Man breaks into traditional female craft after becoming an inheritor of Li Brocade in south China’s Hainan

The Li Brocade is a traditional craft of the Li ethnic group in south China's Hainan Province. Traditionally, the craft has been inherited and passed on by female weavers. In recent years, an increasing number of male weavers have joined in the tradition to make a greater push to promote the art.

Photo shows Huang Yangwei learning Li Brocade textile techniques from a state-level inheritor of the traditional craft. (Photo/Hainan Daily)

23-year-old Huang Yangwei from a village in Wuzhishan city, Hainan, is an inheritor of the Li Brocade. With no one in his family having been a weaver before, Huang cultivated an interest in the craft when he was a high school student. After graduating from high school, Huang served in the army for a period of two years, and after retiring from the military, he became a student at a vocational school in Hainan.

While at school, Huang spent most of his spare time practicing Li textile techniques with a loom. He had received awards for being an excellent craftsman and an inheritor of the Li Brocade as a university student. “I’ve always been in touch with my instructors, and it was thanks to their instruction that I could keep making progress in mastering the craft,” Huang said.

Huang Yangwei gives a class on the Li Brocade at a vocational school in Hainan. (Photo/Hainan Daily)

Despite the achievements he made, Huang had always been shy to tell his family members about his fascination with the Li Brocade because the local people often thought that weaving was not a job for a man.

Nowadays, Huang and his cousin run a brocade shop in the city. “Dipaman,” the name of the shop which means “a little boy” in the local dialect, is very indicative of Huang’s passion for the Li Brocade.

Huang hopes that by being among a younger generation of inheritors of the Li Brocade, he might be able to help inject more vigor into the traditional craft. He also believes that he could turn the craft into a career for himself and make money from it while carrying forward the intangible heritage.

Huang Yangwei helps a customer choose costumes from the Yi ethnic group at his shop. (Photo/Hainan Daily)

Photo shows Huang Yangwei visiting the Hainan Provincial Museum of Ethnology. (Photo/Hainan Daily)

Huang Yangwei’s mother and aunt help him pack his clothes before he makes a move to the urban area of Wuzhishan city, Hainan. (Photo/Hainan Daily)

Huang Yangwei introduces his bag made of Li Brocade to a woman he just encountered. (Photo/Hainan Daily)

Photo taken on Oct. 16, 2021, shows Huang Yangwei (second from the left in the first row) working on a Li Brocade product together with over 1,000 female weavers of the Li ethnic group at a square in Dongfang city, Hainan. (Photo/Hainan Daily)