas were linked to pattern formats of Rongjiang batik,and their influence on the overall style of Rongjiang batik was summarized in term of unit combination,similar isomorphism and mutual infiltration.Then,based on Hmong studies,ancient mathematical patterns and astronomical-archaeological achievements,the ’Eight Spirals Go in Four Directions’ schemas,represented by Danzhai ’Wotuo’ pattern,were analyzed emphatically,indicating that they might be calendar symbol,which match seasons and positions into a system and symbolize winds or atmospheres of four or eight directions.Finally,the ’Ancestor Patterns’ in Danzhai Hmong batik was used to analyze how ’Shi scheme’ structure,inherited from the Warring States Period,Qin and Han Dynasties,have transformed into auspicious and funeral patterns under the baptism of the Hmong migration memory,religious emotion and current folk customs.Chapter Ⅲ focuses on the animal patterns in Rongjiang Hmong batik.The feature of dragon,bird and frog patterns was traced to the views of nature and artistic tradition of primitive China,and the intuitive feelings of remoteness,eccentricity,strangeness and mystery that they bring to the modern people were analyzed.The folk legends and witchcraft culture of Hmong were further referred to analyze how Hmong witchcraft thinking gave the images of dragon,beast and centipede,the characteristics of ugliness and ferocity in the awe for the mysterious power of nature.Taking Hmong Guzang Festival as an example,the solemn and shocking aesthetic experience brought by the sacrifice flag of Hmong batik and the sacrifice ceremony were investigated.The difficulties,fragility and preciousness of this aesthetic specialty were further illustrated in present modern secular society.Chapter Ⅳ focuses on flower bird patterns in Danzhai Hmong batik.As key examples introduced,such as Han embroidery,blue calico and floral printed quilt cover,Danzhai Hmong flower bird batik has experienced three phases,including direct imitation and selective absorption from Han flower bird art,localization transformation and initial style formation,and forming superb skills and a unique style.In this process,the painting potential of batik is stimulated,getting rid of the shackles of the original formula.This reflected the secularization of content selection,the realism of reproduction techniques,the artistic autonomy of drawing lines,and the self-determination of artistic conception.Chapter Ⅴ and Ⅵ provide the thoughts on the modernization of Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks.Chapter Ⅴ concerns about the industrialization and branding of batik in Danzhai county and Rongjiang County,in addition with the survival and extension of traditional batik styles in commercial creation.Batik industry in Danzhai and Rongjiang were compared in term of achievements and shortcomings,in order to find out a feasible way for the personalized and differentiated development.Chapter Ⅵ gives the analysis of the ’new traditions’ in the commercialization of Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks,supported by theories of tourism anthropology,leisure studies,design studies and post-modern aesthetics.Along with the integration of ethnic tourism resources,Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks have created several hot topics,such as ’costumed figures’,’folk scenes’,’bronze drums’,’ox horns’,’bird totem’,’butterfly mother’.The narrative,spectacle and romantic ideas also emerged.On the other hand,in the leisure,cultural and creative industry,the Hmong batik’s value has expanded from appreciation value of patterns to the ecological value of village environment,the experience value of handicrafts,the ethical value of cultural heritage,the social value of batik industry,and the symbolic value of Chinese culture.The beauty of batik has also extended from the artistic beauty to the lifestyle,creation concept,life attitude and other fields.In the Conclusion,the general line of the style change and aesthetic transition in Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks was summarized.Their unique advantages were pointed out in the differences between original and modern culture,between center and edge culture;as well as the challenges,they are facing in the current social transformation.In the end,this thesis provided some thoughts on the future survival modes of Danzhai and Rongjiang Hmong batiks.