FABRIC FROM ANTIQUITY

Tang Shoumin adroitly moves a shuttle over a web of densely-arranged vertical threads hung on an old-fashioned wooden loom at a grass linen plant in early August. And her feet step on the loom's pedal, moving in sync with her weaving.

Tang, who is in her 40s, has been making grass linen for more than two decades in Zhouxing town, in southwestern Sichuan province's Longchang city, where she was born.

The origin of the traditional cloth, made from ramie fiber, can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty (c. 21st century-16th century BC).