I am just back from a trip to Hainan island, where I managed to find some Meifu Li weavers making ikat (there are not many these days!). I will send some more detailed notes on the process to Pamela later, but thought I would post some brief information here.
These weavers are in the ChangJiang area of southwestern Hainan, just to the north of the DaGuangBa reservoir (many were resettled when the dam was built). There is a small government-sponsored workshop in DongHeZhen (东河镇), and the weaver Fu Bai Ma Ding (mentioned by Andrew Wang in the post on Li minority blankets
http://www.tribaltextiles.info/community/viewtopic.php?t=1539) is about half an hour's drive away along a dirt track in XiFangCun (西方村). In both places the weavers were very welcoming. There is not much for sale (mostly items are made to order) but the weavers are very happy to explain the process. No English is spoken but most people can communicate in Mandarin Chinese, except for the elderly who only speak local dialects.
In case anyone looking at these photos thinks this is a rural paradise full of local costume I will have to disappoint on that score, the weavers kindly put on their local dress for the pictures, but are more likely to hang out in jeans and tracksuits at other times! Traditional dress is pretty much restricted to festivals, apart from a few of the very old people (70 years and up).
The first two photos are of weaver Fu Qing Shang tying ikat before dyeing, and then weaving the finished cloth, which would traditionally be a band for an ikat skirt but in this case is a presentation sash ordered by the local govt! The last photo is of Fu Bai Ma Ding and a neighbor in XiFangCun, wearing local dress, including blue-and-white headscarves.