00:00In the small township of Fenglin, near Taiwan's east coast, people are reclaiming a century-old heritage of making cloth by hand.
00:08Spurring the movement is Li Mei Ling, a lover of textiles and weaving.
00:12At first, Li's interest was in the rich, living traditions of indigenous handicrafts native to this part of Taiwan.
00:18But gradually, she started asking herself whether her own ancestors, the Haka people, who migrated here later on, had their own weaving traditions.
00:27What would her own great-grandparents have worn?
00:29Over a decade of research on historic garments later, she now has a good idea.
00:46Haka weaving, as she's found out, tends to be subtle and plain, with patterns mostly relegated to the edges of clothes.
00:53With survival most people's prime concern, only the wealthy could splurge on fancier items like these.
00:58But what decoration there is, is elegant, restrained, and painstaking.
01:04This 20-centimeter strip of decoration took three days to weave.
01:09And it isn't simple.
01:10It's been so long since people wove these motifs by hand that Li and her team have had to use an app to help analyze how it would have been done.
01:17Meanwhile, they've also had to get familiar with a range of plant dyes, how to make them, and how to get it so the thread takes the right shade.
01:26These days, Li and partners have a community workshop that teaches Haka weaving, especially to people in retirement.
01:33Though the average age of the learners here is around 80, even they don't remember a time when this kind of clothing was commonplace.
01:39But they long wanted to do more to document and promote the style, and now they have.
01:57Since 2020, Li's been collecting Haka patterns for decorating women's clothing.
02:02And she has now put them together into a book, with other tidbits of Haka culture and language mixed in.
02:08The 12 types of historic motifs featured in the book include floral, bird, nature, and even text-based designs, all recreated with modern tools.
02:17Local Haka weavers have showcased the craft in London, with a special appearance at the 2023 London Craft Week.
02:42And back in the community, too, they have plans to bring back not just weaving, but more a way of life,
02:49by reintroducing the cotton plants used to make the thread and more.
02:52In the community, we built a kind of exhibition, like a festival, to show us, and to show us some products.
03:03We also have to make some products.
03:05We always put it on the table and tell us, we have to make some products.
03:10The aim is a full chain of education and experience, so that this renewed form of weaving, once again, becomes a part of this community's everyday life.
03:20Devin Tsai and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
03:22Devin Tsai and John Van Trieste for Taiwan means a part of this community is realized in life.
