The Art of Chinese Sericulture and Silk Weaving

The Art of Chinese Sericulture and Silk Weaving

　　On September 30, 2009, the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO's Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage reviewed and approved the joint nomination by Zhejiang Province (Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and the China National Silk Museum), Jiangsu Province (Suzhou), and Sichuan Province for “The Art of Chinese Sericulture and Silk Weaving” to be inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

　　The Art of Chinese Sericulture and Silk Weaving encompasses the entire production process including mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing, silk reeling, dyeing, and weaving. It also includes a variety of ingenious tools, as well as a rich array of silk products such as damask, gauze, brocade, and kesi tapestry, along with related folk activities that have evolved alongside these crafts.

　　Jiaxing is one of the birthplaces of Chinese sericulture and silk weaving, with a cultural heritage spanning an impressive 4,700 years. Over these millennia, people have shared common lifestyles and environments due to their connection with silkworms and silk. Within this shared cultural sphere, traditional production techniques gradually took shape—these include mulberry planting, silkworm rearing, silk reeling, silk floss processing, loom-making, fabric design, and weaving. The transmission of these skills has occurred through family lines, master-apprentice relationships, and community practices. Local sericulturists associate the life cycle of the silkworm—from egg to pupa to moth—with the human journey from birth to death and ultimately to spiritual ascension. This has fostered a deep reverence for silkworms, giving rise to a series of folk customs with distinct sericultural characteristics, covering festival celebrations, life rituals, folk beliefs, language and literature, and traditional arts.

　　As early as the Neolithic Age, Jiaxing had primitive silk reeling and weaving technologies. By the mid-Tang Dynasty, the region’s Yuer headscarves were famed both at home and abroad. During the Northern Song Dynasty, silk fabrics from Xiuzhou (an ancient name for Jiaxing) were listed as tribute goods. Jiaxing also produced brocades, earning poetic praise: “Song brocades have long come from Xiuzhou.” By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the rural areas were “covered with mulberry forests,” market towns became “centers of silk trade,” and both urban and rural areas resonated with the “continuous clatter of looms.” The silk cloth from Puyuan was produced at a rate of “ten thousand bolts per day,” and Wangjiangjing was celebrated as “clothing the world.” The silk trade flourished, attracting merchants from all over—including those from northern inland regions, southern China, the western frontiers, and even as far as Ryukyu and Luzon. In this vast economic exchange, Jiaxing played an immensely important role, earning the title “Home of Silk.”

　　Numerous sericulture-related folk customs have endured through the ages, such as the “Qingming Silkworm Flower Festival,” the “Silkworm Flower Water Festival,” and the “Wuzhen Incense Fair.” Traditional handcraft skills such as reeling fine silk floss, making silk floss pouches, and reeling local silk are still widely practiced. For example, the Hanshan Silkworm Flower Festival dates back to the Southern Song Dynasty, flourishing through the Ming and Qing periods. The event spans three Qingming festivals—first, second, and third—and lasts for about ten days in total. Legend has it that the Silkworm Flower Goddess would descend to Earth as a village maiden during Qingming, tread the Hanshan Mountain, and leave behind “silkworm energy.” Those who visited the mountain during Qingming could carry the blessings of the silkworm flowers back home, ensuring a bountiful “twenty-four-fold” harvest (symbolizing double the prosperity). Hence, sericulturists from far and wide flock to Hanshan every Qingming. Young men and women dress in festive attire, purchase silkworm flowers on the mountain, and wear them in their hair, on their chests, on hat brims, or even stuck into sugar cane—creating a lively and joyous scene. Household heads also carry silkworm seed bags on their backs, symbolizing the blessing of the silkworm deity and praying for a fruitful silk harvest.

　　Jiaxing is a key community for the inheritance and protection of the UNESCO-listed intangible cultural heritage item “The Art of Chinese Sericulture and Silk Weaving.” With rapid economic development and accelerating modernization, the cultural ecosystem is undergoing tremendous change, presenting new challenges for heritage preservation. To further strengthen the protection of sericulture and silk weaving across the city, and to inherit and promote the outstanding traditional culture of the Chinese nation, the Jiaxing Municipal Government has formulated and implemented the “Jiaxing Sericulture and Silk Culture Ecological Zone Protection Plan.” Within five years, this plan aims to establish a comprehensive system for the protection of the sericulture and silk culture ecological zone, including institutional frameworks, industrial operations, and promotional strategies.