江苏文化符号 | 南京云锦的传承与创新
The dragon robe of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, preserved in the Nanjing Museum, still shines brilliantly with golden threads after more than four centuries. Behind this magnificent garment lies a supreme craftsmanship that even modern techniques struggle to replicate—Nanjing Yunjin. In 2009, this millennia-old weaving art was inscribed by UNESCO into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognized globally as a treasure of Eastern art.
Named for its beauty as radiant as clouds and brocade, Nanjing Yunjin stands alongside Sichuan’s Shu brocade and Suzhou’s Song brocade as one of the “Three Famous Brocades.” Known for its exquisite materials, meticulous craftsmanship, splendid patterns, vibrant textures, and refined elegance, Yunjin is hailed as the “crown of brocades.”
Main Materials Used in Yunjin Production
Silk: High-quality silk cocoons are selected and processed through multiple steps to produce smooth, durable threads—the basic materials of Yunjin weaving.
Gold Thread: Pure gold is hammered into extremely thin foil and cut into threads 0.2 to 0.5 mm wide, used to outline the patterns.
Peacock Feathers: Carefully chosen tail quills from peacocks are specially treated and twisted with silk threads, creating a unique blue-green sheen.
Manufacturing Techniques and Process
1. Pattern Drafting (Tiaohua Jieben)
Craftsmen weave pattern templates using silk threads on a special frame at a 1:1 scale, with each thread corresponding to a weaving action on the loom.
2. Continuous Warp and Segmented Weft (Tongjing Duanwei)
During weaving, the warp threads run continuously through the fabric, while the weft threads are inserted, interrupted, or joined according to the pattern. Each segment of colored weft is compacted using special tools, ensuring that the pattern appears identical on both sides, with no visible loose ends—maintaining the design's integrity and fineness.
3. Gold and Color Application (Zhuangjin Fucai)
Following the pattern template, gold thread, peacock fiber, and silk weft are interwoven, resulting in a fabric rich in color and luster, with a dazzling and radiant visual effect.
4. Multicolor Pattern Weaving (Zhuhua Yise)
In the same direction of the weft, different colors are flexibly used to suit each part of the pattern. This allows the colors of the Yunjin to shift with the viewing angle, enhancing its artistic charm and visual appeal.
The production process of Yunjin is extremely complex, requiring two skilled weavers to work closely together. Even then, only about five centimeters of Yunjin can be woven per day. This rarity gives rise to the saying: “An inch of Yunjin is worth an inch of gold.”
A Global Dialogue Woven Through Threads
On the catwalk of Paris Fashion Week, Yunjin gold threads traced a modern silhouette of the “Four Harmonies and Auspiciousness” pattern, breathing new life into thousand-year-old motifs through contemporary design.
At the 2014 APEC summit by Yanqi Lake, the “New Chinese Attire” worn by world leaders with subtly displayed cloud patterns, weaving the Eastern philosophy of harmony and unity into the threads of international diplomacy.
From the Metropolitan Museum in New York to the National Museum of Tokyo, Yunjin brocades converse with foreign motifs in global museums, writing a new chapter in Silk Road cultural exchange.
Under the dome of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, a live demonstration of Yunjin weaving drew the focused attention of diplomats from around the world, vividly illustrating mutual appreciation among civilizations.
These shining moments allow the brilliance of Eastern weaving wisdom to transcend time and space, dazzling on the world stage. Nanjing Yunjin has long transcend the definition of mere fabric, becoming flowing poetry in the scroll of global civilization. It tells the world’s stories in the most Chinese way and expresses contemporary meaning through the most traditional craft.
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