Wu Jianhua's Song Brocade Exhibition

The brocade involves weaving colorful silks. The weaving of brocade in China has a long history, which can be dated back to Shang and Zhou Dynasty. In Northern and Southern Song Dynasty, brocade was produced by official workshops and served for government, which manifested its refineness and luxuriance. After Emperor Gaozong crossed a canal to the South and relocated the capital to Hangzhou, the weaving technique to the south of the Yangtze River witnessed a rapid development. In Ming and Qing Dynasty, Suzhou took a key position in terms of handicraft. The Song brocade produced in Suzhou enjoyed both fame in the east of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and commercial success nationally. Since then, Song brocade in Suzhou has rivaled Sichuan brocade and Nanjing brocade, popular throughout China.

The processing of Song brocade in Suzhou is complicated, involving many procedures. It features forming patterns by warp and weft threads, and applies a unique technique called ‘multi-colored scheme’, which diversifies the color and structure of the textile. In terms of artistic style, it turns different geometric shapes into framework, and fills it with designs such as flora or Ruyi patterns in harmonious or contrasting colors, making it gorgeous but not vulgar, archaic and elegant. Due to the uniqueness and complication of its weaving technique, there has been an old saying which goes like this, “An inch of brocade is an inch of gold.” Since late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China, traditional handicraft had been gradually declining. The weaving of Song brocade was also endangered. Thanks to the combined efforts during the past years, Song brocade in Suzhou was rediscovered, protected and flourished. In 2006, the weaving technique of Song brocade was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. In 2009, Song brocade, as a representative of Chinese silk weaving technique, was nominated for world’s intangible cultural heritage.

Wu Jianhua was born in Wujiang, a region renowned for its silk. As an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, he has been committed to the rescue and protection of Song brocade weaving technique as well as its long-time development. He was also the first to raise the idea of ‘Dynamic Protection’ of Song brocade. He used to develop the world’s first electric jacquard rapier loom with his team, which led the production of Song brocade into the age of industrialization. In 2013, he established Song Brocade Culture Park of China and devoted himself entirely to the inheritance and development of Song brocade in Suzhou. This exhibition explores the origin and development of Song brocade as well as its application. While looking back into the history, it displays the characteristics of a new era.

Chen Ruijin

Director of Suzhou Museum