Profiles

Zhong Bingzhang, fervent devotee of Shu Brocade

By Huang Zhiling (China Daily Sichuan Bureau)
Updated: 2010-08-28 15:04

Zhong Bingzhang with silk fabrics in the Shujiang Brocade Academy near the Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum.

CHENGDU: At the Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum near the Sichuan Provincial Museum in the western part of Chengdu, Sichuan province, one recent morning, the wives of eight foreign ambassadors in Beijing were taught how to weave silk fabrics with their own hands.

Shown around the museum, they were amazed at the rich collection of silk fabrics.

Many overseas visitors have seen the Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum after it opened last October in Chengdu, whose other name is "Brocade City."

"The establishment of the museum and the preservation of Shu Brocade in Chengdu is inseparable from Zhong Bingzhang, manager of the Shujiang Brocade Academy," said Professor Tu Hengxian of the College of Textiles of the Shanghai-based Donghua University (the former China Textiles University).

Together with the Song Brocade of Suzhou and the Yun Brocade of Nanjing in Jiangsu province, and the Zhuang Brocade of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the Shu (ancient name for Sichuan) Brocade is one of the four schools of brocade in China. It is the oldest school, from which the other three evolved.

Sichuan is one of the cradles of China's silk industry. So important was the brocade trade that by the time of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD) a special official, bearing the title Brocade Officer, had been appointed by the emperor. His role was to supervise the highly lucrative local industry, which during its heyday operated more than 20,000 looms.

In spite of the decline of the industry in modern times, Chengdu continues to be called the Brocade City. The moat which runs through its, where finished brocades were soaked to set their colors, is still known as the Brocade River.

In the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Chengdu had more than 2,000 private workshops and more than 10,000 looms producing brocades. The State-owned Chengdu Shu Brocade Factory was set up in 1951 with more than 2,000 weavers.

The plant specialized in mass producing silk for bedcovers. From the early 1950s to the early 1990s, the plant's products sold well. But after 1995, market changes led to the shutdown of the plant.

"People in Sichuan used to present a brocade bedcover with the design of the dragon (symbol of a man) and phoenix (symbol of a woman) to a newly-wed couple as a precious gift. But with the popularity of duvets, people no longer want to buy them," Zhong said.

In a bid to find the solution to the revival of the Shu Brocade, Zhong, who was chief of the general office of the Chengdu Silk Company, visited technicians and workers of the bankrupt Chengdu Shu Brocade Factory during the Spring Festival in 2002 to analyze the cause of its failure.

Her weeklong research resulted in a report for Li Chuncheng, mayor of Chengdu. She proposed relying on tourism and marketable products. After the report was endorsed by the municipal government, Zhong decided to use the second national brocade conference to be held in her city to revive Shu Brocade.

Zhong considered the former Chengdu Shu Brocade Factory, which was under the administration of her silk company, the right place to demonstrate Shu Brocade.

But almost all of the 1.2-hectare land of the factory was rented to the owner of a dog market.

"It was as if God wanted to help me. A printing house boss who had signed a contract to rent the remaining 700 square meters of the factory had an accident. He breached the contract and returned the space," Zhong said.

Zhong set up the Shujiang Brocade Academy there and invited several weavers from the former Chengdu Shu Brocade Factory to operate four traditional jacquard looms by hand. The weavers were more than 70 years old. No young people wanted to learn the craft.

"Because of the dull routine, the number of master weavers could be counted on two hands,"said Xie Huiru, an 83-year-old master weaver of the factory.

The brand was very famous in Japan because Japanese students studying in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) called the Shu Brocade they took home Shujiang (which literally means "River of Sichuan") Brocade, Tu said.

In the wake of its initial success, Zhong recruited young people from Xichang, Sichuan, where silk production is a pillar industry, and let the senior weavers like Xie teach them brocade weaving.

Together with her colleagues, she launched more readily marketable new brocades which can be used for interior decoration, garment trimmings and luxury lining for expensive goods.

The efforts paid off. An increasing number of visitors arrived and soon its annual sales surpassed 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million). To expand the influence of the Shu Brocade, Zhong set up four shops bearing the name Shujiang Brocade Institute in the city's busy business street and near its sites of historical and cultural importance.

Despite the shops' thriving business, Zhong aimed higher. She and her colleagues raised funds totaling 30 million yuan (US$4.4 million) to set up the Chengdu Shu Brocade and Embroidery Museum. Zhong became its curator.

The museum tells tales of the South Silk Road that began use more than 2,000 years ago. It also has carvings depicting the 12 processes of silk production, jacquard looms, representative works of Shu Brocade from different dynasties, modern brocade featuring giant pandas, silk dragon robes,silk purses, bags, quilts, ties, fanons, garments and name-card holders.

Asked about the hardships she endured in the preparations for the collection in the museum, Zhong said she never felt frustrated.

Friends attribute her optimism to her stable state of mind and love for textiles.

Living near the museum, 72-year-old Huang Xiuzhong worked for more than four decades for the Chengdu Shu Brocade Factory, first as a weaver, then as technician, deputy chief and general engineer.

"She is always calm and never loses temper. Her colleageus say they would become all right even if they have something unpleasant going on if they see her calm face and hear her calm voice," said Huang, who frequently visits the museum.