Natural, Huocaoma cloth has good warm-keeping effect

In the textile history of China, Huocaoma cloth made by people from central Yunnan’s Nanhua County is rare and important.

People of Nanhua County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province can weave Huocaoma (fire weed and linen) cloth which is made of natural materials. With a history of about 500 years, the weaving technology has been passed down for generations. It’s also a rare spinning technique in China’s textile history. 

The cloth is a plant fiber material which combines the warm-keeping effect of fire weed and the suppleness of linen.

Fire weed lives in bushes with an elevation from 1,800 to 2,600 meters above the sea level. Small leaves of them are used to make fire while big ones are the material for weaving cloth. From every June to August, local villagers in Nanhua go into mountains to collect fire weed and entwist them into strings. 

It takes 15 hours to weave a bolt of Huocaoma cloth seven meters long and 23 centimeters wide. It is in faint yellow and with good warm-keeping effect. 

Editor: John Li