As part of the 2017 Colourful Guizhou Culture and Art Festival, the China Cutural Centre is holding a lecture on one of China’s prized cultural heritage items, the batik dyeing creative skills of the Miao Ethnic Group.

This lecture, conducted by Wang Xiaomei, compliments the visual feast of ethnic artisans and costumes which forms part of an exhibition named Memory in Hand – Exhibition of Guizhou Intangible Cultural Heritage, currently on display at St James Cavalier.

Xiaomei is a cultural anthropologist, chief correspondent of the Guizhou daily newspaper, director of the Cultural Heritage New Media Centre of the Guizhou Daily Newspaper Group and founder of the Guizhou Anthropology Association.

Born in a village, Xiaomei has always loved touring villages and immersed in the indigenous ethnic handicraft and the ‘blue flowers’ on the batik.

Basing herself upon the oral histories as well as the experience and observation of others, Xiaomei has recorded the changes in the indigenous communities in the context of modernity and reflected on such changes for more than a decade.

As one of the time-honoured dyeing handicrafts in China, batik dyeing is very popular in Guizhou.

The painting and batik dyeing technique includes ‘dianla’ (using dotted lines to form patterns) and ‘huala’ (using solid lines).  The two main subjects are “nature patterns” and “geometric patterns” and the most representative geometric pattern is ‘gewo’, a spiral design used to decorate the shoulders, backs and sleeves of Miao women’s dresses.

Such motifs are perpetual as they are determined by their ancestors and can never be changed.

The steps of Miao batik dyeing include cloth processing, melting, printing, dyeing into red and yellow, indigo colours, etc. Batik dyed clothes and accessories help to distinguish different Miao branches. A vast amount of information about history, totem and folk custom of the Miao people can be inferred from the lively, vivid images and traditional patterns created by the contrast and clarity of wax-painted images, making it valuable for the study of Miao history and society.

The lecture is being delivered tomorrow at the China Cultural Centre, Valletta, at 7pm. Attendance is free but seats have to be reserved. For more information, call 2122 5055.