I. Historical information of silk floss and cotton

Before cotton was introduced and planted, ancient winter clothes and bedding were mainly filled with silk wool. The production of ancient silk floss in China has a long history, and the craft history of Yuhang silk floss can be traced back to the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, Zhejiang silk was made a tribute. In the Song Dynasty, Zhejiang silk floss basically spread all over the country.

The so-called silk floss is a kind of floc formed by messy silk on the surface of cocoon and inferior cocoon. The better one is called cotton, and the better one is called wadding. Silk floss was first used to make winter clothes. The ancients wore hemp yarn in summer and stuffed silk wool in winter to keep out the cold.

During the Western Han Dynasty, the silk weaving industry in Yangzhou and Suzhou and Hangzhou was very developed. In the production of silk products, first-class cocoons are spun into silk, and second-class cocoons are made into silk floss.

By the time of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Yangzhou had a good reputation of "sparing cotton and silks and covering the world".

The production quantity of winter clothes in Tang Dynasty is as follows: cotton robe, plus 12 liang of cotton. Winter clothes, slightly shorter than robes, with cotton 82. Cotton trousers are cotton trousers, plus six taels of cotton. In the Tang Dynasty, the filling of cotton-padded robes refers to silk cotton. Bai Juyi said:

White as snow, soft as a cloud.

The cloth is thick and has a residual temperature for fur.

Sit at dusk in the morning and sleep till dawn at night.

Who knows Yan Dongyue, the branches are as warm as spring.

This is the poet showing off his cotton gown, which is made of white kudzu cloth in Guangxi and wrapped in soft Xing Wu silk cotton; Wear it, it feels warm as spring in winter.

Cotton is native to India and Arabia. Before it was introduced to China, ancient China people filled pillows and mattresses with kapok. Make silk wool for winter clothes to keep out the cold. In the documents before Liu and Song Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties, there was no cotton beside the wood, but only cotton beside the silk. The word "cotton" has been used since Song Shu.

It can be inferred that cotton was introduced to China in the Northern and Southern Dynasties at the latest, but it was mostly planted in border areas. At the end of Song Dynasty and the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, cotton was planted and introduced to all parts of China.

Some historical examples are as follows: it first spread in China during the Song and Yuan Dynasties and benefited from Guanshan, Fujian and Guangxi; Build this thing to go abroad, Fujian and Guangxi are connected to sea ships, and Guanshan is connected to the western regions.

As a result, cotton was introduced from land and sea. Fujian and Guangdong should be introduced from the sea, and cotton planting in Gansu, Shaanxi and Guanzhong should be introduced from the western regions. Cotton spread all over the country in the early Ming Dynasty; The Ming government forced the promotion of planting and use.

Second, grow cotton.

The growth period of cotton is divided into five stages, namely, emergence stage, seedling stage, bud stage, seed setting stage and boll opening stage.

Cotton is planted in Guanzhong area and sown before and after Qingming. In the era of artificial planting, cotton was planted by point, and three or four seeds were sown in each nest; About ten days later, cotton seeds germinate; Enter the seedling stage.

During the seedling period of more than one month, seedlings should be raised and fixed; At the same time, water, loosen the soil, weed and prevent insects.

When the cotton plant grows the first flower, it is the bud stage. The bud stage of cotton also takes about one month, during which irrigation and pest control are mainly needed.

Then enter the flower and fruit period, also known as cotton boll period. Cotton bolls are shaped like DOG, and Guanzhong people call them "cotton bones".

When the cotton boll just grows out, the tender cotton core inside can be eaten, which is sweet and nutritious. Therefore, there are many pests and diseases in cotton boll stage.

The work in cotton boll stage is mainly to prevent and control pests and diseases, and the use of pesticides is particularly diligent.

Early pesticides were very toxic. Therefore, in the case of cotton pest control and pesticides, there have been cases of poisoning and poisoning. Occasionally, children who steal cotton bones are poisoned and poisoned.

The flowers of cotton are very bright in the flowering and fruiting period; White, yellow and red are common.

The flowering and fruiting period of Guanzhong cotton is about two months. After the flowers wither, what remains is the fruit, which is the fruiting period. The elder of cotton boll fruit, after cracking the fruit, reveals cotton wool and enters the boll throwing period.

Cotton peaches are about to be harvested, and there is relatively no complicated labor. In the Yellow River basin, the cotton boll-opening period is about two months, just like the flowering and fruiting period.

About early winter, cotton was harvested.

During the cotton growing period, after about five months in spring, summer, autumn and winter, there are also many pests and diseases, which are technically difficult and can be regarded as a relatively laborious cash crop.

Third, cotton picking, ginning and beating

Cotton picking, also known as cotton picking, was carried out around beginning of winter. If the weather is fine on holidays, older students can also take part in labor picking; The production team will record the working points according to the weight.

Picking cotton is relatively simple. There is a bamboo basket slung on the arm and wrist, and cotton tidbits are taken out of the cotton boll shell and put into the basket. Pick up the first thread and pour it into the cotton bag.

Early cotton bags were made of white cotton cloth; Later, plastic silk similar to snakeskin was woven into large pockets.

The cotton first picked from the field is called seed cotton. The seed cotton is transported back for drying; On the wooden frame more than one meter high, there are wide bamboo books; Spreading the seed cotton to dry; The bamboo books on the wooden frame are ventilated up and down, and the seed cotton can be dried in two or three days.

Sun-dried seed cotton, then packed in cotton bags, and pulled down to the market town by carriage to remove seeds; This is called ginning.

In larger market towns, there are workshops specializing in cotton ginning; After rolling cotton, beat cotton again. Play cotton twice, the first time is called rough play; The second time is called projectile.

Seedless cotton is called lint when it is bounced twice; You can weave first, and then knit.

The cottonseed rolled from cotton can be used to extract oil. The cotton ginning areas in market towns are generally continuous cotton beating and oil extraction workshops, all of which are assembly line operations.

As far as I can remember, cottonseed oil is not as delicious as vegetable oil, but slightly bitter. However, before rapeseed oil was popularized in mainland China, people in northern China ate more cottonseed oil or green sesame oil.

When electricity was not introduced to China, poor families could not afford to buy candles, but also used cottonseed oil to light lamps.

After picking up cotton stalks in the field, cut them down, take them home, dry them in the sun and burn firewood. Cotton stalks are very resistant to burning and the flame is very hard.

Cotton is full of treasures, as big as silkworms. They were born in this world, as if to provide warmth to the world, which is really the nature of nature.

4. Founder of cotton spinning industry: Huang Daopo.

Huang Daopo, also known as huangpo or Huang Mu; At the end of Song Dynasty and the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, she was a great folk female scientist, cotton weaver, hand-made textile technical reformer and inventor of textile tools.

Huang Daopo was born in poverty, equivalent to the legendary Guanyin Bodhisattva. Huang Daopo lived in exile all his life and went through hardships.

When she was a teenager, she was sold to a rich man as a child bride, worked in the fields during the day, spun and woven until late at night, and was abused by her in-laws and husband.

She couldn't stand the torture and fled at midnight; I hid on a seagoing ship by the Huangpu River and arrived at Yazhou, Hainan Island. From then on, she took Taoist temple as her home, studied under Sister Li, and learned to use cotton-making tools and Yazhou textile methods.

Thirty years later, Huang Daopo returned to his hometown of Songjiang. Cotton planting was popular in Songjiang area at that time. In Wunijing Town, Songjiang, she teaches people how to make cotton and popularize knitting techniques such as sweater, elastic device, spinning, weaving tools, staggered yarn color matching and heald weaving.

On the quilt towel she knitted, the calligraphy and painting were vivid.

Defend, that is, stir the car, commonly known as cotton gin; Playing is playing the cotton bow; Spinning, that is, spinning wheel; Weaving is a series of combined tools of loom. Wrong yarn color matching, that is, pre-woven cloth color matching; Heald weaving is a complex weaving technology to make patterns.

While teaching Li cotton spinning technology, Huang Daopo began to improve textile tools. After repeated experiments by woodworking technicians, she transformed the old single-spindle hemp spinning car into a three-spindle cotton spinning car, which greatly improved the labor efficiency.

The new spinning wheel invented by Huang Daopo was quickly accepted and popularized by local people. Then, relying on her own labor experience, she improved her textile technology. On the cotton fabric produced by Wunijing, all kinds of beautiful patterns are picturesque.

For a time, the reputation of Wunijing spread like wildfire, and the southeast coastal areas followed suit. The cotton textiles in Songjiang area are exported to all parts of the world and soon become the center of the national cotton textile industry. Local farmers weave tens of thousands of horses every day.

From18th century to19th century, the reputation of Songjiang cotton cloth spread far and wide, and it was exported to Europe and America.

Songjiang House's reputation of "clothes all over the world" embodies Huang Daopo's lifelong efforts. Drinking water is the source, clothes are warm and cotton is warm. Here, I would like to pay tribute to Ms. Huang Daopo, a great folk scientist in ancient China.

Five, Guanzhong hand spinning, weaving.

Cotton with good elasticity called lint can be spun. The first step of spinning: twisting. First, grab a handful of cotton and spread it on a flat and smooth board; Made of wood or plastic, more than a foot long, it looks like a drill for chopsticks. Cotton is rolled into twists and kept in a small pu basket.

Then, the cotton twist was spun into a spindle with a spinning wheel. The spindle stator is spindle-shaped.

The next process is to turn over the thread and wrap the ears. Turn the thread, turn the thread into a pile with a wooden crutch, and use it to warp.

In addition, it is necessary to wrap the ear core with wire brazing, which is called ear winding. When weaving, tassels must be placed in the shuttle slot as weft yarns. Wait a minute.

The weaving process of hand-woven fabrics is extremely complicated. There are 72 processes from cotton picking, spinning to loom weaving, including ginning, bouncing, spinning, threading, sizing, twisting, doffing, warping, brushing, heald making, drifting, heald drawing, lifting, cloth binding, weaving and lifting.

It is woven with coarse white cloth.

After dyeing, white coarse cloth can be cut and sewn into clothes. White coarse cloth is usually dyed black or blue, and the clothes sewn after cutting are hung with a layer inside, which is called a clip; Spring and autumn clothes.

Between the surface and the lining, cotton is filled, which is the winter cotton-padded jacket. Whether it is a jacket or a cotton-padded jacket, black coarse cloth is used as the surface and colored fine foreign cloth is used as the lining.

Cut the remaining pieces of cloth, paste them and stick them together layer by layer. This is called sipping. Twist it into a sole, and several layers are put on with needles of fine hemp rope, which is called whipping the sole. Generally, the upper is made of coarse black cloth, and the sole is put on to make cloth shoes.

If different colors of coarse cloth are woven, the pattern can be changed from 22 color lines to 1990 multi-color patterns. The artistic conception of the pattern depends on the interweaving of various color lines and is reflected by various geometric figures.

Through the repetition, parallelism, continuity, interval and contrast of abstract patterns, a unique rhythm and sense of rhythm are formed, which is full of the unique and simple charm of local art.

In the Fenghe Valley of Guanzhong, there are few women wearing gaudy coarse shirts of plain cotton textiles. Flower coarse cloth is mainly used to make cotton coarse cloth sheets, which is particularly comfortable to sleep and does not hurt the skin.

When young people get married, parents usually prepare several sets of coarse sheets for their children as wedding dowry.

In the late 1970s, rural women near the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Tourist Area in Lintong, Xi developed hand-woven coarse cloth into a characteristic industry, which was favored by foreign friends.

Today's clothing stores, all kinds of ready-made clothes are luxurious and exquisite, dazzling.

Nowadays, the hardships of dressing people are unimaginable. What is even more unimaginable is that during the famine years, food, clothing and labor were very difficult.

Chatting, Mulan is knitting at home. It is difficult to grow cotton. In the handicraft age, it was even more difficult for women in China to make clothes with textiles.

Whether weaving, making clothes or making sheets, there is a final process: beating cloth. Cao Xueqin's poem about the moon has a cloud:

The anvil knocks thousands of miles,

Half a round of chicken singing is even worse.

Anvil is a cushion stone for beating cloth. In order to make the cloth smooth, you need to beat it on the cloth hammer with a mallet.

In order to catch up with the progress, we must work all night. Here, I would like to pay high tribute to the ancient working women in China.

With regard to cotton picking, after the hard years of the 1950s and 1960s, a nursery rhyme was handed down:

Moon, white flowers,

I am picking cotton in the field.

Pick up cotton and give it to the country,

The country gave me grenades,

I got one after another,

Suxiu Dimei Railway Station.

The enemy called me a villain,

Bamboo mat says I am really capable.

My mother-in-law praised me for my kindness,

Scrambled eggs for me quickly

Qin Yundan: Guanzhong dialect, which means good boy.

In ancient China, hand-made flax and cotton textile industry and hand-made agriculture were already very hard. Handmade cotton textile industry, at least 1000 years. Judging from the meaning of this nursery rhyme, people think that the hard life is caused by Su Xiu and American imperialism.

Chronicle of Caocun Industry of Tang Dou Prodigal Son: Sang Ma Cotton