Study On Female Inheritors Of Houma Embroidery, Shanxi

Houma embroidery is one branch of Shanxi embroideries. as early as in"the book of songs, tang," in verse "red patterns on white clothes", trulydescribe the Quwo folk embroidery art. This paper, in the perspective offolklore, using the method of oral history combined with field investigation,from aspects of the living environment, inheritance of embroidery, the spiritof needlework contained by embroidery, the value and contribution of femaleinheritors according to the view of intangible cultural heritage protection, theproblems female inheritors facing in inheritance of embroidery and the futuredevelopment directions and so on, discussing the female embroideryinheritors in systematic. Thus affirming the female inheritors’ value andcontribution of traditional arts and crafts in inheritance and protection, whichcan cause the high attention of the embroidery and female inheritors inHouma, Shanxi Province.In October2003, UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of theIntangible Cultural Heritage clearly list the traditional arts and crafts on theintangible cultural heritage protection scope. As the main embroidery artheritage, famale inheritors, play a key role in the process of inheritance and development of embroidery. The paper mainly studies female embroideryinheritors of Houma, Shanxi Province. First, it present the important role offamale inheritors in ‘instruction’ and ‘inheritance’ from microcosmic point ofview. Through the method of the field investigation and in-depth interviews,making specific interpretations of Houma famale embroidery inheritors’‘instruction’ and ‘inheritance’. In the ‘instruction’, the author mainlydiscussed from three aspects,the teaching, the training process and theinfluence of the embroidery on inheritors, while the ‘inheritance’ mainlydiscussed three specific aspects: Imparting embroidery craft, folk moral ofembroidery and values of embroidery. Secondly, it analyse the status and thecontributions of famale inheritors in Houma embroidery as well as theproblems they faced in the process of inheritance from macro perspectives,once again stress the position and value of the famale inheritors in intangiblecultural heritage protection. In the end, it summarize the study of this paper,emphasize the importance of female inheritors in embroidery heritage anddevelopment, and also point out the problems faced by famale inheritors andthe future development direction.