“Is the pattern behind Chonghua Palace really woven from brocade? I want to see how this cloth was weaved.”

“It's amazing that you can see Go and eyeshadow boxes made of china from hundreds of years ago in the museum. The ancients and our aesthetics resonate across time and space.”

On the morning of November 20, more than 10 expats who live and work in Zhejiang visited the Museum of Deshou Palace with a local guide, as part of the "Focus on Zhejiang" Asian Games International Workshop activity. 

“This weaving is amazing! I can’t believe that this fabric is brocade. If there is the same cultural and creative product, I really want to buy one and appreciate it.” Suraj couldn’t drag himself away from the Song brocade exhibition area. Suraj told us that his family is in the textile business, and his grandmother has taught him Indian textile skills since he was a child. “I’m interested in Chinese culture. I studied art design in college, and I drew a suit with Chinese dragon elements. After visiting Deshou Palace, I had a new design inspiration. ”

Song brocade is one of the traditional silk crafts in China. The weaving process is highly complex, and it is a kind of brocade knitted with warp and weft concurrently, in this way can make the pattern stand out more prominently. “The design of the Winter Olympic medal ribbon adopts the Song brocade manufacturing process of ‘weaving first and printing later’. Although it is labour-intensive, time-consuming, and difficult, the woven pattern looks more decent and generous, and the details are more elegant.”

Hangzhou is a historical city rich in intangible cultural heritages. On November 19, more than 10 foreign friends visited Hangzhou Canal Crafts Living Museum in the west historical and cultural block of Gongchen bridge and learned how to make a handmade oil-paper umbrella with Yu Wanlun, the seventh-generation inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage oil-paper umbrella.

Editor: Ye Ke