Lasting Luxury: Arts and Crafts with Xia Bu 夏布, a Traditional …
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Photo 5 A man is peeling the skin from ramie stems
In ramie region, the plant creates path for the poor to the middle class: During
my meeting with local government officials and bankers, several of them told me
the same story: their mothers or their grandmothers supported their higher education
with the money made from ramie work at home, such as peeling the stems, drying
fibres or collecting wild ramie plants (Photos 5 and 6).
Ramie fibre is one of the earliest fibres that human beings used for their textiles. It
is the important material for textile industry for centuries in Southern China. There
is an old folk song from The Book of Songs, also called Shijing
5 (which contains
folk songs between 800 and 600 BC in Southern China). From the song, we know
that ramie fibre making is a daily activity in those days.
东 东门 门之 之池 池, 可 可以 以沤 沤麻 麻。 。
彼 彼美 美淑 淑姬 姬, 可 可与 与晤 晤歌 歌 6
By the pond at the Eastern gate,
people soak ramie;
With that beautiful girl,
I sing love songs.
At least in olden times, luxury ramie promoted love.
5 3-9-2015 Philology, anthropology and poetry in Arthur Waley ’s translation of the Shijing Qingyang
LIN.
6 https://so.gushiwen.org/mingju/juv_186bda201291.aspx.
89
Photo 5 A man is peeling the skin from ramie stems
In ramie region, the plant creates path for the poor to the middle class: During
my meeting with local government officials and bankers, several of them told me
the same story: their mothers or their grandmothers supported their higher education
with the money made from ramie work at home, such as peeling the stems, drying
fibres or collecting wild ramie plants (Photos 5 and 6).
Ramie fibre is one of the earliest fibres that human beings used for their textiles. It
is the important material for textile industry for centuries in Southern China. There
is an old folk song from The Book of Songs, also called Shijing
5 (which contains
folk songs between 800 and 600 BC in Southern China). From the song, we know
that ramie fibre making is a daily activity in those days.
东 东门 门之 之池 池, 可 可以 以沤 沤麻 麻。 。
彼 彼美 美淑 淑姬 姬, 可 可与 与晤 晤歌 歌 6
By the pond at the Eastern gate,
people soak ramie;
With that beautiful girl,
I sing love songs.
At least in olden times, luxury ramie promoted love.
5 3-9-2015 Philology, anthropology and poetry in Arthur Waley ’s translation of the Shijing Qingyang
LIN.
6 https://so.gushiwen.org/mingju/juv_186bda201291.aspx.