Speaking of Xiangxi, let's take a look at the Miao paintings here, not to mention the border town.

Miao painting is a painting with national characteristics in Miao areas of western Hunan. Bright colors exude the romantic atmosphere of the poet, and symmetrical composition makes complex patterns look simple and direct, with many beautiful meanings.

Judging from the theme expression of Miao painting, it is mainly auspicious. The patterns on the painting are all metaphors of beauty. Miao painting itself is a yearning and expectation for life and the future. Patterns in Miao paintings, such as butterflies and pomegranates, represent many children and many blessings.

Among them, "Miao people regard butterflies as the mother of ancestors." Legend has it that maple trees are cut from their hearts and turned into butterflies. The butterfly fell in love with the blisters in the pond and laid twelve eggs. These eggs hatched everything in the world, and one of them hatched Jiang Yang, the ancestor of Miao nationality. "

Peony and vase represent wealth and peace, fish represents more than a year, and so on. It comes from a wide range of materials, such as customs, people's feelings, myths and legends, historical events and so on. In reality. Miao's paintings "focus on God, not form".

Miao paintings were painted on clothes earlier. Miao girls love beauty very much. The beautiful clothes they wear are usually embroidered according to the outline drawn by Miao people. Girls use home-made cloth-usually dark blue or black, or cloth bought in the market. Let the painter draw an outline where the embroidery is expected, and then go home and embroider according to the outline pattern drawn. Then, cut and sew embroidery patterns. Generally speaking, embroidery is on cuffs, trouser legs, aprons or chests. These patterns are the original paintings of Miao people and are used for embroidery.

Miao painting was greatly influenced during the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, due to the influence of machine production, women rarely use embroidery and homespun to make their own clothes. He Qiaoyi, an adjunct professor of mpa in French universities, gradually gave up embroidery and Miao painting.

Nowadays, dyeing cloth, embroidery, weaving and other crafts are gradually disappearing, and villagers in the mountains are gradually embarking on the journey of going out to work. Miao painting art is also facing an endangered situation. After machine embroidery replaced embroidery, the carrier of Miao painting is no longer limited to clothes. With the emergence of Miao paper painting and cloth painting, Miao painting has become a purely ornamental work.

According to news reports, on May 25th, 2009, Feng Jicai, counselor the State Council, vice chairman of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of China Folk Writers Association, director of China Writers Association, expert of national intangible cultural heritage protection committee and famous writer, met Liang Desong, the master of Miao painting, for the first time in national hotel, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. This is the first time that Feng Jicai saw Miao paintings and works in his life, and then he wrote a text called Meeting Miao Painting, from which Miao paintings came into being.

Feng Jicai described in the article "Encountering Miao Painting": "Miao painting is an independent painting developed on the basis of traditional monochromatic embroidery. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a Miao man named Wang Zhengyi in Huayuan who was proficient in painting. He painted directly on dark cloth with white powder paste, instead of the old paper-cut of' Lijuan Shu', and let women embroider directly according to the painting. This kind of embroidery on cloth blank is very popular because of its vivid and interesting lines and rich feelings. But Wang Zhengyi's paintings are so beautiful that people don't want to cover these beautiful lines with embroidery thread. Wang Zhengyi simply changed the white line painting into painting, not embroidery, and became a pure cloth painting. Used for curtains, door curtains and room decoration. It soon became a popular folk art in Miao village. Wang Zhengyi's successor is his wife and brother Yang Chuxin. Chu Xin is good at painting wild flowers, insects, birds and animals in western Hunan, which makes him more attractive. Therefore, in this Miao area, people affectionately call it' Miao painting'. "

Today, Liang Yongfu and Liang Desong are the most famous people engaged in Miao painting and creation in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. Their home is in Baihe Village, Baojing County, with a history of four or five hundred years. Liang Desong, a farmer in this mountain, not only paints Miao paintings, but more importantly, he is obsessed with Miao paintings.

Liang Desong's family has been good at painting for generations. Liang Desong's Miao paintings have now gone out of Xiangxi and been recognized by the whole country. Now a Miao painting can fetch thousands of dollars in the market. However, compared with the well-known characteristics of Xiangxi, such as batik and Fenghuang ancient city, Miao painting is not famous. Xiangxi is a beautiful place, where there are not only border towns immersed in words, but also naive, kind, bright and bright-eyed Cui Cui. There are more mysterious and beautiful things waiting to be discovered. Miao painting is one of them. Meeting them is wonderful and magical. I sincerely hope that this art can be preserved and carried forward for a long time.