Inheritance and innovation spanning thousands of years: The “Resurrection” of Zhejiang Jili Lake Silk

Walking into Jili Village, Nanxun Town, Nanxun District, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, in a wooden house, Gu Mingqi, who is over seventy years old, is sitting in front of an old-fashioned wooden silk reeling cart, stepping on the pedals rhythmically, placing silk in a basin. The silk was slowly pulled out.

“Adjust the temperature to 90 degrees Celsius and start cooking the cocoons. Use straw cores to stick the silk, first wind it, then hook it, and then wind it onto the silk car. Use your feet to step on the car according to the inertia of the car, and you can pull it up to 1,400 meters.” As a country Gu Mingqi, the representative inheritor of the silk weaving technique (Jilihu Silk Handmade Technique), a representative item of intangible cultural heritage, is very familiar with the silk reeling technique.

In Gu Mingqi’s memory, every household in the village raised silkworms and produced silk when she was a child. When he was 8 years old, he learned the hand-making skills of Jilihu silk from his parents. He sat for most of the day. Later, he often spent an entire night studying one detail until he became familiar with all the traditional skills of silk reeling.

As a veritable “Home of Silk“, the formation of Huzhou Silk Town began in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Jili Lake silk is named after it is produced in Jili Village. It has eight characteristics: “thin, round, even, strong, white, clean, soft and tough”. One piece of Lake silk can wear 8 copper coins.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, “Jili silk” was designated as the material for the emperor’s dragon robe, and it became famous ever since. In 1851, “Jili silk” won the gold and silver awards at the first World Expo held in London, England. Let the reputation of “Jili Lake be the best in the world” become famous internationally.

In recent years, with the development of mechanized silk reeling technology, a large number of handicraft skills have been buried or even lost. In order to better preserve the traditional skills of silk reeling, Gu Mingqi “rescued” an old silk reeling car that was about to be discarded and is still using it to make Hu silk.

“If our generation does not retain it, no one will. Not only do I learn it, I also let my son, daughter-in-law and grandson learn it.” In 2014, Gu Mingqi also commented on “Jili Hu Silk Handmade Techniques” Compiled, visited and researched in many places, and collected a large number of pictures and historical materials, totaling more than 50,000 words.

Gu Mingqi is gratified that all parties in Huzhou are also working hard to inherit this intangible cultural heritage, such as carrying out a series of sericulture-themed study experiences for primary and secondary school students, setting up scientific research on silk culture, and hiring intangible inheritors to serve as elective courses for students. Off-campus tutors for classes and labor practice classes, etc.

The gears of time keep moving forward, and the story of silk continues to be written. Today, intangible cultural heritage is not only “alive” but also “bright”.

Tao Hu, an innovative user of silk weaving technology (Jilihu silk hand-making technology) and deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has long led a team to try the innovation of Jilihu silk. Because silk has better optical properties, they extracted silk protein to make a storage hard drive.

“Hard drives made of silk can not only store digital information at very high density, but are also well compatible with blood DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) drugs, antibiotics, and vaccines.” Tao Hu said that this silk The hard drive has also become a hard drive that can store life information and digital information simultaneously.

A piece of silk connects the world, and a piece of silk leads science and technology to the future. Currently, Tao Hu’s team is exploring visual restoration, taking advantage of silk’s natural antibacterial and degradable advantages to create the first silk brain-computer interface, thereby reducing brain damage and minimizing rejection.

“Inlaid on the head, like a small horn. We use external sensors to obtain these images and bypass the visual system through a brain interface. We have currently tested it on large animals and epilepsy patients.” Tao Hu said.

The combination of traditional intangible cultural heritage and modern technology shines brighter. As Pan Lusheng, chairman of the Chinese Folk Writers and Artists Association, said, “In the past, silk books made of silk recorded the history of civilization; now, silk is made of hard drives, realizing the immortality of technology.”

AAA

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