Adlis silk of Uygur Ethnic Group

In each spring and summer, all the Uygur women in Xinjiang like wearing a kind of dress that is made of Adlis silk. The patterns of silk are black-and-white, or red-and-green, and are particularly attractive. The people of the Uygur nationality are proud of this unique colored silk, and call it as “yubofu nengkanati guli” affectionately, which means the crukoo swing flower. 

“Adlis” means the painted silk. What it applies is the old painting technology of our country. According to the requirements of patterns, it firstly binds the yarn together, then paint color, collate them and weave the silk according to different layers. During the painting process, the edge of patterns is permeated with painting water, and forms the color and luster from light to deep, and presents the patterns that are different in width and look like tree branch and water ripple. Some people believe that it may has relationship with the ancient Uygur people’s religious consciousness of belief in Shamanism and worship of tree god and water god.

The Adlis silk of the Uygur nationality is divided into two styles for the difference of production places. One type is the Adlis silk in Hetian and Luofu, its main colors are black and white, it is with black bottom and white flowers, or white bottom and black flowers, or the red-and-white, blue-and-white and black-and-white bottoms with small slices in gold yellow, sapphire blue, jade green and orange to decorate between them. The color is simple and lively, the arrangement is tasteful, and the patterns are unconstrained and bold, and full of changes, the pattern of each cloth has its own characteristics, and few of them is similar. The other type is the Adlis silk in Kashi and Shache, and is famous for its bright and beautiful color. It generally mutually arranges the pink, pinkish yellow, jade green, sapphire blue, pale purple, purplish red, black and white, etc, and makes up parallel rows that are different in width, the structure is fine and close and is decorated with patterns in picturesque disorder. Because of the role of sharp color contrast, it looks colorful and dazzling, and brings a kind of warm, lively and happy atmosphere to people. 

With the production development and social progress, the manufacturing of Adlis silk has not been traditional manual labor any longer by now. The modernized textile technology has increased many novel styles to the Adlis silk and is decorating people’s life with more splendid color.