Jiama

By Lily Liu (Gallatin BA ’22)

View of a road with shops on the sides and mountain in far — View of Dali

Colorful papers in a basket. — Sorted Jiama Paper

Colorful squares of paper with the same image of a man. — Samples of Jiama Paper Stuck onto a Calendar

A square red paper on a desk. — Printed Jiama Paper

Three buckets in the dark — Overlook of the Dye Vats

A dyed paper on a wooden wall — Old Jiama Paper on a Dye Vat

A hand is dying paper — Natural Plant-Based Dyes

A man buying paper — Buying Jiama Paper from a seller in Jianchuan

A corner with two red paper on the wall and some decoration on the table — Jiama Paper in a Modern Desert Shop

Black and white paper on a wall — Jiama Paper on the Wall 2

Colorful paper on a red wall — Jiama Paper on the Wall 1

A finished dyed red paper with a image of two men and a bridge. — Jiama stuck onto a Dye Vat

Jiama is a kind of religious woodcut prints, either on paper or on pieces of clothes, that people use to communicate with the gods in the hope of getting what they wish for. Jiama paper of the Bai nation combines deities from Buddhism, Taosim, and Bai indigenous beliefs (usually Benzhu). The format of Jiama is, or rather was, prevalent among the territories of China. During the cultural revolution, Jiama was labeled as “Fengjian Mixin” (封建迷信), and therefore formally banned. But some artists preserved the woodcuts; in other cases, the woodcut templates are destroyed but the Jiama prints are preserved, and when the upheavals are over, people use these prints to recreate the original woodcuts.

When exactly Jiama is first widely used among the Bai nation is a controversial topic. Most people maintain that it was introduced around the Tang Dynasty and has been around since then, while some scholars argue that Jiama has been around ever since the Han-Jin period. What both groups agree on, is the fact that Jiama was definitely around since the Ming Dynasty, when Han people, the cultural majority today, colonized Yunnan area.

Share this post: