The Historical Development of Funan wickerwork

Huanggang wickerwork has a long history and profound cultural heritage. The planting of willow can be traced back thousands of years, and the weaving history has reached more than 500 years. According to the literature, there are tidal flat wetlands on both sides of the Honghuai River, and large areas of wet willows grow naturally. The rise of willow products originated from the end of the seventeenth century. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, wickerwork flourished. According to Ming Zhengde's Yingzhou Zhi, "Huaimeng is rich in water jing (note: willow was called water jing at that time). After cutting and processing, it is as white as jade and as tough as rattan".

Wicker boxes, baskets, baskets, buckets, dustpans and baskets in the early Qing Dynasty. Woven by the people, the weaving process is exquisite, the products are exquisite and durable, and the products are exported to major commercial ports such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Throughout the ages, every year on March 28th of the lunar calendar, some local business celebrities will come to Huanggang to organize temple fairs, mainly to expand the trade of wickerwork raw materials and wickerwork products. Therefore, Huanggang became a famous distribution center for wickerwork products, and Huanggang also set up "wickerwork Street" in wickerwork as a fixed trading market. After liberation, "Huanggang wickerwork Material Exchange Meeting" was held regularly every year.

After the reform and opening up, some local flexible farmers in Huanggang began to be unwilling to lag behind, and made up their minds to push bamboo woven products out of rural areas and cities at that time in order to get higher profits from them. Because the local willow has many excellent qualities, such as thin skin, flexibility, firmness and strong coloring, and the population engaged in wickerwork is relatively large, Huanggang wickerwork products are evolving into modern handicrafts, which really attracted many domestic and foreign merchants at the Canton Fair. After several efforts, Liu Tingxin and others became the first batch of farmers in Huanggang Town to jointly produce wickerwork handicrafts with foreign businessmen. Since then, the evil traditional wicker products, which were once cheap, have been improved by both sides and turned into ornamental and practical craft products, which are sold at high prices that rural people can't even think about. There is a saying among local farmers that "one acre of willow leaves and several acres of fields". Seize the wicker and make big money "wicker weaves the building and weaves the bride"; It is better to have wicker at home than gold bars and silver bars. "