Chinese Knotting

Chinese Knotting

At the beginning, the practice of tying knots proceeded from production and daily life needs. The typing of knots was a laboring skill, such as in tying objects and weaving fishing nets; meanwhile, it was a method for assisting memory. Before the invention of characters or letters, people represent different things using knots of varying sizes and shapes.

The well-developed knotting skills of ancient China were directly related to the extensive use of knots in people's daily life. Traditional Chinese costumes are mainly tied with belts and the wearing of jade ornaments has been popular in the Chinese society; these two have also help to improve the development of knotting skills. In addition, many articles of everyday use, such as window curtains, bed curtains, flutes, sachets, tobacco bags and fans, have to be fixed or decorated with knots, or kept contained with knots. Therefore, Chinese knotting was an important skill that Chinese women required to grasp in ancient times, and some related customs were even formed. For example, before Duanwu Festival, women knitted many 'longevity plaits' with five-coloured threads and presented them to relatives and friends on the Festival. It is said that such plaits tied to one's wrists could prevent wicked things and diseases.

Chinese knotting is different from the knotting methods of other ethnic groups mainly in the following aspects:-

• Chinese knots are woven with one single strand
• Tight and complicated in structure
• Do not become loose easily
• Very practical in use
• Symmetrical with both left and right sides and front and 
• Symmetrical with both front and reverse sides
• Confirming to the traditional Chinese habit and aesthetic view of decoration
• Weaving methods of many basic knots can be combined together to indicate strong changeability and decorative

Chinese knots have a wide range of patterns, including true love knots, panchang knots, wanzi knots and wintersweet knots. These patterns are not only exquisite and beautiful, but also carry auspicious and celebrative meanings. One example is true love knots which use two coloured strands tangled together. In the weedings of ancient times, true love knots were used in many ceremonies between bride and bridegroom. True love knots are often used to express love. It said that Su Xiaoxiao, a beauty of the Qi Dynasty (479-502 AD), once came across a man and fell in love with him while taking a ride outdoors. She wrote a poem to express her eelings, writing "Where to make our truelove knots? "

In the 1980s and 1990s, Chinese knots were in vogue both in China and among overseas Chinese, thus becoming craft works full of the characteristics of Chinese culture.