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).

Grass linen is popular for its natural resistance to bacteria, durability and permeability, which keeps the body cool in summer. And it’s also a stylish choice for those who want to highlight traditional Oriental beauty.

The cloth made in Longchang was much sought after by royalty during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

In 2009, the technique of making grass linen in Longchang was designated as Sichuan provincial intangible culture heritage.

Locals still use the age-old method to make grass linen, a technique that goes back over 1,000 years.

“Everything is done by hand, because you have to tie the broken thread when it breaks, which happens a lot,” says Tang. “And the hotter it is, the easier for the thread to break.”

In addition, the thread extracted from plants splits easily.

The thread broke twice as she spoke to us, but she fixed the problems so quickly that we could not make out how she did it. “Practice makes perfect,” she says.

It takes 12 steps to produce grass linen, ranging from extracting the thread from the ramie, dehydration and starching to washing and dyeing.

Tang says that every step can significantly impact the quality of the finished cloth.

For example, starching the thread takes a lot of work.

“You need to prepare the starch (made from rice and oil) just about right,” says Tang.

If it’s too thin, it won’t be strong enough to keep the thread from splitting, but if it’s too dry, it makes it difficult to wrap the thread into the shuttle.

Moreover, it takes work to make sure every bit of the thread is fully immersed.

So far, more than 3,000 locals in Zhouxing have got grass linen making down to a fine art, which has helped them to get out of poverty.

“The ultimate goal is to make it smooth, easy to weave,” says Tang.

An experienced worker like Tang, who typically works 10-12 hours a day when she is not busy doing farm work, can weave around 10 meters of cloth in a day.

But she is currently the manager at the plant, where there are roughly 400 employees who mostly work flexible hours.

“They do farming in the daytime during the harvest season and weaving at night,” says Tang.

Tang’s plant can produce 38,000 pieces of grass linen a year.

And currently, a piece of cloth that is 23 meters long and 0.36 meters wide sells for around 800 yuan ($117.1).

As of now, there are six companies making grass linen in Zhouxing, creating jobs for 1,000 locals, according to Luo Xingyu, an official with the Zhouxing government.

Each of them earns around 8,000 yuan a year on average.

Grass linen from Zhouxing is mainly exported to South Korea and Japan, with 300 million yuan in annual sales, Luo says.

In 2017, Longchang exported $20.7 million worth of grass linen, the local economic and information bureau says, with Zhouxing accounting for 67 percent of the total.

Meanwhile, the Longchang government has ensured large-scale ramie plantation over the years to ensure raw materials for grass linen production. And it also encourages grass linen masters to take in apprentices to ensure that the craft survives.

So far, more than 3,000 locals in Zhouxing have got grass linen making down to a fine art, which has helped them to get out of poverty.

“Even children and the elderly can earn by wrapping the thread into the shuttle,” says Tang.