The Buyi, Miao and Yao peoples in Huishui, Changshun, Pingtang, Guiding and Longli in southern Guizhou and Majiang in southeastern Guizhou all have the habit of making maple dye, which is widely used in daily bed sheets, quilt covers, tent eaves, pillowcases, shoulder bags, headbands, back fans, etc. Among them, the maple dyeing craftsmanship in Xiaoyanjiao, Yashui Town, Huishui County and Majiang County is relatively well preserved. From the fifth year of Qiande (967) of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty to the second year of Yuanfu (1099) of Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty, Nanning Prefecture (now Huishui) sent people to Beijing (now Kaifeng) to pay tribute thirteen times, and batik was one of the tributes. Volume 493 of "History of Song Dynasty" states: "Nanning specializes in famous horses and cinnabar batik cloth". It can be seen that the batik craftsmanship in Huishui area of Guizhou Province had reached a very high level in the Song Dynasty. Batik, known as wax dye in ancient times, is called wax curtain by the Buyi and Miao people. It originated in the Han Dynasty or earlier, and gradually faded in the Central Plains after the Song Dynasty, but flourished in the minority areas of central, southern and southwestern my country. The Qing Dynasty was a period of great development of printing and dyeing technology in minority areas. The wax-dyeing technology originated in the Central Plains was unique in Guizhou and widely distributed. Batik and maple dyeing are both traditional resist-dyeing printing technologies. Batik is popular in many ethnic areas in Guizhou, but the handmade skills of maple dyeing are concentrated in a smaller area and are little known. From the perspective of process form, maple dyeing has a certain origin relationship with batik, but from the perspective of materials, tools, patterns, and production technology, maple dyeing has independent process characteristics and aesthetic value. This special production technology is rare in Guizhou. There is no accurate time limit for when Xiaoyanjiao maple dyeing was formed. According to the survey of the surviving maple dyeing artists, there are three generations of known inheritance history. Starting from the first generation of maple dyeing artist Yang Zhengxin who was born in 1878, it has a history of more than 100 years. There should have been a historical continuity relationship before that, and its origin should be earlier. However, due to the lack of written records, it is still difficult to verify. The wood of maple trees that can secrete maple oil is red, and the leaves turn red in autumn. The method of obtaining maple oil is similar to cutting rubber. Use a knife and an axe to cut a hole in the maple tree, and the maple oil will flow out. After collecting it in a container, add water and boil it on the fire. Use silky palm skin to filter out the residue, wait for the maple oil to float on the water surface, take it out and cool it to solidify. Maple oil also needs butter as a material, which has two functions: adding butter to maple oil can increase toughness; second, it is easy to remove grease after dyeing. Butter and maple oil are blended in a ratio of 1:1, and then the blended mixed oil is solidified for use at any time. When drawing a pattern, use an appropriate amount of prepared maple oil to dissolve on charcoal fire at a temperature of about 50 to 60 degrees. If the temperature is too high, the color of the cloth will turn yellow after dyeing, and if it is too low, the maple oil will easily condense and be difficult to paint. After the pattern is drawn, dyeing can begin. The dyeing materials and process of maple dyeing are basically the same as those of batik. It is also dyed with blue indigo, which is called earth indigo in Xiaoyanjiao. The processing method is to harvest the blue leaves and put them into a vat, a wooden barrel or a pit, add an appropriate amount of cold water, and turn them over every two days. After soaking for 67 days, the blue leaves are taken out, lime is placed in a basin, and then the blue indigo water in the vat is poured into the vat after the lime is dissolved. Stir with a bamboo pole for 1 to 2 hours. After overnight, the indigo condenses and precipitates, and the water on the top is scooped off (some places also need to add some wine to the dye liquid). About 5 kilograms of blue leaves use 1 kilogram of lime, and 1 kilogram of dry indigo can be obtained. After the dry indigo is diluted with water, the painted cloth is slowly immersed in the barrel for repeated dyeing. The color will deepen accordingly with each immersion until the required depth is reached. Usually, it is sealed and dyed twice to obtain a light blue color. The whole dyeing process is called "cold dyeing" in Xiaoyanjiao. The color of maple dyeing is mainly cyan, blue and white, without other color changes. After dyeing, use boiling water to remove the grease. The traditional method is to burn alkaline green bark wood into ashes and add it to boiling water to remove the grease attached to the cloth, showing the blue and white flower pattern on the green background. Now there are also detergent degreasing methods that can achieve the same effect. After degreasing, rinse with clean water, dry and flatten, and the whole production process is completed. The maple dyeing of the Yao ethnic group in Majiang County has its own unique features. In the seventh and eighth months of the lunar calendar every year, the Yao people go up the mountain to cut maple oil (the same as cutting tree lacquer). After returning, they mix maple oil and butter in a certain proportion and boil them on a slow fire to make it liquid for use when dotting flowers. Yao women draw patterns on their self-woven cotton cloth. The patterns are mainly deformed and exaggerated flowers, grass, fish, insects, and birds, interspersed with geometric patterns, thunder patterns, cloud patterns, sawtooth patterns, etc. Then, dip a bamboo stick in the melted maple oil and butter mixture and apply oil along the painted pattern, which is called dotting flowers. After dotting flowers, the cloth is dried and prepared for dyeing. The dotted cloth is sent to the dyeing workshop in the village for coloring. Generally, it is black or indigo. The black and indigo dyes are made from two plants called "埯" and "背顠" in Yao language respectively. When dyeing cloth, the cloth should be soaked in the dye solution, dried, and soaked again, and repeated seven or eight times. The dyed cloth is repeatedly rinsed in water until the mixture of maple oil and butter on the cloth is completely washed and scraped off, revealing the base color of the cloth, and then dried. The maple dyed products have exquisite patterns and stable decorative styles. They are the expression form of Guizhou ethnic folk arts and crafts. They are distinguished from batik in other parts of Guizhou by their simple and elegant decorative techniques and unique ethnic handicrafts. Carrying the integration of historical civilization and modern society, as well as the national aesthetic ideals and the desire for a better life, it is recognized by the Buyi, Miao and Yao ethnic groups. Among the Majiang Yao people, when many maple dyed products are put together, they can actually tell which one comes from which family and who made it. What is the historical origin of a pattern and why this pattern is used are closely related to the historical changes of the ethnic group. The history of maple dyeing in Huishui can be traced back to Yang Zhengxin, who opened a private school in 1899 and began to engage in maple dyeing craftsmanship. The representative inheritors of maple dyeing in Majiang County include Cao Xingmei, Long Panbao, Yang Benan, etc. from Baixing Group 6 in Heba Village. The inheritors of dyeing craftsmen include Yang Xunyong and Yang Wanren. The maple dyeing craftsmanship has never been interrupted for more than a hundred years. It all originated from the needs of folk customs in popular areas and is part of the daily life of local people. Maple dyeing has been produced by the people and is still processed and used in many ethnic areas today. For a long time, its craftsmanship has always maintained traditional methods and has not changed to this day. With the changes of history and the development of society, the long-standing maple dyeing craftsmanship has been passed down, but due to the complex production process of maple dyeing, the long learning cycle, and the use of self-spun cotton cloth, it is particularly laborious and time-consuming. The production cycle can be as long as half a year. Most young people nowadays are unwilling to learn, and there is a lack of successors, and the craftsmanship is facing the situation of being lost. Liquidambar dyed textiles for daily use have been replaced by industrialized modern textiles. Liquidambar dyed products such as bed sheets, quilt covers, and tent eaves, which were given as dowry at traditional Buyi weddings, are rarely seen. The only place where liquidambar dyed "old skirts" (skirts worn by the deceased) are still used as burial objects in the funerals of Miao women in Yazhai. Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)