Asia Section

Huzhou Textile (series 3)

Time:2016-01-18 Source:湖州贸促会

Intangible Cultural Heritage-Huzhou JiLi Silk

The batch of silk that showed to the world for the first time in the Expo was called Huzhou Jili Silk. Jili is the name of a village was called Qili in the first place for it was 7 Li from its bustling downtown Nanxun. The village was established in the late Yuan Dynasty . With high-quality silkworm breeds and skilled silk reeling villagers,Qili Silk the village produced was a well-known expensive brand in Chinese marking during Wanli period of Ming, it was even nominated as a raw material in the making of imperial robes.  Later,Qili Silk was generalized to refer to the fine silks produced in Jiangnan area. In the early qing Dynastry ,Qili Silk acquired a more elegant name Jili Silk.

 

The rise of silk machines brought about the decline of Jili Silk. The skills of manufacturing jili Silk are not at its peak now,but not totally lost either. The techniques and skills of making Huzhou Jili Silk were listed as the intangible cultural heritage in Zhejiang Province.

Intangible Cultural Heritage-Shuanglin Ghatpot Spun Silk

Another intangible cultural heritage Huzhou contributed is the techniques and skills of making shuanglin Ghatpot Spun Silk.

 

Shuanglin Ghatpot Spun silk enjoys a much longer history than Huzhou Jili Silk. The earliest literature record of shuanglin Ghatpot Spun Silk began in the sixth year of Eastern Jin Dynasty (381 A.D.) in Tang Dynasty it became a tribute to the loyal family, and in Song dynasty it was exported to places in Southeast Asia.

 

Shuanglin Ghatpoy spun Silk is classified into ghatpot silk and spun silk in terms of the different weaving methods, twill weave and plain weave respectively. They are closely related with calligraphy and painting, ghatpot silk was mainly used for mounting and spun silk for writing and drawing. Huzhou ,as the main contributor for china`s calligraphy and painting ,was the single one place that kept the production of aya and jrso from Song Dynasty till today. Shuanglin Ghatpot Spun Silk , with an outstanding quality in color , thickness and softness , is praised as an unsurpassable treasure.