Interpreting and semantically describing Chinese traditional brocade: Xilankapu
| Date | 03 June 2019 |
| Published date | 03 June 2019 |
| Pages | 474-489 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-09-2018-0193 |
| Author | Xiufeng Cheng,Jinqing Yang,Ling Jiang,Anlei Hu |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Interpreting and semantically
describing Chinese traditional
brocade: Xilankapu
Xiufeng Cheng,Jinqing Yang,Ling Jiang and Anlei Hu
School of Information Management, Central China Normal University,
Wuhan, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to introduce an interpreting schema and semantic description
framework for a collection of images of Xilankapu, a traditional Chinese form of embroidered fabric and
brocade artwork.
Design/methodology/approach –First, the authors interpretthe artwork of Xilankapu through Gillian
Rose’s“four site”theory by presenting how the brocades were made, how the patterns of Xilankapu are
classified and the geometrical abstraction of visual images. To further describe the images of this type of
brocade, this paperpresents semantic descriptions that include objective–non-objective relationsand a multi-
layered semantic framework. Furthermore, the authors developed corresponding methods for scanning,
storageand indexing images for retrieval.
Findings –As exploratory research on describing, preserving and indexing images of Xilankapu in the
context of the preservationof cultural heritage, the authors collected 1,000þimagesof traditional Xilankapu,
classifying and storing some of the images in a database. Theydeveloped an index schema that combines
concept- and content-based approaches according to the proposed semantic description framework. They
found that the framework can describe, store and preserve semantic and non-semantic information of the
same image. They relatethe findings of this paper to future research directions for the digital preservationof
traditionalcultural heritages.
Research limitations/implications –The framework has beendesigned especially for brocade, and it
needs to be extendedto other types of cultural image.
Originality/value –The semantic descriptionframework can describe connotative semantic information
on Xilankapu. It can also assist the laterinformation retrieval work in organizing implicit information about
culturallyrelated visual materials.
Keywords Digital cultural heritage, Annotation, Brocade, Semantic description
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In relation to image retrieval, various methods and techniques have been proposed for
annotating and describing the explicit and implicit information about an image. There are
two main categories of image retrieval:“content-based”image retrieval (Lew et al., 2006) and
“concept-based”image retrieval(Azzam et al., 2004;Azzam et al., 2005). The former focuses
on the visual features of an image, whereas the latter focuses on using text to retrieve
images (Leung and Luo, 2013). Different visualobjects require different describing schema.
For a picture of landscape, the preferenceis to record its size, colors and textures, but for an
This study is funded by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
Number 71503097) and supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(Number CCNU18TS039).
EL
37,3
474
Received30 September 2018
Revised11 January 2019
Accepted4 February 2019
TheElectronic Library
Vol.37 No. 3, 2019
pp. 474-489
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-09-2018-0193
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
oil painting, it is preferable to understand the semantic meanings, such as the story of the
painter, as well as the significanceof the characters and objects it depicts.
However, few researchers havecombined these two schemas to describe the same object.
In some cases, it is time-consuming to store and extract semantic content automatically
(Sill, 2005). Therefore, a method for an effective multi-schema description with manual
indexing is required for an image retrieval system, especially with images that have
complicated visual patterns and abundantsemantic information. Furthermore, in relation to
cultural heritage, many images(especially those using traditional materials and techniques)
are significant and valuable examples of human wisdom and creativity, record the
development of human civilization and convey a diverse cultural memory. Frescos and
historical paintings,for example, often bring implicit information to the audiencebeyond the
image content itself. Some scholars have focused on organizing metadata schemas that
annotate series of cultural images to fix the semantic gap between an image’s quantifiable
features and its semantic content(Chen, 2014;Xu and Wang, 2015;Ye and Zhou, 2013).
However, there are no specialized frameworks or description schemas for brocade.
Xilankapu (西兰卡普) is a representative form of Chinese brocade and part of China’s
cultural heritage. It is a traditional textile artifact made by the Tujia people (and, hence, is
also known as Tujia cotton or Tuhuapugai), the eighth largest ethnic minority in China; in
the Tujia language, Xilan means “blanket”andKapu means “flower”. According to a Tujia
legend that still circulatestoday, the first Xilankapu memorialized a beautiful and ingenious
girl who wanted to make the prettiest brocade from ginkgo flowers, but who was falsely
accused of a love affair by her jealous sisters and subsequently beaten to death by the
patriarch (Xiang and Sun, 2005).This ancient story indicates the long heritage of Xilankapu:
modern archaeologists estimatethat it is one of the oldest colorful brocades in China with a
history of more than 3,000 years. The ancientrecord of Hou Hanshu (The Book of the Later
Han), which was written in the first century CE (Zhu, 1994), records the color and usageof
Xilankapu. Overall, Xilankapu occupies a unique and important position in the history of
Chinese textile craftsfor its rich patterns and history.
This paper aims first to interpret Xilanpaku images based on the cultural visualization
theory of Gillian Rose (2012), then proposesa multi-layered semantic description framework
that combines both visual pattern analysisand semantic annotations, before discussing the
granularity and effectivenessof this framework for later indexing and retrieval work.
Related work
In the area of visual culture and methodology, many scholars have proposed models and
frameworks for interpreting images (Bryson, 1991;Davis, 2011;Mosher, 2003), particularly
paintings, that consider technological and social practices of image production as well as
their circulation and audience. Evans and Hall (1999) compiled a selection of key texts that
have contributed to the field of visual culture, and Rose (2012)proposed an extensive image
interpreting theory with a framework for exploring the diverse range of methods that
scholars working with visualmaterials can use.
Image description and annotationcan be classified into three major streams: research on
metadata standards and their interoperability (García et al., 2008), content-based image
retrieval (CBIR) (Lei et al.,1999) and semantic description (Li et al., 2012). The first stream
concerns the organization and operation of metadata frameworks. Currently, there are
several developed metadata frameworks or standards that have successfully been adopted
for image preservation and sharing,including EXIF, DC and SVG (Wijesundara et al.,2017).
However, these standards are often consideredto be primarily designed for the organization
of large bodies of information, and they lack the necessary specifications for describing
Chinese
traditional
brocade
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