Editor's note:

The beauty of national treasures, through ancient and modern times, is magnificent. Behind each rare cultural relic is the ingenuity and wisdom of the ancients, engraved with the cultural genes of the Chinese nation, and witnessing the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations. From 2023 March 3, China News Service "East-West Question" has launched the "Treasures of the Town Hall" series of planning (20), through experts to explore the meaning of cultural relics and the stories behind them.

Urumqi, 3 March (ZXS) -- How can a cotton robe bear witness to cultural exchanges between the East and the West a thousand years ago?

——Interview with Ye Baoping, deputy research librarian of the Kashgar Regional Museum in Xinjiang

China News Agency reporter Zhu Jingchao

Located at the intersection of the north and south of the Xinjiang section of the Silk Road, Kashgar Prefecture is the gateway of Chinese civilization to the outside world and an important area for foreign civilizations to enter China.

The Kashgar Regional Museum has a collection of more than 5000,<> pieces (sets), one of which is decorated with silk edge silk cotton robe, which is a fabric from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, which is a treasure in the collection and a national first-class cultural relic in the museum. How has this artifact told the story of cultural exchange between East and West for thousands of years? What kind of "Silk Road spirit" does it carry? Recently, Ye Baoping, deputy research librarian of the Kashgar Regional Museum, was interviewed by the China News Agency's "East-West Question".

The following is a summary of the interview:

China News Agency: As the treasure of the Kashgar Regional Museum, what kind of cultural relics is the silk cotton robe decorated with silk edges?

Ye Baoping: The silk-edged silk cotton robe is a fabric from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, collected in Kyzyl Awati Township, Megati County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang, and is a national first-class cultural relic. It is made of cyan silk and yellow cotton, with sleeves 2.85 meters long and a robe length of 1.25 meters, with an open collar, narrow long sleeves and a wide hem, and silk trim at the front, neckline, cuffs and hem, and some silk patterns with gold thread.

Silk-trimmed silk cotton robe. Photo courtesy of Xinjiang Kashgar Regional Museum

Ancient silk can refer to silk in general. Today's Aya, Luo, silk, satin, and silk are all textiles woven from silk. The main difference between them is that due to the overlapping relationship of warp and weft threads during spinning, there are differences in touch, gloss and so on. The silk fabric is plain with a light texture, tough and flat.

Reeling silk, also known as "engraved silk", uses mulberry silk as raw material, using the unique technique of "through warp and broken weft, raw warp cooked weft, fine warp coarse weft, white warp color weft, straight warp curved weft", digging and weaving patterns and patterns, the fabric texture is solid and structured and the double-sided effect is exactly the same. The silk floral beads on both sides of the silk cotton robe decorated with silk edges are very characteristic of the Western Regions, and the floral pattern is rough and unrestrained; The use of gold thread in silk reeling is a silk reeling process that appeared in the Yuan Dynasty.

Silk-edged silk cotton robe (partial). Photo courtesy of Xinjiang Kashgar Regional Museum

China News Agency: How does the silk cotton robe decorated with silk edges witness the exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations thousands of years ago? Why is this a combination of East and West?

Ye Baoping: China is the origin of silk, and Xinjiang is a key region for the spread of silk and silk technology to the west. The phoenix bird pattern embroidered silk found in the Aragou tomb in the Tianshan Mountains near Urumqi in 1976 is the earliest silk found in Xinjiang, indicating that silk entered the Xinjiang region during the Warring States period. Before the 5th century, textile centers such as Guizi, Shule, Gaochang and Khotan were formed in Xinjiang, and silk fabrics with their own characteristics were weaved. In the process of silk spread, in addition to the silk fabric itself and its production techniques, the Chinese culture of "harmony and symbiosis" contained in silk has also spread outward.

Tomb No. 28 in Alagou, Urumqi City, excavated Warring States phoenix bird pattern embroidery. Source: Xinjiang "Four History" themed mobile museum

The Bazerek Tomb (the fifth Bazerek tomb, belonging to the 5th-4th century BC) in the Ulagan district of the Gorno-Altai region of the Russian Federation today was unearthed in 1949 with a saddle made of gorgeous Chinese silk, embroidered with flowering branches, and the sacred bird phoenix flew in it, indicating that Chinese silk had gone to the world at that time.

The tomb of Bazerek, Russia, excavated (from Chinese mainland) Warring States embroidery with bird patterns. Source: Xinjiang "Four History" themed mobile museum

Academic research believes that Chinese silk originated from the Western Regions in terms of craftsmanship and techniques. From a worldwide perspective, there was a weaving process 3000,3 years ago, and three pieces of sackcloth unearthed from the tomb of the pharaoh Thutmose IV of the <>th Dynasty of Egypt used the weaving technique to weave the portrait of Amenophus II in lotus flowers and paper yarn. Later, hemp evolved into hair, which gradually spread eastward and spread to Xinjiang. Studies have shown that wool fabrics have been found in Shanshan, Hewei, Hotan and Kashgar in Xinjiang, and early woolen fabrics came from the West, while woolen fabrics unearthed at the Tokuzisalai site (Tang Dynasty) in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang were produced locally.

Organization chart of the red-ground sheep's horn striped hairy tapestry. Source: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum compiled "Textile Treasures of Zarolluk"

Compared with the previous dynasty, the Tang Dynasty's management of the Western Regions was greatly strengthened, and the Western Regions were politically stable, economically prosperous, and made unprecedented achievements in culture and art. In the historical context of cultural exchanges between East and West through the Silk Road, the weaving technology imported from the West and the silk technology of China were perfectly combined in the Western Regions to produce silk, which was later transmitted east to the Central Plains.

There is no doubt that the silk-trimmed silk cotton robe is an eclectic innovation of the ancient Chinese working people.

China News Agency: What kind of aesthetic pursuit does the silk cotton robe embody with silk edges? What is the impact on Xinjiang Adlais silk?

Ye Baoping: The silk-edged silk cotton robe is a garment produced in the Western Regions, but the texture, craftsmanship and style are consistent with the clothing of the Central Plains. After the Song Dynasty, silk has always been the object of imperial and aristocratic pursuit, with the reputation of "the saint in weaving" and "an inch of silk and an inch of gold". High-grade materials and craftsmanship such as silk and silk are used on the silk cotton robe, which on the one hand reflects the high grade of this garment, and on the other hand, it also reflects the pursuit of Chinese culture by the nobles of the ancient Western Regions.

Silk has always been a favorite item of the ancient aristocracy of Xinjiang. The ancient working people of Xinjiang learned to raise silkworms and collect silk, and began to spin and weave silk. The ancient inhabitants of Kashgar and Hotan created new techniques based on traditional craftsmanship, producing the "flower of cuckoo wings" Edlais silk. This kind of silk adopts the ancient Chinese warp dyeing process, according to the pattern requirements, the warp yarn is tied and knotted, and the layered dyeing, warping and weaving are carried out. In the dyeing process, the pattern has a naturally formed color halo due to the infiltration of the dyeing solution, jagged, evacuated and not messy, which not only increases the layering of the pattern and the transitional surface of the color, but also forms the characteristics of rich changes in the pattern of Edles silk. For thousands of years, Adeleth silk has not only been popular in the Western Regions, but also sold to the Central Plains. In the 10th century, the King of Khotan brought a large number of "Hujin" and "Xijin" woven from Hotan to the Central Plains for commercial exchanges, which were loved by princes and nobles.

Today, Adlais silk is still favored by the people of Xinjiang. Both at festivals and in normal times, they are dressed in Edles costumes.

The silk-edged silk cotton robe influenced the production of Adlais silk and is also loved by the people of Xinjiang today. Photo by Zhu Jingchao

China News Agency: What is the enlightenment significance of the "Silk Road Spirit" carried by the silk cotton robe decorated with silk edges to the exchanges and cooperation of human civilization today?

Ye Baoping: China's exquisite silk spread west to Europe, and silk reeling technology spread across time and space, from distant Egypt and the Two Rivers Valley, along the ancient Silk Road to China. The broad and profound, eclectic Chinese civilization has gradually sinicized this foreign textile craft, Chinese integrating traditional paintings and decorative patterns into it, making the most primitive textile technology of mankind a highly elegant work of art. For more than a thousand years since the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese working people have continuously innovated, improved and disseminated this technology, making it full of vitality and vitality, adding a wonderful chapter to China's textile history and art history.

The Silk Road is not only a commercial channel, but also a platform for humanistic and social exchanges, where multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural convergence and integration, forming the "Silk Road Spirit" where countries of different races, beliefs and cultural backgrounds can share peace and common development.

The silk-edged silk cotton robe is a concrete embodiment of the "spirit of the Silk Road" and a splendid flower of exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations. At the same time, the silk-edged silk cotton robe itself fully shows that Xinjiang, which is at the crossroads of world civilization, is rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese civilization, compatible with foreign civilizations and advanced cultures of the Central Plains, creating a unique regional culture and enriching the connotation of the unity and diversity of Chinese culture. (End)

Respondent Profile:

Ye Baoping, born in 1984, graduated from Xinjiang Shihezi University in 2007, has long been engaged in the research of cultural relics and history in Kashgar Prefecture, and is currently an associate research librarian of the Kashgar Regional Museum. He has successively participated in the compilation of books such as "Overview of Key Cultural Relics Protection Units in Kashgar Prefecture" and "Cultural Relics of Kashgar Prefecture", compiled the outline of "Kashgar Historical Cultural Relics Display" of Kashgar Regional Museum, and published papers such as "A Brief Description of the Discovery and Research of Stone Age Remains in Kashgar Prefecture" and "Three Ancient Sites Found in the Kleqing River Valley". In the summer of 3, he participated in the "Xinjiang Kunlun Qiaogoli Ancient Road Scientific Expedition", which produced a number of new discoveries in cultural tourism.