Danzhai batik, a traditional Miao-style dyeing technique

Danzhai batik utilizes a traditional Miao-style dyeing technique that hails from Danzhai and Sandu counties in China's Southwest Guizhou province.

It is used to make decorations on local ethnic group's women's clothing, as well as daily supplies such as bedding and door curtains.

Craftsmen use smooth and dynamic lines, various patterns, and lively images in their creations.

Common patterns include flowers, birds, fish, and insects, as well as imaginary plants and animals. The images are usually big, which make the dyeing products simple but full of bold ideas in design.

In order to add their artistic values, creators emphasize the artistic quality of the design and simplify the rest of the textile with simple geometric patterns, such as diamonds or square skeletons with regular variations.

In the composition of patterns, the animals, flowers, and fruits are usually arranged in the same picture. Sometimes, craftsmen design imaginary plants combining flowers, fruits, and leaves, or fictitious animals full of exaggerated imaginative creativity, such as butterflies and fish with birds’ heads or fruits and flowers growing on insects.

A group of villages in the area, including Shuangyao, Yuanjing, Fangsheng, and Song'e villages in Paidiao town, as well as the villages of Paimo, Paidao, Jijia, and Wuwan in Yangwu town have inherited the craftsmanship and have passed it down for generations.

Among them, Shuangyao and Paimo are the most typical places for the folk art's cultural inheritance.

A photo of Danzhai batik. [Photo/gog.cn]