Chinese Batik Artisans Ethnographic Field Research
Henry Luce Foundation Grant
Guizhou, China
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Overview: My Ethnographic Study focused on the Miao Ethnic Minority Women of Guizhou Province who use their handicrafts to earn income which is increasingly important for economic survival. Their handicrafts include embroidery, liquor making, and batik among others. I focused on the batik artisans and their attitudes towards their changing craft. Preparation for field study:
During 6-week Field Study:
Upon Return to Lawrence University:
Background: Rapid industrialization has created enormous stress on urban centers and resources as rural families have migrated to urban centers to seek work. China has sought to manage these stresses with a system of migration controls as well as rural opportunities. Reaching back to the Xia Dynasty (2000 BC), China has kept a register of families to count population and apportion social benefits (education, etc.) by geographic area. This system became known as Hukou. Although diminished by the gravitational pull of industrialization toward urban centers, the Hukou system provides four key functions in China:
My home base was Guizhou Normal University in Guiyang in southern China. I visited factories, coops, and a small Miao Hmong village where the local people specialize in Batik. My guides were a local Chinese professor, a grad student, and Xiaomei Wang who is a cultural anthropologist and chief correspondent at Guizhou Daily. Xiaomei works with village and rural women developing and reporting on Chinese artisan ventures and cooperatives. Her work is supported by Citi China. Sample Field Notes: Xiaomei arranged appointments and interviews with artisans and drove me to meet them. We met at the hotel and began our journey to a local Batik village. The road was narrow and extremely curvy. Winding through the mountains, we had spectacular views of valleys, rice paddies, small patches of corn, and the occasional small mountain village - sometimes just a few buildings while others had 20 buildings or more. After about an hour and a half, we reached the Miao village. We pulled through a small gate (small wooden buildings on either side, with an elaborate roof connecting them). We parked the cars just on the other side in a small space that had just enough room for 3 or 4 cars. Next to the area of gravel upon which we were standing on was a walled-in square or pen - a flat grassy area with a small opening at the opposite corner opposite. A building ran the length of the pen. The bottom of the building seemed to be made out of brick while the top looked more like a series of living spaces made out of dark wood and large windows and had clothes lines hanging between posts and banisters. The building had a sloped roof sitting on top of all of it (like all of the buildings in the village). The fenced in pen area is where the village holds ceremonial bull fights during special times of the year. Bulls are significant in Miao culture and bull fights are a part of a special ceremony (that I don’t know the details about) in some Miao cultures. We walked along a small narrow path alongside the pen and after only 2 minutes (if that even) we arrived at the batik co-op building - another 2 story, wood top, brick on bottom structure. We entered and were greeted by the women inside. The room’s walls and ceiling were made from wood panels. Inside the room sat 8 wood desks with small wooden stools and small electric warming pots that were filled with the wax used in batik making. When we walked in, several women (all wearing traditional clothing and head bands) were busy applying their wax designs to the white cloth in front of them on the table. The walls of an adjoining room were completely covered with countless finished batik products - several framed pieces of batik sitting of the floor propped up against the wall, a small rack of finished batik clothing against the far wall, and a small kitchen (stove) setup next to an open doorway leading outside the building. After looking around for a little bit, I headed out the door and looked outside. Right outside the building was a concrete basketball court in some disrepair with a rusty hoop at either end. A similar looking building stands on the opposite side of the court and the long sides of the court butt up against a short row of steeply sloping greenery that quickly turns into a row of buildings (probably houses?) on either side. In the distance a sizable hill rises up, large amount of red soil exposed, with a forest of towering trees on top. Soon after, a Miao woman brought out a ginormous piece of batik art (I believe she may have made it), and pinned it to the wall. She then went back inside to retrieve another equally as large piece and pinned it up next to the first one and began to describe the stories depicted. The Miao people do not have a written language. Cultural history, stories, and myths are instead recorded on elaborate batiks and are passed by story-telling across generations. Instead of elaborate patterns (butterflies, fish, etc. that often appear on batik works), these two works seemed to portray stories - Miao legends. I did not understand a lot of what she was saying, but she moved back and forth, describing each image on the batik. Some images (like that of the boy and girl in the gourd) portrayed Miao creation stories. (From my understanding, the boy and the girl got married and gave birth to humans, and the 12 Chinese zodiac animals). One of the two batik works had Chinese characters written along the bottom - something that is very unusual for batik since the Miao people don’t have their own written language and many batik makers do not know how to write characters. When asked about this, Miao woman said that her daughter, who is now in high school, wrote the characters according to the story she told her. After describing both works of batik, she moved the pieces back inside. A skinny high school aged girl appeared and started talking to us. She wore glasses, a collared white and yellow striped polo shirt, and long pants. She stood with very straight posture and spoke in very clear Mandarin. We asked her questions about herself, the village, and the co-op. How many families lived in the village? She guessed about 200. She had just finished taking the Gaokao (the national Chinese college entrance exam) and was hoping to get into Guizhou University, the best university in Guiyang. She asked me why I am left handed. I replied by asking her why she is right handed and the usual Chinese conversation about left handed people supposedly being smarter ensued. We talked for a long time. The Miao woman started walking up a path to collect vegetables for lunch (which was being prepared in the small kitchen space behind me). From my spot I could smell the food being made, hear conversations being held inside the co-op building, birds chirping, and the sizzling of food. Conversation shortly turned to our Miao host whom the high school student seemed to know fairly well. She said that our Miao host is super out - going and loves talking to people, so that whenever outsiders come to visit the co-op they always talk with her. I might have misheard her, but I think she also said something to the effect that although our host’s batik work is not as fantastic as that of some of the other women, they included her in the co-op because of her fantastic people skills, and that they all really love having her around. Xiaomei said we had about 20 minutes until lunch, and the high school student offered to take us on a quick tour of the village. We followed a small path that hugs the side of the co-op (opposite from where we first entered the building) and down the path past a large dead snake, past a building with very loud pigs inside, and into the (center?) of the village where 3 or 4 men were fixing an enormous (bigger than me) circular saw they were using to cut trees into usable lumber. We continued walking up the path and paused a moment for a broken water pipe that was spraying a tall jet of water into the air. We then continued up the path until we reached a high spot that overlooked the village. Along the path were large green leafy bushes that are a central ingredient in the making blue batik dye. We then headed back to the co-op just in time for lunch. A small circular table was laid out in the middle of the room with the small kitchen set-up, and on top of the table was a feast of different foods (7 different dishes!). We all crowded around the table. They handed everyone a bowl filled with homemade rice wine (about 20 proof) and we did a toast, and then began eating. Toasts kept being made, so we kept having to drink some of the wine (not great tasting), but merriment was abundant. After lunch I finally got my opportunity to interview our Miao host. We found a quiet spot around the side of the building and began the interview. She was a great interviewee! I think it is the best interview I’ve had yet! First, we went through the survey questions with her and, to my surprise, she answered each one with a full explanation and sometimes accompanying stories. At the end of the survey questions, we launched right into the interview. She gave long in depth answers to all of the questions I asked. Although I had a lot of trouble understanding what she was saying, I could generally get the gist. I asked her about her background in batik-making, her time working in the city, and other topics. The interview lasted a good 45 minutes. After the interview, I thanked her and we said our goodbyes. Then it was time to leave the village and head back to Guiyang. |
