Two Cities Tale - Five Centuries Of Silk Sentiment

    I led the ISU delegation to Como visited Italy Silk Office On July 25 which also is increasingly international more frequent exchanges in silk industry inrecent years. Since China Hang Zhou and Italy Como signed the Silk Promotion Alliance Agreement in 2012, every time communication deepened the understanding of each other. I had an epiphanythis time that the silk sentiment betweenHang Zhou and Como, West Lake and Como Lake has been last for five centuries.The two cities still as the world's two most important cities in silk industryalso set off the unripe brightness of two lakes.

    We travel by car around the beautiful Como Lake with water wave billow. Como Lake is finelong and to be the most famous lakes in Italy, also has one third partstretched to Switzerland. On the lake sides, there are located the rich starsand dignitaries villas, one of the villas adjacent to the lake is Ratti Fund Silk Museum.

      In 1985, Ratti silk company founder Mr. Ratti created this private silkmuseum. Mr. Ratti hence began to search for silk collection in global. He found more than one thousand precious cultural relics of the silk fabrics andclothing more than 3500 pieces in France, Italy, China, Netherlands, India andother countries around the world. The museum open to the public free of chargein 1998. When we arrived at the silk museum, the curator Ms. Francina Chiarawarmly received us.

     The enthusiasm of the female curator camefrom the yearning on the China National Silk Museum close to West Lake in HangZhou. She found the book named “China Silk” wrote by China National Silk Museumcurator Mr. Feng Zhao in English version from the silk books on the shelf,while I found Italian silk experts Ms. Chiara Buss's works. I told the female curator that we had translated this book into Chinese version with the name of“The Golden Red Silk—Italy Rumba Luxury And Devotion" in 2013.

    The enthusiasm of the female curator showed not only on the warmly gushing interpretation but also incredibly let us into the storehouse with constant temperature and humidity requirements on where showed us the old Chinese silk treasures. We saw the yarn-dyed jacquard velvet fabric in Ming dynasty, dragon silk shawls in Qing dynasty, figure out by the European with Chinese hand-painted silk clothing and fusion the Dutch and Chinese elements ofthe silk pattern... So the Chinese silk relics dating back 500 years which all difficult to see in the China National Silk Museum has been quiet to sleep on the shores of Como Lake.

         the yarn-dyed jacquard velvet fabric in Ming dynasty

dragon silk shawls in Qing dynasty

figure out by the European with Chinese hand-painted silk clothing 

    With a curious and devotion about Ratti Fund Silk Museum founder, wevisited Italy's most famous silk company located in Como. Factory which builtin 1945 shocked us for its advanced design which full of fashionable elements, grass trees grow in the hollowness accounted for half of the factory.Production workshop facing a side of the grass is French windows, which allmakes employees like to work in the beautiful natural landscape. Nowadays,solar power on the top of the plant could satisfy the company's electricity consumption and printing and dyeing sewage recycling was achieved by water film. It`s amazing that large office space for art design and storage capacity of printed sample files and the precise positioning of all materials equipment.

     And silk enterprises in China only can be on a par with Ratti company is High Fashion (China) Co.Ltd., which located in Hang Zhou. Factory reflect sarchitectural aesthetic concept by pool, fountain, green flagstone, hill, shadetrees and four seasons flowers. The media hailed the company as the mostbeautiful factory in China, however, the Ratti company factory design is earlier than High Fashi (China) Co.Ltd. for 60 years. High Fashion (China) Co.Ltd. also realized the solar heating and power generation. It makes High Fashion became greenen vironmental protection demonstration enterprise in China for its water reuseand sewage treatment and cool ice storage system with valley electricity. Hang Zhou and Como set good examples on energy conservation, environment alprotection and low carbon in the silk industry.

      I met agan Mr. Daniele Pachera in his Ratti company. Mr. Pachera now is Ratti company's industry director, in charge of Ratti company all dyeing and printing of the company silk weaving production. While in the year of 2008, Mr. Pachera  who once led seven Italian and dyeing technical personnel employed by High Fashion (China)Co.,Ltd, to help High Fashion (China) Co.Ltd. to improve printing and dyeing technology in more thanthree years, which prompted China's silk printing and dyeing finishing levelequal to Italy`. So when I met Mr. Pachera again, my first sentence is: “Thank you for you left printing and dyeing technology and management in China.” Dueto Ratti company represents the highest level of Italian silk printing anddyeing, I then realize that Mr. Pachera contributed to the harmonization between Hang Zhou silk and Como silk. Owing to Mr. Pachera imparting and pay inHigh Fashion company ,to be honest , today China's silk printing and dyeing finishing technology has infinite close to Italy`.

     Reference to silk Sentiment between Hang Zhou and Como, there is also aleading role is the China National Silk Museum which is the world largest silkmuseum located on the west lake shore in Hang Zhou. West Lake is the worldcultural heritage for its profound history and culture. The visitor reception wasmore than hundred million people in Hang Zhou last year. There is a famous saying going become an obsession for tourists that “half for the lake half forthe silk”. There also is a consensus for silk industry that "world silkeyes on China, China silk eyes on Hang Zhou". Many visitors to the westlake harbour worship mood to visit the China National Silk Museum. The CNSM curator Mr. Feng Zhao led to applicate “Chinese silkworm silk weaving art ” hadwon the world intangible cultural heritage protection. Mr. Feng Zhao once communicated in academic many times with Ratti Found Silk Museum. There are not only have unearthed silk relic fragments 4000 years ago, but also have silk pattern or silk design fabrics hundreds of years ago of Italy and France. Sothe CNSM on the west lake naturally became the yearning place for Ms. FrancinaChiara, the curator of Ratti Found Silk Museum on the shore of Como Lake.

     Of course, we should also remember Mr. Rattiwho created Ratti company and  Ratti Found Silk Museum, Mr. Ratti with his great vision ascend Italian silk to abeyond reach height and ignited Hang Zhou silk lingering sentiment feelings.The two cities are miles away and with the same beautiful lakes. They are forward progress hand by hand in the global silk industry to create the classiclegend, what`s more, the two cities now is spawning a new tale withincomparable power.

    The author is ISU General Secretary, had held the position Chairman and General Manager in High Fashion (China) co., LTD.