Yunnan Folk Crafts Category Preliminary Study

Yunnan Province lies in the southwest of China. The complexity of the landforms and the climates and the abundance in the products and resources are its main characteristics. Yunnan is the richest province in the race of minorities in China. Standing together through thick and thin by thousands of years, all the people in Yunnan have deposited and brought out gorgeous ethical cultures. Among them, the ethical and folk craftworks are one crucial component.This dissertation is supported by the theories of artistic typology, artistic taxonomy, folk arts and correlative knowledge. Based on the collection, the coordination and the conclusion of various folk craftworks, consulting diverse features of Yunnan ethical and folk craftworks, this dissertation discusses the purposes of classification and lucubrates the classification of Yunnan ethical and folk craftworks. Contrasted with different standards of classification, this dissertation chooses the techniques as the main criterion and takes the materials, minorities, sculptures and functions into consideration. From this perspective, this dissertation divides Yunnan ethical and folk craftworks into eight parts, they are: dyeing and spinning craftworks, ethical trappings, sculpture craftworks, pottery and porcelain craftworks, metal craftworks, ethical architecture, ethical painting and other craftworks; besides this, it also makes an in-depth subdivision so as to establish the overall classification framework. This dissertation makes preliminary study on these specific categories on this basis. Moreover, this dissertation has rendered the distribution maps of Yunnan minorities and the distribution maps of Yunnan ethical and folk craftworks in a visualized way.This dissertation will promote the further researches on Yunnan ethical and folk craftworks. It will play a decisive role in the understanding of the craftwdrk culture and its connotation. It will also expand the influence of the minorities in Yunnan, accelerate the transmission of folk culture, and upgrade the popularity of Yunnan province.