With the help of modern science and technology, the cloth dyeing process of the Buyi ethnic group in Ceheng county of southwest China's Guizhou province has been improved, helping open up the market for products of "Buyi blue" and leading the villagers to have an increase in income.

(Photo/People's Daily)

Characterized by indigo blue, Buyi clothing is a national intangible cultural heritage. However, there was a discoloration problem in clothes made of the indigo blue cloth.

"When you sweat a little on a hot day, you will get color on your neck and arms, and the discoloration is even worse when you wash your clothes," said Huang Lian, a local person of the Buyi ethnic group.

Although indigo does not irritate the skin, the market for clothes of "Buyi blue" has been affected. "In addition to wearing their own clothes, the villagers also want to sell some to support their families, but people outside are almost reluctant to buy clothes easy to lose color," according to Huang Lian.

In 2017, a company specializing in Buyi clothing was registered and established, with Long Zhiyu serving as general manager. After many inquiries, he got in touch with experts on textile science and engineering from Tiangong University in north China's Tianjin municipality.

Experts noticed that the dyeing technology of Buyi indigo blue has been around for thousands of years; as the integrity of the process has been damaged in varying degrees, the problem of discoloration is becoming more and more serious.

After screening and repeating experiments, the experts finally found a strain with strong reductive ability. "With the addition of this strain, the dyeing process, which used to be completed in more than 20 days, now takes only three hours, and the color fastness is very high," Long said.

Thanks to the new technology, the old art of indigo blue dyeing has been revived, but Long’ team did not stop there. From light blue to dark blue, they subdivided the colors into 12 levels, taking the indigo dyeing process to a new level.

"Recently, we have received orders from Japan, South Korea and other countries, worth more than 1 million yuan (about $141,000) , and will be able to deliver goods one after another over a period of time," said Long. .

"These national costumes have the characteristics of being natural and environmentally friendly, and are very competitive in the international market," added Long.