Suzhou Silk Museum: Splendid Jiangnan Silk

Opposite the Beisi Pagoda Scenic Area in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, there is a museum that combines traditional cultural charm and modern design. In recent years, it has become a popular cultural space for young people. This is the Suzhou Silk Museum, which was opened in 1991 and is the first silk museum in China. The art installation in front of the museum, "The Rains of the Four Directions", is unique. 520 white metal thin tubes hang in the air, symbolizing the misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River and white silk.

The Suzhou Silk Museum covers an area of 9500 square meters, with an exhibition area of 4000 square meters. It has six exhibition areas, namely, the History Museum, the Modern Museum, the Future Museum, the Sangzi Garden, the Silk Weaving Machinery Exhibition Room, and the Qian Xiaoping Silk Culture and Art Museum. It collects 6520 pieces of embroidery related collections. There are not only exquisite silk cultural relics and modern artworks on display, but also dynamic mulberry planting and silkworm rearing and traditional loom operation on display, so that the audience can fully experience the silk culture.

　 Sketch the Silk Road

Walk along the stone channel from the east square to the museum, and the beautiful Lei Zu statue in the preface hall comes into sight. It is said that Lei Zu, the founder of sericulture and silk weaving, was honored as "the first silkworm". The huge marble mural behind the statue epitomizes the development history of Chinese silk, and shows the historical scenes of ancient people's silk practice, official weaving, navigation and trade. Through the "Yuyang Pass" to the western backyard, the metal signs on the ground of the garden mark important countries along the Silk Road, implying that the Silk Road across Asia and Europe promotes the exchanges between eastern and western civilizations.

China is the cradle of the world's silk civilization. As early as 5000 years ago in the Neolithic Age, the ancestors began to raise silkworms and weave silk. In the Han Dynasty, China's silk production was very developed, and a large number of silk fabrics were introduced into the West from the Silk Road. The gilded bronze silkworm of the Han Dynasty collected in Suzhou Silk Museum has a vivid and lifelike shape. Its head and chest are raised, its body is full, and its belly joints are distinct. Its chest feet, stomach feet, and tail feet are abstract and simplified. The announcer introduced that many golden silkworms and jade silkworms were found in the cultural relics of the Han Dynasty, which reflected the prosperity of sericulture in the Han Dynasty.

The history museum displays brocades and costumes from the Han and Tang dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, reflecting silk weaving technology and aesthetic fashion in different periods. The copy of "Five Stars Out of the East and Benefit China" brocade armguard attracted the attention of reporters. The original shoulder protector was unearthed from the Niya Site in Minfeng County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and was listed in the Catalogue of the First Batch of Cultural Relics Prohibited from Going Abroad for Exhibition. This brocade represents the highest level of Han brocade weaving technology. Its fabric structure is arranged with multiple colored warp lines, with a density of 220 pieces/cm. The overall design is based on mountain like cloud patterns, which are continuously spread along the latitudinal direction. From right to left, there are phoenix, phoenix, unicorn, white tiger and two stars, and the Chinese characters "Five stars come out of the East to benefit China" are woven.

It is reported that Suzhou Silk Museum is the "China Silk Weaving and Embroidery Cultural Relics Replication Center" and the "Class I Qualification for Removable Cultural Relics (Weaving and Embroidery) Restoration" approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and has achieved fruitful results in the field of silk cultural relics replication and restoration. After the "Five Stars Out of the East and Benefiting China" brocade breast protector was unearthed, the first copy was made by Suzhou Silk Museum.

The fragment of Huangdi Lianzhu Tuanke Deer Brocade in the Tang Dynasty was unearthed in Dulan County, Qinghai Province. It is a typical weft brocade with Lianzhu pattern in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and is a representative work of blending Chinese traditional silk weaving technology with foreign culture. The patterns of silk brocade in the early Tang Dynasty are mainly animal patterns, and a few bird patterns. In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, under the influence of Persian culture, the patterns of birds and animals linked to the Pearl River became popular. In the late Tang Dynasty, Tuan Ke pattern was the mainstream. The deer patterns in the bunched bunches are arranged in parallel on the fragments of the brocade, symmetrical from top to bottom, and decorated with geometric petals. The deer patterns in the bunched bunches are flexible and lovely.

The robe woven with peacock patterns on the yellow satin ground of the Ming Dynasty is a national first-class cultural relic, which was unearthed in Mudu Tianping Mountain, Suzhou in 2013. This is a one-piece gown with a right lapel and upper and lower skirts. The two shoulders of the upper body and the back of the chest are decorated with a persimmon like pattern with the river cliff and sea water pattern as the frame. The front is full of peonies, and the left and right chest are decorated with peacock patterns. The long tail extends to the shoulder, which is set off against the peacock pattern around the collar. The lower skirt is evenly distributed with fine folds on both sides from the waist. The skirt circumference is horizontal with river cliff and sea water patterns as the edge, and lined with peacock patterns, echoing the upper part of the body. According to the textual research of the epitaph, the owner of the tomb is Fan Yiyi, the sixteenth grandson of Fan Zhongyan, a famous official in the Northern Song Dynasty, and he was a third rank civil servant. He was encoffined with peacock pattern clothing, which confirmed the hierarchical norms of the Ming Dynasty clothing system. The robe is woven as a whole with exquisite patterns, reflecting the highly developed textile technology in the Ming Dynasty.

Suzhou has the reputation of "the home of silk". As early as the Qin Dynasty, Suzhou's silk products and silk weaving technology were spread overseas by sea. By the Song Dynasty, Suzhou's official silk production and folk silk weaving industry were very developed. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the court set up a weaving bureau in Suzhou. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Suzhou Weaving was the imperial business yamen that supervised the production and purchase of silk fabrics needed by the court. The exhibition area of the Tribute Weaving Academy restored the gate of the former site of Suzhou Weaving Department in the Qing Dynasty, and various exhibits told of the glory of Suzhou weaving in the past.

　　 Inherit silk weaving technology

"Silkworm people love sunny days, and the paper baskets are full of leaves. After three sleeps, there are few mulberry trees, and the silver cocoon is called silk reeling." Since ancient times, the Jiangnan region has been full of mulberry and hemp, and every household raises silkworms. The exhibition area of Sericulture House reproduces the scene of a sericulture family in the south of the Yangtze River. On the silkworm rack, there are round silkworm plaques with dense mulberry leaves. Silkworm babies live in them. "Look, these specimens show the life of silkworms. From the first age to the fifth age, they look different." A parent took the child to observe carefully.

The weaving and dyeing workshop displays such tools as pedal reeling cart, weft rocking cart and silk blending rack, and introduces the process flow of silk reeling and winding in the form of pictures and texts. Stepping into the next exhibition area, two craftsmen were demonstrating the weaving of Song brocade on a traditional Song brocade loom several meters high, which attracted many visitors to stop and watch.

Song brocade is one of the "three famous brocades" in China, mainly produced in Suzhou. In 2006, "Song Brocade Weaving Skill" was included in the national intangible cultural heritage representative project list. Suzhou Silk Museum is the protection unit of the project, and Qian Xiaoping, the founder of the museum, is a national representative inheritor.

The traditional production process of Song brocade is complex. From silk reeling and dyeing to weaving into products, it takes more than 20 processes. The basic feature of Song brocade is the combination of warp and weft, and the unique technique of color throwing and color changing is applied to enrich the surface color and organizational level of the fabric. The patterns of Song brocade are generally based on changing geometric shapes, filled with natural flowers, auspicious patterns, etc., and matched with harmonious contrast colors, which are gorgeous but not vulgar, simple and elegant.

The Zhang satin loom is larger and more complex than the Song brocade loom, which also requires two people to work together. Zhang satin is a representative work of ancient Chinese velvet fabrics. It started in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, and was innovated by the craftsmen of Suzhou Weaving Department according to the raising technology of "Zhang Rong". Its patterns have a strong sense of three-dimensional, known as "reliefs on silk". In 2011, "Zhang Satin Making Skills" was included in the list of representative projects of intangible cultural heritage in Jiangsu Province, and Suzhou Silk Museum is the protection unit of this project.

Qian Xiaoping Silk Culture and Art Museum displayed colorful silk fabrics, clothing, artworks and design manuscripts, presenting the research and creation achievements of silk expert Qian Xiaoping for more than 60 years. The Song brocade Encounter was created according to the 15th century Persian fine painting "The Prince Huma of Persia and the Princess Humayun of China Meet in the Garden". It uses silk threads of different colors to interweave, showing the exquisite Persian brush, bright color and slightly mysterious style. The double-sided color jacquard gauze developed by Qian Xiaoping has won the national invention patent. Through the ingenious use of 11 different organizational structures, the front and back sides of the fabric show the same flower and different colors, the same flower and same color, or different flowers and different colors.

　　 Carry forward the silk culture

The simple and cute three flowered cat wore the colorful Zhai bird pattern Song brocade empress dress, and the three blue embroidered melon butterfly cotton blouse of the Qing Dynasty became the love keepsake described by cartoonists, drawing inspiration from the dark brown pigment satin peacock embroidered gown, and using modern CG board painting technology to express the story of "every man has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the country"... In January this year, Suzhou Silk Museum held the exhibition of "Silk Story - Re imagination at All Times and Abroad", inviting 15 artists to re create the cultural relics in the museum collection, allowing cultural relics and artists' works to talk in the exhibition hall, and expressing silk culture in the form of new art.

In recent years, the Suzhou Silk Museum, based on its collection resources, has joined forces with cultural and museum units in Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and other places where silk is produced in the south of the Yangtze River to launch splendid thematic exhibitions, such as the "Jinglun Yinghui - Suzhou Silk Culture and Skills Exhibition", "From the Weaving Department to the Forbidden City - The Sound of the Canal Silk Road Story Exhibition" "Why Dream of Red Mansions - Literature, Images and Silk Exhibition on the Jiangnan Canal", "Paradise - Suzhou and Hangzhou of Crafts", etc., of which, "Jinglun Yinghui - Suzhou Silk Culture and Skills Exhibition" was rated as the promotion project of the National Bureau of Cultural Heritage in 2020 with the theme of "carrying forward Chinese excellent traditional culture and cultivating socialist core values".

In 2023, Suzhou Silk Museum will complete the "comprehensive upgrading and reconstruction project of the future museum". The first floor of the future hall is the silk pattern cultural creativity space, the second floor is the silk universe offline experience space, and the third floor is the starry sky terrace. It is open for 7 × 12 hours without reservation to meet the needs of the audience for cultural tourism consumption, interactive experience, sightseeing and card punching.

As an important achievement of the project of "Digital Protection of Cultural Relics in Suzhou Silk Museum, Utilizing Social Education and Communication", the "Silk Language in Jiangnan" smart book developed by the museum has the functions of silk science popularization, interesting interaction, digital reading, etc. It has planned a series of theme courses and research activities around the book, which is highly praised by students and parents. "Beautiful Transformation - Silkworm Baby Adoption Plan" has become a brand activity of Suzhou Silk Museum. Through online interaction, manual experience, science popularization on campus and other ways, children can feel the beauty of life, art and culture.

Suzhou Silk Museum and Suzhou Industrial Park International Integration Service Center jointly planned the "Flowing Silk Road: A Better Life in the Museum" project, which has served more than 10000 foreigners in Suzhou, and made appearances in "Sino Italian Cultural Exchange Festival", "Sino French Cultural Forum" and other activities, and won the 2024 "Global World Heritage Education Innovation Case Award".

Suzhou Silk Museum combines the silk weaving techniques of Song brocade, Zhang satin, Wu Luo, etc. to create "new national fashion" silk clothing, and holds clothing tours and exhibitions in Venice, Italy, Kalamata, Greece, Budapest, Hungary, New York, New Jersey, the United States, and other places to enhance the international influence of Suzhou silk.

The construction of "digital museum" has become the current trend. Suzhou Silk Museum has transformed its collection of silk pattern data resources into digital assets, realizing the sharing of silk patterns throughout the society, and forming a number of cross-border co branded products and silk cultural and creative products. "Silk pattern data collection and application promote the digital transformation and upgrading of cultural institutions" was listed as one of the top ten cases of digital innovation demonstration of culture and tourism by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

"Silk is a beautiful card of Suzhou, reflecting the unique charm of Suzhou style aesthetics and embodying the urban spirit of Suzhou." Qian Zhaoyue, the curator of Suzhou Silk Museum, said that in the future, he will continue to promote innovation, explore characteristics, tell Suzhou silk stories, build cultural exchange bridges, and integrate the long-standing silk culture into modern fashion life, Let the beauty of Suzhou silk enter the hearts of more people.

(Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition)