[Explanation] In Huaihong Village, Baipeng Town, Liuzhou City, Guangxi, several villagers are sitting in front of their houses skillfully weaving bamboo baskets.

The mature bamboos are divided into bamboo strips in their hands after several processes such as slicing, scraping, and slitting. The bamboo strips of uniform thickness and thickness are interspersed back and forth between their dexterous fingertips, and soon the bamboo baskets are smashed. The prototype appears.

　　[Explanation] Bamboo weaving has 300 years of cultural accumulation in the area, reflecting the creative spirit and aesthetic taste of the Zhuang people.

At the moment when plastic products are popularized, bamboo weaving is still widely recognized by the market. This traditional skill continues in the dexterous hands of these craftsmen, and it also brings them good benefits.

　　[Explanation] Mr. Tan, who is over 70 years old in the village, has been learning bamboo weaving craftsmanship with his parents since he was young. Today, Mrs. Tan's craftsmanship is very exquisite. The bamboo baskets she weaves are beautiful and generous with neat textures.

According to her, bamboo weaving skills rely only on family word of mouth, which is a must-have for local villagers in the early years.

　　[Concurrent] Qin Shi, a bamboo weaving craftsman

　　(Bamboo baskets) are used to hold millet, corn, fertilizers, and everything.

(I) have been learning to edit since I was 17 years old. In the past, the old people taught, everyone had to (learn).

I can make 5 pairs (bamboo baskets) in two days and it takes 50 minutes to make one.

Young people don’t do it, but now it’s all done by the elderly, and young people have all gone out to work.

　　[Explanation] In the 1980s, when there was a large demand for bamboo weaving supplies, bamboo weaving became an essential craft for local villagers.

After weaving a certain amount, villagers often load up these bamboo weaving products with tricycles and sell them in downtown Liuzhou, which is nearly 30 kilometers away.

Due to the low added value, only a dozen households in the village are still weaving bamboo products. Most of them are old, but many buyers still come to buy them.

　　[Concurrent period] Qin Zhaoban, leader of the villager group in Huaihong Village

　　In the 1980s, every household in our family compiled it, and now all of our villages are these old people (in the process of compiling).

Right now, there are outside bosses coming in to buy, and now the market is easy to sell, and (craftsmen) can earn fifty or sixty yuan a day.

　　[Explanation] After the villagers weave the bamboo baskets, they will be collected in the village commissary, and the purchasers will purchase them uniformly.

Depending on the level of craftsmanship, bamboo weaving craftsmen weave as few as 1 to 2 pieces a day, or as many as more than ten pieces, and sell them to buyers who come here at a price of 12 to 15 yuan each.

During the slack season, weaving bamboo baskets can bring certain economic income to these dozen families.

　　[Concurrent] Bamboo weaving acquirer Fan Changguang

　　Generally, we buy hundreds of them at a time. We usually sell them at our own storefronts when we pull them back. Some of the ones we buy here are factories, mines, construction sites, and schools.

Sometimes, (they) want more.

　　[Same period] It is understood that the Zhuang nationality bamboo weaving has a long history and a wide variety of craftsmanship.

In 2016, it was included in the sixth batch of representative projects of intangible cultural heritage in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

As a social production and living tool that has continued from the traditional agricultural society to the present, traditional bamboo weaving has witnessed the changes in rural production and lifestyle, and is still playing a certain economic value at present.

　　Liu Juncong Huang Lijie reports from Liuzhou, Guangxi

Responsible editor: [Sun Jingbo]