Straw plaiting

[2] The plaiting of straw in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire formerly gave employment to many thousands of women and young children; but this had largely ended by the beginning of the 20th century: the number of English plaiters, all told, was not more than a few hundreds in 1907, as compared with 30,000 in 1871.

The straw of certain varieties of wheat cultivated in that region is, in favourable seasons, possessed of a fine bright colour, tenacity and strength.

The pipes are assorted into sizes by passing them through graduated openings in a grilled wire frame, and those of good color are bleached by the fumes of sulphur.

[5] The English industry was eventually wiped out by free trade from 1860 which allowed imports of plait from Italy and later China and Japan at a much lower competitive price.

When the grain in the ear is about half developed the straw is pulled up by the roots, dried in the sun, and subsequently spread out for several successive days to be bleached under the influence of alternate sunlight and night-dews.

These pipes are made up in small bundles, bleached in sulfur fumes in a closed chest; assorted into sizes, and so prepared for the plaiters.

With the gradual expansion of Xu Xing's influence and the continuous improvement of artistic connotation such as the dove of peace slippers designed and woven by Li Yueqin and the continuous efforts of preserving this unique type of folk art by the honorable straw plaiting artist Xu Xing, in 1994, the town of XuHang was named the "Hometown of Chinese Folk Art" by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China.

Today, visitors from all over the world travel to the town of Xuhang in Jiading of Shanghai to visit a local museum to relive the ancient history of how Xuhang straw was planted, harvested, processed and turned into beautiful functional art work featuring this unique form of world folk art.