Textile Culture: A Treasure On The Silk Road Of Shu Brocade

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On the night of August 19, the astronomical phenomenon of "five stars coexisting" was staged. At this time, five planets, namely Venus, Jupiter, mercury, Mars and Saturn, appeared in the night sky at the same time. In 1995, a brocade armguard of the Shu area of the Han Dynasty unearthed at the Niya site in Xinjiang has the words "five stars coming from the east to benefit China". The "five stars" here refer to the five planets of gold, wood, water, fire and earth.

"Five stars from the East benefit China" Brocade is now a national first-class cultural relic, and China's first batch of cultural relics prohibited from going abroad (or abroad) for exhibition. It is known as one of the greatest discoveries of Chinese Archaeology in the 20th century. Experts have come to the conclusion that this is from Sichuan brocade thousands of kilometers away. According to the inscriptions, some experts concluded that it was Shu Brocade produced in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

It was confirmed that it came from Sichuan

Weaving technology to reproduce "Five Star East benefit China" Brocade

In October 1995, Chinese and Japanese archaeologists carried out a rescue excavation of the No. 1 cemetery at nya site, and successively cleaned up a number of ancient tombs. In one of the tombs, a piece of brocade was found on the upper part of his right shoulder. Eight Han Li characters were woven on the upper part of his right shoulder: "five stars come from the east to benefit China." In addition, a piece of brocade with the same fabric and pattern was found in the tomb, on which was woven the words "to beg for Nanqiang". Obviously, these are two sections cut from the same piece of brocade. The weaving process of brocade is very complicated, which reflects the highest level of brocade technology at that time.

When the brocade of "five stars from the East benefits China" was unearthed, many scholars speculated that it was made in Sichuan, but no more evidence can be found. More materials are needed to enrich and perfect the details of brocade in Sichuan. The turning point happened on the Loom Model unearthed in laoguanshan.

In the summer of 2012, in a Western Han Dynasty cemetery in laoguanshan, Tianhui Town, Chengdu, four models of bamboo wooden looms soaked in water were seen again. This is the first complete Loom Model of the Western Han Dynasty discovered in China. After in-depth study, experts confirm that they belong to jacquard looms. The advantage of jacquard loom is that it can program and store a binary code similar to modern computer through tens of thousands of silk threads. The workers' selection of healds is equivalent to programming the patterns and finally weaving brocade with patterns. The most amazing thing is that there is more than one programming method for the Loom Model of laoguanshan Han tomb: the sliding frame and connecting rod are two technical means, and the patterns woven are different.

In 2013, the "compass program" of the State Administration of cultural relics began to try to restore the hook and heald jacquard machine of the Han Dynasty on the basis of it. Three years later, experts from the China Silk Museum copied the brocade of "five stars coming from the east to benefit China" on the restored loom.

"World mother brocade"

In the Han Dynasty, Chengdu was already a famous brocade center in China

Sichuan brocade has a long history and unique style. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been called "four famous brocades in China" together with Nanjing Yunjin, Suzhou song brocade and Guangxi Zhuang brocade. Sichuan brocade is the first of the four famous brocades. It is more than 1000 years earlier than other famous brocades. It has the reputation of "mother brocade in the world".

The origin of the ancient Shu people can be traced back to the Shushan family. As early as 2700-2600 B.C., Shushan family had stood on the threshold of the early origin of Chinese sericulture and silk. There was cancong family in ancient Shu. Cancong family was the direct descendant of Shushan family and the inheritor of sericulture industry. This group changed from rearing silkworm to raising silkworm. Some experts believe that according to the name "cancong", the ancient Shu people should be the first tribe to raise silkworms and get silk.

The prosperity of sericulture laid a good foundation for the production of Sichuan brocade. According to the records of the records of the state of Huayang · Ba Zhi, as early as king Yu of Xia Dynasty, "the princes of the two countries met in Kuaiji, holding jade and silk, and Ba Shu went to Yan". When the leaders of the two countries paid homage, they brought the jade wrapped in silk and "bear's bottom and fox skin" to offer them to King Xia Yu. By the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the production of Shu Brocade was very prosperous.

By the Han Dynasty, Chengdu was already a famous brocade center in China, "women's work, covering the world.". The production techniques of Shu Brocade in Han Dynasty were also greatly improved. Silk dyeing is based on the "five normal colors" of Zhu, Huang, Qing, white and black, and "intermediate colors" such as green, purple and crimson are added. Shu Brocade was also offered to the imperial court as a tribute. Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty ordered Yizhou to leave tax losses for three years, weaving "70% brocade account, decorated with deep water fragrance" for the court. Weaving a brocade tent with three years' taxes in a state can be imagined as exquisite and luxurious, and it also reflects the high level of Shu brocade technology.

Shu Brocade was an important economic pillar of the government at that time, which was also the original intention of the government to set up brocade officials and set up Jinguan city in Chengdu. During the Three Kingdoms, there were many disputes and continuous wars. Where did Liu Bei, who occupied Yizhou, get the huge funds to support the war? The income of Shu Brocade is his main financial revenue. Zhuge Liang declared in the decree that "today's people are poor and the country is empty, we can only rely on jin'er to determine the enemy's capital." Shu Brocade occupies such an important strategic position in Shu Kingdom that Zhuge Liang vigorously supports the development of Shu Brocade by encouraging mulberry planting, improving technology and national management.

During the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, Shu Brocade was also the first to make brocade of characters. Wang Xizhi's preface to Lanting collection, one of his outstanding masterpieces, made a sensation in the capital city for a time, and was gladly included in the palace by Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty. Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was also a supporter of Shu brocade. The colorful silk vest made by his "Fei Baijin" was regarded as a "foreign body", which made him overjoyed. When Princess Anle, the daughter of emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, was married, the local officials of Yizhou presented a gift of "single silk wall Luo long skirt", which was woven with gold thread "as thin as hair." it was like clouds and smoke, and could be as bright as the morning glow. "The flower of this kind of Luolong skirt was heavy in color and vivid in pattern. Poets in Tang Dynasty wrote poems in praise of the "silk waist" and "silk waist"

Sichuan brocade

Treasures on the Silk Road

Sichuan brocade is not only loved by domestic consumers, but also sold abroad through the silk road.

The Southern Silk Road started in Chengdu, went out of China through Yunnan, and then reached Myanmar, India, Afghanistan, and then continued to the west to Central Asia and West Asia. Sima Qian first recorded this mysterious passage. In his historical records, Zhang Qian, who was appointed to the western regions in 122 BC, saw Shu cloth and Qiong bamboo sticks imported from India in Daxia (now Afghanistan). Zhang Qian was very surprised and thought that there must be a road from Chengdu plain to South and West Asia. This road is known as "Shu Shendu road", which means India today. Through textual research, modern historians have found that this important channel for ancient Shu to communicate with the West existed as early as the Sanxingdui and Jinsha periods more than 3000 years ago, a thousand years earlier than the opening of the Northern Silk Road. Shu Brocade is one of the main commodities circulating on this road. The horses loaded with Shu Brocade went south all the way from Chengdu. The sound of clear hooves and pleasant bells, mingled with the laughter and yelling of Shu merchants, resounded through the valleys and villages along the way and the Southern Silk Road.

After the opening of the Northern Silk Road by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Shu Brocade was sought after by the world and quickly became the leading trade player on the Northern Silk Road. Zhang Ji, a poet of Tang Dynasty, said in "Liangzhou Ci" that "countless bell rings are far away from the moraine, so we should carry white to Anxi." Many of the "Bai Lian" in this poem are Shu Brocade from Chengdu.

Shu Brocade is also an important commodity of the maritime Silk Road. Experts believe that another important influence of Shu brocade on the maritime silk road is its weaving technology output. Shu brocade technology has affected song brocade and Yunnan brocade in different periods. It can be seen that Sichuan brocade produced in Chengdu has made an indelible contribution to the promotion of material and cultural exchanges between the East and the West and the progress of human civilization.

(source: Chengdu Daily)

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