Operating the traditional wooden loom requires the collaboration of two artisans. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Among China's myriad forms of silk products, one of them — yunjin — remained shrouded in mystery for more than a millennium. Historically reserved exclusively for imperial use, its intricate techniques were passed down from generation to generation within the family lineages of select artisans.
Ancient Chinese granted it a name befitting its sublime nature, yun meaning clouds and jin meaning brocade. Just like clouds in the sky, the fabric has an iridescent sheen owing to its unique weaving technique and refined raw material.
With the dedication of generations of artisans, who sit at the gigantic weaving looms for hours on end, their fingers dancing among the intricate threads, the craftsmanship of yunjin brocade has been preserved, so that today, its beauty can still be appreciated in all its splendor.
Zhou Shuangxi, a national-level inheritor of the yunjin brocade weaving technique, is one of them.
Having devoted the past five decades to yunjin production, he has honed his expertise to the point where he can both replicate the antique imperial dragon robes in all their minutiae, and also skillfully represent other art forms such as replicating the painting Mona Lisa.
However, Zhou recalls that before he entered the Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, he had no idea what yunjin even was. Back in 1973, he graduated from a mining school, and was selected to become an apprentice of the craft at the institute, probably because it looked like he was "in good shape".
Zhou, along with around five other apprentices, faced a bleak picture at that time, with only several masters in their 70s and not even a loom at their disposal.
"The old masters eventually remembered that there was a loom stored away somewhere. When we opened the storehouse door, what I saw seemed like a pile of firewood. We assembled it into a loom 3 to 4 meters tall, and I finally saw for the first time what a traditional yunjin loom looked like," Zhou recalls.
The teachers were masters of the craft, and they taught the apprentices the traditional methods, from handling the fragile threads to using mnemonic rhymes to help them acquire the technique.
"It was difficult, but in a different way from mining. Mining requires heavy physical labor, but working with the soft and thin silk requires patience. My hands were calloused from mining, so I used to soak my hands in warm water whenever I could, so that they could become softer and make it easier to reel the silk," he says.
Out of the six or so apprentices, Zhou is the only one who has persevered in the trade until this day. He participated in 1983 in the replication of an antique dragon robe unearthed from the Dingling Mausoleum in Beijing, and since then has continued to work on significant projects to replicate cultural relics.
"I am lucky to be in such a good era. All of my teachers were top-notch craftsmen and I was granted governmental funding to learn the technique. I now have the honor of being a representative inheritor," Zhou says.
Craft center
The origin of yunjin can be traced to the late Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), when general Liu Yu defeated the Later Qin kingdom and brought the kingdom's craftsmen from Chang'an (the present day Xi'an in Shaanxi province) to the then capital Nanjing. The majority of these craftsmen were brocade artisans.
In 417, a governmental institution specially administering brocade production was set up in Nanjing, marking the advent of Nanjing yunjin brocade.
Nanjing is believed to be especially conducive for silk manufacturing, as it is commonly said that the water of the city's Qinhuai River is rich in tannic acid, a substance that facilitates the process of dyeing.
In the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (1271-1911), the brocade weaving techniques reached their pinnacle.
The influence of the craft on Nanjing is evident. Many places in the city are named after silk manufacturing processes, and in China's literary classic Dream of the Red Chamber, written by Nanjing-born novelist Cao Xueqin, yunjin garments are frequently mentioned.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country continued to place special emphasis on preserving and passing down the brocade weaving technique, establishing the Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute in 1957.
Earlier this century, the institute set up the Nanjing Yunjin Museum, as the only professional museum in China dedicated to the display of the brocade, including its history, weaving technique, culture and contemporary artworks.
And now, with the support of technology and research conducted by the institute, yunjin craftsmanship and teaching are increasingly efficient and effective. In 2009, the craftsmanship of Nanjing yunjin brocade was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Chen Cheng, a young artisan at the institute, introduces the three primary applications of the fabric in ancient times — royal attire, particularly the dragon robes worn by emperors; decoration, adorning walls and chairs at palaces; as well as at religious and ceremonial settings.
Its esteemed status and unique historical role are key factors that set this silk production technique apart from others, according to Chen.
"China's silk craftsmanship has continuously evolved and progressed with the times, and within its vast history, yunjin represents a milestone where the technique reached a level of maturity," he says.
He draws an analogy between the yunjin manufacturing process and binary coding. After transcribing and amplifying the patterns onto a piece of grid paper, the artisans then arrange the warps and wefts, so as to create a draft of the textile to be woven.
As for the following weaving process, operating the gigantic wooden loom requires the collaboration of two artisans, one sitting at the top pulling the strings and informing the weavers of the patterns, and the weaver passing a shuttle over and under the alternating warps.
While the pattern designs usually symbolize goodwill and blessings, such as dragons, clouds and peonies, the weavers can freely change the colors of the patterns according to their tastes and judgment.
Contemporary appeal
Because of the intricacies of the weaving procedure and the delicacy of the raw material, including gold and silver foiled threads, the weaving process still cannot be fully replaced by machines. For a day of eight hours, two artisans can only weave 5 to 6 centimeters, hence the saying "an inch of brocade is worth an inch of gold".
For such a luxurious material, it is a marvel that its artisanal production technique has been preserved, but the institute goes even further with the vision to bridge the gap between traditional and the modern and introduce it into contemporary lifestyle.
"A concept our institute always upholds is'to make art more lively and life more artistic'," says Sun Yugang, director of the institute's product design department.
"It involves developing artistic works or functional products that are suited to the modern lifestyle, so that the general public today has access to, and can appreciate, the centuries-old craftsmanship that was once exclusively for royalty."
The institute has been working on developing innovative merchandise that captures the essence of the material and yet brings the technique closer to the modern lifestyle, from the high-end couture and hanfu (traditional Chinese attire), to memorabilia popular among the museum's visitors, such as brooches and scarves.
"Our creative products are an authentic embodiment of the time-honored tradition of yunjin craftsmanship. They are history that can be touched and appreciated, with genuine heritage woven into the very fibers," Sun says.
