Jing Brocade

Last updated 2026-11-16 — Jing Brocade, also known as Jingzhou Brocade from Hubei Province, is alternatively called “Jiangling Brocade.” It is mainly produced in Jiangling. This brocade has a distinctive style, featuring warp-faced embroidery with patterns primarily composed of classic Chu designs such as swastika railings, wheat-ear motifs, and curved meander borders. It is also adorned with classic elegant patterns like longevity peaches, refined deer, and auspicious elephants. In terms of form, it is organized into geometric color blocks—squares, stripes, diamonds, and polygons—arranged in alternating shades of yellow, blue, red, and green that create a striking contrast and vibrant brilliance. The combination of patterns and color blocks especially showcases a strong artistic character of Chu culture. Historically, it was mainly used for hanging screens during weddings and funerals, ancestral worship, gift-giving, and tribute offerings. Jing Brocade has a long history. In 1975, a piece of silk fabric known as diamond-patterned brocade was unearthed from a Western Han Dynasty tomb at Phoenix Mountain in Jiangling. With warp-thread patterning, complex structure, vivid motifs, and brilliant colors, it bore a remarkable resemblance to Jing Brocade. The Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai wrote in his “Song of Jingzhou”: “In Jingzhou, when wheat ripens and silkworms turn to moths, reeling the silk brings back memories, thoughts tangled and many.” This shows how widespread sericulture and silk reeling were in Jingzhou at the time. According to the “Tang Book · Treatise on Geography,” in the year 760 AD, among the tributary gifts sent to Emperor Suzong of Tang by Jiangling, silk fabrics such as diamond-patterned damask and coarse cloth were predominant. By the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Jing Brocade had developed its own unique style. At the 1920 Panama International Exposition, Jing Brocade was awarded third place.