1. Special Issue on Women and Textile Production Techniques in Traditional China.
2. Author Affiliation: Grinnell College, USA.
摘要
Hair embroidery was a particular technique practiced by lay Buddhist women to create devotional images. The embroiderers used their own hair as threads and applied them on silk to stitch figures. This paper will analyze the religious connotation of hair embroidery, the ritual process and the techniques for making hair embroidery in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. By tracing its appearance in both literary texts and actual surviving objects, this essay will ask how and in what circumstances human hair was applied to embroidery? What was the significance of transferring one's own hair onto an icon? How did hair embroidery combine women's bodies (their hair) with a womanly skill (embroidery) to make a unique gendered practice in late imperial China?
目次
Abstract 131 The Early Discourse of Making Buddhist Embroidery 133 Embroidering Guanyin as Woman's Virtuous Behaviour in Late Imperial China 135 Why Hair? 138 Plucking Hair or bafa 拔髮 - a Buddhist Practice of Self-inflicted Pain 143 Splitting Hair- Exemplifying a Difficult Technique through the Making of a Devotional Object 147 Technique, Artistic Refinement and Devotion 150 Conclusion 153 Figures 155 References 161 Traditional Works in East Asian Languages 161 Secondary Sources in Western and Eastern Languages 162
