It is very common to see low-lying wooden beds along two or three sides of the walls. On these beds are generally 10-cm-thick woolen or straw mattresses, covered with kardian cushions. These are used to sit on during the day and sleep on at night.

In summer, when people visit lingka woods, they take the cushions with them to sit on.

Comparatively rich families add a rug on top of the kardian cushions partly to protect them but also to show respect to visitors. In ancient times, when people on the upper echelon met, they would be provided with layers of cushions to sit on; the more kardian cushions one sat on, the higher the official rank.



Tibetan carpets refer to kardian cushions, carpets, cushion covers, sitting cushions and tapestries. Horse saddle mats and ornaments on the forehead of large domestic animals also belong to the category of carpets. The bright and delicately designed Tibetan carpets are woven with Tibetan wool that features long filaments, moderate softness and good elasticity. Tibetan carpets constitute one of the three best in the world. As the major component, Kardian cushions have become indispensable to Tibetans, who consider those from Gyangze to be the best.

Kardian cushion refers to Zoinsi silk texture. A traditional kardian measures about six feet long and three feet wide. They are made and sold in pairs. There are various types according to texture, such as Zoinsi, Chibugyie and Wangdain Zoinsi silk. Kardian cushions originated from the latter and they speak well for Tibetan taste in weaving styles, colors and designs.

There are plentiful designs for kardian cushions in the Xigaze area. In addition to those such as the traditional dragon, phoenix, red-crowned crane, flowers, trees, clouds, sea, city walls, stylish patterns have been developed to cope with market demand.



The traditional dyestuff used to dye kardian cushions includes plants, mineral ores and colored clay. Some were dyed using chemical dyestuffs imported from India or Nepal. Today, those from inland China as well as abroad are widely used in Gyanze and Xigaze; and some factories still follow the traditional way in printing and dyeing.

The basic colors used to be blue, green, yellow, red, purple, golden yellow, white, brown and black.

Blue: A blue mineral ore produced in Renbo County gives this effect. When powdered, it becomes a kind of dyeing stuff. Such powder will be used together with acidic, coke-like grayish black earth, also from Renbo County. They are put together and stir-mixed in a dyeing pool. When you soak yarns in the pool for more than a day, they will turn blue, the longer the yarns stay soaked in the pool, the darker the color.

A kind of dyestuff that is as hard as stone is imported from India. When used, it has to be soaked in clean water before it is ground into paste. The paste will be added with water of 50 centigrade, and stir-mixed. Yarns are dyed for five minutes for mild blue; and for half an hour to become dark blue.

Yellow: Plants such as golden cypress, Chinese catalpa seeds and rheum officinale are all dyes producing yellow color. Rheum officinale is most often used. You may get light yellow with its leaf, dark yellow out of the root, and even rust red with a special kind of the plant.

Green: Blue yarns are dyed using yellow leaves for green color, but the green color looked like the color of dried green vegetables. If dark yellow leaves are used, the yarns display an autumn greenish hue.

The design of the Xigaze Kardian cushions falls into five categories: Gyangze Kardian Type, Dragon-Phoenix Type, Full Range Type, City Walls Type and Garxoiba Type.

Gyangze Kardian Type: This refers to patterns of waves looking like lotus twisting around branches, as seen in silk satins.

Dragon-Phoenix Type: This refers to kardian cushions woven with patterns of dragons and phoenix. It is classified according to specific patterns including patterns of Two Dragons Playing a Pearl, Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix, Dragon in Clouds, Dragons in the Sea, Two Dragons Chasing after a Phoenix, and Phoenix and Peonies. Most of these patterns were copied from those found in silk satins. They followed a set rule, with what was woven in the patterns composed of two similar parts facing each other or back to back.

Full Range Type: It has evolved from various sources, including some from the embroidery design of Tibetan boots, some from the ancient inland China embroidery on clothing, some from Tibetan building ornaments, some even from Indian silk and brocade.

City Walls Type: This refers to the design in T shape frames, and it is so named since it looks very much like city walls. Four patterns of such frames are common to see: boxes with elegant patterns such as the Eight Immortals, the Seven Treasures of the King or a mixture of different patterns; the pattern of waves; the pattern of flowers and grass; pattern of Eight immortals, and the pattern of Eight Treasures or Seven Treasures.

Garxoiba Type: Garxoiba Qoigyi Nyima, a noble in Gyangze, used to be a Galoon official with the local government of Tibet. He showed great interest in kardian designs. He learned from inland China embroidery designs for clothes, such as big flowers and large branches and created a new design for the kardian cushion closely related to the colorful flower patterns fashionable in inland China and was very much liked by Tibetan people.

In the old days, people worked on a simple wooden loom against the wall to make kardian. Today, it is very rare to see. Even with the small, simple workshops of the self-employed, who have to move from time to time, steel looms are in place.

Source: China's Tibet Magazine