| In the process of production and development,many ethnic groups in China have formed a rich traditional knowledge of the utilization and protection of dye-yielding plant resources.These traditional knowledge not only provide an important knowledge“prototype” for modern dyestuff research and development,but also provide effective information for the exploration of the sustainable utilization of dye plant resources.However,since the emergence of synthetic dyes,their low price,simple process,wide variety,and good color fastness have gradually become popular,which has brought devastating impact on traditional dye-yielding plants and related traditional knowledge.The Bai people in Dali has a long history of plant-dyeing,and has formed a series of plant-dyeing culture related to dye-yielding plants in the long term of production and living practice.Nevertheless,due to the progress of society and the development of the economy,mainstream thinking has begun to influence the traditional concept of local people.Synthetic dyes have gradually been accepted by local people and have a tendency to replace traditional dye-yielding plants.The traditional plant-dyeing culture associated with it is gradually disappearing.Therefore,the salvage protection and collection of dye-yielding plant resources and their traditional knowledge in this area is of great significance.In order to collect and collate the traditional dye-yielding plant resources and its related traditional plant-dyeing knowledge in Bai communities,Dali Prefecture,13 Bai villages,5 traditional markets,3 government agencies and 3 plant-dyeing factories in Dali Prefecture were investigated by means of ethnoecology and cultural anthropology from2016 to 2018 in this paper.Through the participatory observation of plant-dyeing activities in the Bai communities and interviews with key individuals who master plant-dyeing knowledge,the following findings were obtained:There are 23 dye-yielding plant resources belonging to 19 families are traditionally used by the Bai people.The use parts include roots,stems,leaves,flowers and fruits.The dyed colors are red,yellow,blue,gray,black,etc.In Bai community,there are three methods of processing dye-yielding plants: water extraction,fermentation and directmashing,as well as four methods of plant-dyeing: direct dyeing,pre-mordant dyeing,post-mordant dyeing and co-bath dyeing.The traditional tools used by the Bai people in the process of plant-dyeing include dyeing vat,dyeing stick,drying rack and stone mill.In the long-term practice of plant-dyeing,the Bai people have enriched the knowledge of plant-dyeing,inherited the tradition of plant-dyeing,and combined with their customs to form a series of plant-dyeing cultures,such as tie-and-dye culture,festival culture,sacrificial culture and aesthetic culture.The information of 23 kinds of dye-yielding plants was analyzed by using three quantitative indicators: use frequency(f),informant consensus factor(ICF)and cultural importance index(CII),it was concluded that due to the Bai’s tradition of tie-and-dye,the use frequency of Strobilanthes cusia(Nees)Kuntze,the reliability of information that can dye blue and its importance in Bai traditional culture show a high ratio.Based on the above investigation results,the industrialization practice of plant dyes in local dyeing factories in Dali,the future application prospects of plant dyes and the advantages and disadvantages of the inheritance of plant-dyeing culture were discussed,and the suggestions for the future development of dye-yielding plants were put forward as follows:(1)With the support of the Dali state government,establish a special dyeing botanical garden,and regularly hold scientific activities of plant-dyeing to protect the dye-yielding plant resources and related traditional knowledge;(2)Under the environment and opportunity of pollution control in Erhai Lake,local plant-dyeing factories should unite to make the brand of plant-dyeing bigger and better;(3)plant-dyeing factories should cooperate with local universities and research institutes to solve the problem of color fastness of dye-yielding plants ecologically through scientific research means,so as to promote it industrialization,centralization and collectivization. |
