Strolling the Island: A "Touchable" Cultural Journey

The Hainan Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Center (Hainan Cultural Center) is located on Yehai Avenue in Haikou City. Hainan Island is home to 56 ethnic groups, including the Han, Li, Miao, and Hui peoples. Throughout the long process of historical development, various ethnic groups have continuously exchanged and learned from one another, fostering cultural integration. This has resulted in a collection of intangible cultural heritages with profound Chinese cultural roots, ultimately converging into the most uniquely Hainanese "Unique Skills of Mountains and Seas."

The building has 4 floors with a total exhibition area of nearly 7,000 square meters.

The gourd is a symbol of reverence and protection for the Li people, and in prehistoric times, it was also a clever water-crossing tool. Large, mature gourds were transformed into "waist boats," wrapped in woven rattan or bamboo nets, and equipped with grip rings at the bottom. Some designs included sealing the neck opening with a leather cover to store clothes or food, keeping them dry while crossing.

The Li dugout canoe: ancients saw floating wood and knew it could be a boat. Li dugout canoes are mostly made from whole sections of kapok tree trunks, sharpened at both ends, with the walls carved into curves, the bottom and cabin bottom flattened, and the outer gunwales and ends carved with patterns and floral designs.

Compass Making Technique

The compass used by Hainan fishermen for ocean navigation was made locally by fishermen and is a circular basin-style wooden dry compass, possessing only the "Heavenly Pool" and the "Twenty-Four Mountains." The "Heavenly Pool" consists of a thimble, magnetic needle, sea bottom line, cylindrical outer box, and glass cover, fixed in the center of the inner plate. On the outermost ring of the plate surface, starting from due north, the "Twenty-Four Mountains" are written and marked in a clockwise direction.

Various early old compasses 🧭 The one on the far left is the Twenty-Four Mountains.

Singing between Fishermen and Dan People

Since ancient times, Hainan Island has been a multi-ethnic island, with the prehistoric shell mound culture widely distributed across South Asia. Besides the indigenous Li people, after the Han and Tang dynasties, Han people from all over the country moved in succession. While boating, fishermen and Dan people sang to each other, each with different customs, presenting the diversity of Hainan's intangible cultural heritage.

Hainan Shell Carving

By the Ming Dynasty, Hainan shell carving had already reached a high level of artistic achievement. Hainan boasts a diverse variety of shell species with different colors and shapes. Craftsmen use various natural shells as the primary material, taking shapes based on the material's natural form and applying techniques according to the material's characteristics. Through carving, splicing, stacking, pasting, and inlaying, they create various shell carving handicrafts.

Pearl Powder

Dan Bride's Headdress

Tianhou (Mazu) is the maritime guardian goddess of the people in coastal areas. The worship of Tianhou originated from folk reverence and praise for Mazu; this custom has been handed down since the Yuan Dynasty. Sacrificial activities are held annually on the 23rd day of the third lunar month and the 9th day of the ninth lunar month (Mazu's birthday and the day of her passing). Initially, only fishermen and navigators worshipped on boats or at home, praying for safe voyages. Today, belief in Mazu has become a very common custom culture that transcends blood ties, geography, and groups.

Limu Torch

Limu Mountain and other mountainous areas in the hinterland of Hainan Island are places where the Hainan Li people have lived for a long time. The unique geographical environment has enabled Li compatriots to develop unique production and lifestyles as well as the intangible cultural heritage adapted to them.

Li Clay-Slice Pottery Making Craft

The primitive pottery-making skill of the Li people is a craft that uses traditional manual methods such as coiled clay strips, wheel-free molding, and open-air low-temperature firing. It is circulated in the areas inhabited by the Li people on Hainan Island.

Li Bark Cloth Making

Before using hemp and kapok for weaving, the ancestors of Hainan Island experienced a long "non-woven" period. The Li ancestors used the bark of trees like the Antiaris toxicaria (Upas tree) and paper mulberry, processing it into non-woven cloth through soaking, repeated rinsing, and beating, used to make clothes, bedding, etc., for warmth and covering the body. Bark cloth is the earliest non-woven cloth made by humans using plant fibers, older than the Li textile skills.

Li Medicine

Traditional Li medicine for bone-setting includes dozens of types, and the treatment methods are diverse, mainly divided into internal administration and external treatment. It is the main traditional medical art among the Li people.

The people of Dan, Tai, and Qiong [historical administrative areas] all made rattan threads and wove them into curtains. The exquisite ones also picked patterns to create shapes of flowers, herbs, fish, and birds.

Ornaments made of bone

The Lao Gu Dance is an ancient dance reflecting the Li people's worship of ancestors, mainly circulated in Baisha Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province. It means "worshiping the ancient face," that is, worshipping deceased elders. The Lao Gu Dance is hosted by the village elder, with free participation from villagers and unlimited numbers; usually there are more than 12 people. It is accompanied by national musical instruments and uses various props like red ropes, bamboo, masks, and pestles.

Traditional Batik Craft of the Miao People

Since ancient times, Hainan Island has been a melting pot of ethnic integration. Since the establishment of commanderies in the Han Dynasty, people coming from the interior lived together with local indigenous people, starting the process of ethnic integration in Hainan. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, Han people from Min, Yue, and other places, as well as some ethnic groups, have come in droves. In addition, there were garrison soldiers recruited by successive courts from various places, exiled officials, merchants, and peddlers, basically constituting Hainan's ethnic composition and distribution pattern.

Dongpo Hat

The skill of making a hat by hand using bamboo strips, rattan, banana leaves, palm leaves, hat oil, and other materials. Legend has it that after Su Dongpo came to Hainan, he found the design of the hillside hat unique and functional, and loved it very much. The Dongpo hat weaving method is unique, with main processes including selecting bamboo, starting the hat top, winding the hat throat strips, and finishing the hat top.

Huagui Art, also known as colorful wood carving

The prosperity of Buddhism and Taoism in the Song Dynasty gave birth to the development of Huagui art. Generally using ebony, hardwood, tree roots, etc., as main materials, it flexibly employs manual carving techniques such as flat carving, intaglio carving, relief carving, three-dimensional carving, and openwork carving, and is lacquered with various pigments. Traditional works are mostly idols or utensils, reflecting folk beliefs.

Longtang Carving Art

The art of carving using materials such as mud blocks, stones, and wood, mainly circulated in Longtang Town, Qiongshan District, Haikou City, Hainan Province. The area is located on the west bank of the lower reaches of the Nandu River, with geology belonging to the basalt layer, and the soil is mostly gravel soil composed of volcanic ejecta. More than nine hundred years ago, Longtang ancestors took local materials and made the best use of them, endowing these raw materials with another artistic conception.

Wanning Hou'an has three unique specialties: mullet, noodle soup, and blacksmithing.

Agarwood (Chenxiang) is a precious traditional Chinese medicine with a very long history of use in China.

Agarwood comes from the Aquilaria sinensis (white wood) tree, also known as earth agarwood, daughter fragrance, bud fragrance, Guan incense, Liu Ma tree, etc. Those produced in Hainan are also called "Hainan Agarwood." Hainan Agarwood has been famous for a long time, with large production and excellent quality, and is one of the "Ten Great Varieties" of Southern Medicine.

White wood must be damaged artificially or naturally to form incense. Incense-making methods include the cutting method, half-trunk breaking method, artificial inoculation method, chiseling method, etc., and it can be harvested all year round. After harvesting, the white light wood without incense resin and the rotten parts are removed, leaving the black oily part to be air-dried, which is agarwood.

Hainan Coconut Carving

A huge vase 2.2 meters high; according to the guide, it is made from more than 200 processed coconut shells.

The white parts in the pattern are made of shells 🐚.

Hainan Huanghuali wood is known as the "National Treasure."

Its wood quality is hard, the grain is magnificent, the structure is fine and dense, extremely corrosion-resistant, does not deform after drying, and has an oily sheen after fine processing. The production process of Huanghuali wood furniture includes preparing materials, sawing wood, planing wood, drawing lines (designing shapes), chiseling mortises, carving, polishing, assembling, and finally applying primer and polishing oil. The handmade craftsmanship that completely abandons nails and glue makes Chinese classical furniture reach the realm of perfection in terms of function and art.

Ming and Qing furniture represented by Hainan Huanghuali wood is a treasure of Chinese classical furniture art.

Wenchang Stucco Sculpture, commonly known as "gray carving" or "gray patching."

Craftsmen burn shells into lime, mix them with paper, straw, etc., to make a viscous raw material similar to cement. They use a spatula to directly carve and paste it on walls, ridges, or under eaves. After carving, it forms three-dimensional decorations, and then coloring is done to finally create artistic works such as landscapes, figures, birds, and beasts.

Hainan Bayin (Eight Tones) instruments mainly include: Erhu, Coconut Hu, Yueqin, Dulcimer, Sanxian, Flute, Suona, Throat pipe (Houguan), Gong, Drum, Cymbals, etc. Bayin is the general term for instruments used by Chinese folk bands. Hainan Bayin appeared as early as the pre-Qin period, matured in the Ming Dynasty, became more popular in the Republic of China and after the liberation, and spread to Southeast Asian countries with the footsteps of Qiong overseas Chinese.

Hainan Dad Tea

Hainan folk charcoal portraits, commonly known as charcoal spirit paintings.

A craft of portraiture using charcoal powder as the main material and traditional charcoal painting techniques, mainly circulated in Chengmai, Hainan. In ancient times, charcoal painting was a symbol of honor for parents in aristocratic families; in modern times, it became a spiritual belonging for ordinary families to remember their loved ones. With inheritance and development, charcoal painting has gradually evolved into a high-end art form.

Clothing and Bedding for Hainan: Li Traditional Spinning, Dyeing, Weaving, and Embroidery Skills Exhibition

Li Brocade skill has a history of 3,000 years and is a national-level intangible cultural heritage. The full name is "Li Traditional Spinning, Dyeing, Weaving, and Embroidery Skills." As its name implies, its craft production process includes four types of skills: spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embroidery.

The Dragon Quilt (Longbei) is the brocade arts and crafts with the greatest difficulty, highest cultural taste, and most superb skills among the traditional Li spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embroidery skills. It was once one of the tributes the Li people offered to the imperial courts of successive dynasties.

The cultural heritage wall in the corridor; click to enlarge to read the introduction.

Cultural and creative products, dazzling in their variety.

#IntangibleHeritage #Hainan #DongpoHat #LiBrocade

Small Knowledge

Cultural and Natural Heritage Day is the second Saturday of June every year, established since 2006. The purpose of Cultural and Natural Heritage Day is to create a good atmosphere for protecting cultural heritage, raise people's awareness of the importance of cultural heritage protection, mobilize the whole society to participate in, pay attention to, and protect cultural heritage, and enhance the awareness of cultural heritage protection in the whole society.

The logo of China Cultural Heritage adopts the gold ornament pattern unearthed at the Jinsha Site in Chengdu, Sichuan. Some experts have named it "Sun and Bird" or "Four Birds Circling the Sun." The number of China's world natural heritage and mixed cultural and natural heritage sites ranks first in the world.