Chengdu's old name, Jincheng, means brocade city, and the river running through it is called the Jinjiang, the brocade river, because woven silk was once washed in its water. Silk production and weaving have been part of this place since the Han dynasty, when Shu brocade was both a court luxury and a major export along the southern trade routes.
Shu brocade
Shu brocade is a figured silk woven on a drawloom, with patterns built up from coloured warp and weft threads. The classic designs are geometric, cloud, phoenix and floral motifs, and the colour palette traditionally runs to deep reds, golds, blues and greens. Genuine hand-woven brocade is expensive and slow to produce; the weaving is done on large traditional looms that need two people to operate, one throwing the shuttle and one lifting the pattern cords. There is a small working exhibition in Chengdu where you can watch this being done, with looms, reels and pattern books on display.
Shu embroidery
Shu embroidery is one of the four recognised regional embroidery traditions of China, along with Su, Xiang and Yue. Its distinguishing features are fine silk thread split into very thin filaments, smooth satin stitch, and a preference for subjects drawn from Sichuan life: carp, pandas, hibiscus, bamboo, and the region's birds and flowers. A hand-embroidered panel can take months. Machine-embroidered versions are cheap and widely sold, and learning to tell the difference matters if you are buying anything substantial.
How to tell hand from machine
Turn the piece over. Hand embroidery usually has a tidier back than machine work, with the thread carried neatly rather than loose and cut across the middle. Look at the direction of the stitches: hand work varies the angle to follow the shape of a leaf or feather, while machine work tends to run in uniform parallel lines. Prices reflect the difference by a factor of ten or more.
Where to see and buy
Chengdu has a brocade and embroidery institute with a museum and shop, and there are specialist counters in the museums and in the better craft shops around Jinli and Wenshu Monastery. Small embroidered items - purses, bookmarks, framed panels, silk scarves - are affordable and light to carry. Ask for the fibre content, and if you are buying brocade, ask whether it is hand-woven or machine-woven before you discuss price.
