Page 100 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts

Art of Silk and
Art on Silk in China

Zhao Feng

Professor, China National Silk Museum,
Hangzhou

Sericulture and silk production are

Chinese inventions whose profound

impact on culture and civilization extend-

ed far beyond China's borders. To most

people, silk, however attractive, is merely

the stuff of household draperies and

clothing; they give no thought to the

crucial functions of silk in Chinese art.

But silk art, as an independent genre,