Jin is known by the western world as “brocade” or “broccato” (Italian), “damask” (Arabic) and “jacquard”. It features typically symmetrical designs and geometric patterns unique to the culture it came from (Chinese).
But Jin itself wasn’t just a design valued in its final product, it was also closely associated with the history of silk and the talent of weaving. This means it has a gendered history, as well as an inventive one. And as with most things in Chinese traditions, the journey of something is of far greater value than the fact of its destination.
The value of Jin/brocade partially comes from the skill and talent it takes to weave. Jin typically used silk to embroider these patterns, which involved shuttle-weaving (feeding the needle back and forth in cloth) and textured feels to the fabric, to give it beauty in richness, dimensionality, and play in the lighting and reflectivity.
It also used velvet which historically was made from silk, but other affordable base materials include wool, linen, cotton and more.
I want to share this history of Jin as a cultural design originating from China, as well as its affiliated Sericulture and silk industry which China was robbed from.
More about Jin/Brocade can be learned from The History of Brocade Fabric: Opulence Through the Ages and also this Guide to China’s Four Famous Brocades: The Art of Woven Power.
Many nations have consistently envied China for our natural resources AND our talents. To break up the monopoly that the Chinese had on their own culture, many nations would steal resources and techniques—often without credit, so as to build their own competitive industries without needing to involve Chinese hands or to give back to the empire.
This happened to our metalwork (cast iron), tea (teh in Hokkien), chai (cha in Mandarin), paper making techniques, printing techniques, our organisational strategies in governance, our techniques in military and agriculture (where our vegetable farms have benefitted so many countries and indigenous communities where we worked with them), our philosophies and value systems— and most tragically, our silk and Jin/brocade techniques.
While our Jin styles were inspirations for those outside of China, at the same time there is some disrespectful histories involved which has led to the manufacturing of silk and Jin/Brocade outside of China.
Some of the old nations inspired by Jin includes Japan since 300 BCE, Korea since 200 BCE, Khotan* in 50 AD and India in 140 AD. Nanjing Jin/brocade is the inspiration behind native Javanese Batik style, which then inspired African wax prints as well. Jin also inspired the Arabic Damask cloth. The Byzantines* (East Roman Empire) deeply admired our brocade patterns and tried to recreate it with linen and wool since early AD. European styles later used Jin in medieval and renaissance brocade which has continued in their fashion industries.
But what was always missing from constructions was silk (and its velvet derivative), specifically that which was made from Chinese species of domesticated silkworms. Why? Because it was mainly China that had domesticated silkworms of a specific species that we knew how to care for, so as to produce silk for a number of applications including in clothing and even paper-making. The silkworms were treasures of China that were heavily guarded by the empire for thousands of years.
Silk production and Sericulture ( production of silk and rearing of silkworms ) especially of the Bombyx mori species, originates from Neolithic China coming from our indigenous ancestors belonging to the cultures such as the Yangshao, Hemudu, Yuyao and Zhejiang from 4000 BCE as far as we can currently trace. But evidence of silk is even older, at around 7000 BCE was the earliest evidence we found in Chinese Neolithic tombs of Jiahu, along with other tools for silk-weaving.
Although silk was well known in Europe and most of Asia, China was able to keep a near-monopoly on silk production for several centuries, defended by an imperial decree and condemning to death anyone attempting to export silkworms or their eggs.
The Chinese authorities closely controlled and guarded the sericulture technique and process secretly because the silk was exclusively discovered and reserved for the ruler’s use. If anyone smuggled the cocoons or silkworm eggs or revealed the secrets outside of China, they would be sentenced to death.
Because of its value and its artificial scarcity, silk was considered to be a prized export for all Chinese people. At that time, silk was highly in demand among the kings and nobles of foreign lands, and they were ready to pay a high cost for the silk cloth.
Therefore, the Chinese rulers do not want to reveal their secrets to others and make more income from their silk production. Overall, China wanted to dominate the world in silk production.
There is historical evidence for the harvesting of silk from wild silkworms to weave clothing about ~2000 years later than Neolithic China (ie in South Asia, Central Asia and the Celtics). However, most scholarly papers such as this Harvard paper which sought to argue against the Chinese’ monopoly on the history of silk, conveniently fails to indicate that the methods and designs of silk weaving, as well as the type of silk from a different species of silkworm, and the methods of sericulture were not only different, but also, do not take precedence in the rise to the medieval, renaissance, Indian, Arabic, Batik, and more derivatives in the A.D / C.E cultures of silk.
This is why it is only right that credit remains oriented towards Chinese culture.
Since 200 BCE, the Chinese began to open up to the transport of silk fabrics along the Silk Road, which was the first instance of its commercialisation. BUT we had been exporting it earlier than that, especially where Chinese silk was found in the tomb of an Egyptian mummy dating back to 1070 BCE. Which unsurprisingly, the Harvard papers writing about finding silk outside of China, failed to mention.
Silk was also used, for example, by the Persian court and its king, Darius III, when Alexander the Great conquered the empire. And it became so well-associated with the Chinese that the Grecian and Roman name for our peoples became “Seres” meaning “people of silk”. What did Silk mean to the Romans ?
Within decades Chinese silks became widely worn by the rich and noble families of Rome. The Roman Emperor Heliogabalus (AD 218 - 222) wore nothing but silk. By 380 AD, Marcellinus Ammianus reported, "The use of silk which was once confined to the nobility has now spread to all classes without distinction, even to the lowest."
The craving of silk continued to increase over the centuries. The price of silk was very hight in Rome. The best Chinese bark ( a particular kind of silk) cost as much as 300 denarii (a Roman soldier's salary for an entire year!). Many sources quote that Roman citizens' demand for imported silks was so great as to be damaging to the Roman economy.
Silk was even beginning to have a civilizing effect on the barbarians. In 408 AD when Alaric, a Goth, besieged Rome, his price for sparing the city included 5000 pounds of gold, 3000 pounds of pepper, 30,000 pounds of silver and 4000 tunics of silk.
Even though silk spread rapidly across Eurasia, with the possible exception of Japan, its production remained exclusively Chinese for 3000 years.
Then in 552 AD, the Byzantine empire smuggled (stole) our silk worms and began manufacturing Brocade. This history of how it was smuggled is also documented in the Smithsonian, and discussed by hobbyist historians. The monks involved in smuggling are surmised to be Nestorian (a Christian denomination) monks.
In 552 AD, the secret of silk was finally revealed to the west when two Nestorian monks from Byzantium were sent to central Asia by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. The monks had wooden staves as walking aids with specially hollowed compartments hidden inside.
Silkworm cocoons were smuggled out of China hidden in these compartments, with live silkworm grubs inside. The secret was finally out, and silk production was brought to the Byzantine Empire. But in truth the monks already knew about the grubs, and the secret had been slowly leaking long before this. [Source]
Just who comprised the Byzantine Empire?
The Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, with its capital at Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Lasting from the 4th century until 1453, it was a Greek-speaking, Christian empire that preserved Greco-Roman culture, legal systems, and served as a major power in the Mediterranean.
The Romans then began to set up silk factories and exported silk throughout Europe and the world, which damaged the silk industry of China and China’s claims on her own culture. They had already had the time to appropriate Chinese Jin designs and now, they had the special base material to craft it as the Chinese did, while rebranding it as Roman glory.
Under their supervision the eggs hatched into worms, and the worms spun cocoons. Byzantium was in the silk business at last. The Byzantine church and state created imperial workshops, monopolizing production and keeping the secret to themselves. This allowed a silk industry to be established in the Middle East, undercutting the market for ordinary-grade Chinese silk.
However high-quality silk textiles, woven in China especially for the Middle Eastern market, continued to bring high prices in the West, and trade along the Silk Road therefore continued as before.
By the sixth century the Persians, too, had mastered the art of silk weaving, developing their own rich patterns and techniques. It was only in the 13th century—the time of the Second Crusades—that Italy began silk production with the introduction of 2000 skilled silk weavers from Constantinople. Eventually silk production became widespread in Europe. [Source]
We are all familiar with the depictions of many Middle Ages / Medieval and Renaissance peoples wearing silk brocade which continues to play a role in European aesthetics of opulence to this day. We are also familiar with the burgeoning groups of peoples who wear silks especially with Chinese designs on them. But when we say that these are appropriated, they weren’t just designs taken and replicated without credit or respect. They were quite literally stolen.
The Chinese used special looms that were deemed “superior” to European looms, with the advantage of freeing the hands of the weaver. Europeans had invented spinning wheels and looms to accommodate the textiles industry which blossomed in the Middle Ages.
This resulted in the sericulture spread that reduced the demand for silk from China. Moreover, silk production had also reached western Europe and many Italian states because of the Crusades. It resulted in an economic boom for the rest of Europe through the export of silk. During the Middle Ages, many changes have taken place in manufacturing techniques. At first, the appearance of devices like spinning wheels was observed. France joined the developing process of the silk trade with Italy to make it successful during the 16th century. [Source]
Just think about what it means for silk to be equated with gold, silver and the spice trades. What is so commercially available to us these days, were once rare goods that denoted precious unwavering value for their rarity and the devotions and talents of the Chinese peoples. Think about how, in today’s world, Chinese peoples’ labour are frequently seen as expendable, unskilled, “stolen techniques” and cheap replications of the West.
Stolen Chinese silk became the reason for European economic boom and the devaluation of silk to a common good. The history of appropriation and robbery turned something precious and guarded into something common, purely capitalistic and culturally-devoid.
Meanwhile many cultures inspired by Jin styles, have regionally modified their own methods of designs. But what fails to be credited is still, Chinese culture and its traditions. And where silk is used elsewhere, so too, has credit been lost.
Since the 20th century, Japan and China have been said to have regained some dominance on the silk industry, especially since a disease effectively destroyed the European silk industry.
But while silk was once something revered and of significance to the Chinese, its commodification has led to its reduced value and importance.
Just what did Silk mean to the Chinese?
China has long been associated with the production of silk, to the point that ancient Egyptian writers referred to it as Serica, literally “the land of silk.” The Chinese so closely guarded the secrets of silk that the Roman historian Pliny the Elder (23-79 c.e.) wrote that it was produced by washing downy fibers from leaves [which is obviously incorrect].
So old is sericulture (the techniques surrounding the raising of the silkworm moth, Bombyx mori, and the unwinding of its cocoons for silk fiber to be woven into fabric) that its origins have become surrounded by myth and legend.
The oldest recorded person credited as discovering sericulture and founding it, was Leizu, the wife/concubine of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi (2704–2600 BCE). [Source]. The legend is as follows:
According to the most common versions of the story, she went to retrieve a cocoon that had fallen into a cup of hot water (some versions say it was tea that she had been making while in the gardens of the Imperial palace). When she withdrew the cocoon, she and all her court were astonished to discover that it came out hanging from a delicate silken thread. The heat of the water had dissolved the gummy substance known as sericen that the silkworm moth uses to bind the silken thread into a solid cocoon and thus enabled the silk fiber to be reeled up for weaving. Although the discovery is generally said to have been an accident, other versions of the tradition suggest that Leizu’s husband had assigned her to study the possibility of weaving a useful fiber from silkworm cocoons.
Leizu is said to have developed the techniques by which silkworms could be raised in controlled conditions and invented looms and other equipment with which to transform raw silk fiber into the beautiful, sensuous cloth for which China would become famous throughout the world. So extensive was her contribution to the production of silk that she was deified and joined the sizeable Chinese pantheon as Shantzen (Sien-tsan), the goddess of silkworms. This apotheosis further contributed to the blurring of historical fact with legend, making it difficult if not impossible to determine the boundaries of each.
Silk played a role in our cultural rituals and especially Chinese women gender roles. It allowed for women to contribute to Chinese society and to earn treasured irreplaceability. It was a reason for large groups of women to gather and work together to produce something of such esteemed value to the empire, even in the absence of men. Where each and every stage required devotion and attentiveness to ensure the final product was perfect:
Literary sources such as The Book of History, and The Book of Rites give further information about sericulture. Reeling silk and spinning were always considered household duties for women, while weaving and embroidery were carried out in workshops as well as the home. In every silk-producing province the daughters, mothers and grandmothers of every family devoted a large part of the day for six months in a year to the feeding, tending and supervision of silkworms and to the unraveling, spinning, weaving, dyeing and embroidering of silk. By the fifth century BC, at least six Chinese provinces were producing silk. Each spring, the empress herself inaugurated the silk-raising season, for silk production was the work of women all over China. [Source]
It was heavily guarded and controlled by Chinese authorities:
The technique and process of sericulture were guarded secrets and closely controlled by Chinese authorities. Anyone who revealed the secrets or smuggled the silkworm eggs or cocoons outside of China would be punished by death.
Silk designated class and connection to the Chinese imperials. It was initially reserved exclusively for Chinese emperors, close relations and awarded as the highest of honours to his dignitaries. The colours themselves were symbolic to the Chinese peoples, and were considered to be a guide for the social class of the wearer in the Tang Dynasty.
As a material for clothing and accessories, the use of silk was regulated by a very precise code in China. For example, the Tang dynasty and Song dynasty used colour symbolism to denote the various ranks of bureaucrats, according to their function in society, with certain colours of silk restricted to the upper classes only.
Within the palace, the emperor is believed to have worn a robe of white silk; outside, he, his principal wife, and the heir to the throne wore yellow, the color of the earth.
These fashion accessories remained associated with a particular position: there was specific headgear for warriors, for judges, for nobles, and others for religious use. The women of high Chinese society also followed these codified practices, and used silk in their garments alongside the addition of countless decorative motifs.
Gradually the various classes of society began wearing tunics of silk, and silk came into more general use.
Silk was so important to the Chinese that it became the principal diplomatic gift from Chinese Emperors to neighbouring countries and vassal states (such as Vietnam, Korea and more). Sericulture (silkworm) and Silk-weaving methods were spread to the Japanese, Koreans and Indian peoples. Western Asia also seemed to have come in contact with silk as the fabric is alluded in the Bible.
In spite of their secrecy, however, the Chinese were destined to lose their monopoly on silk production. Sericulture reached Korea around 200 BC, when waves of Chinese immigrants arrived there. Silk reached the West through a number of different channels. Shortly after AD 300, sericulture traveled westward and the cultivation of the silkworm was established in India.
It is also said that in AD 440, a prince of Khotan ( today's Hetian)--a kingdom on the rim of Taklamakan desert -- courted and won a Chinese princess. The princess smuggled out silkworm eggs by hiding them in her voluminous hairpiece. This was scant solace to the silk-hungry people of the West, for Khotan kept the secret too. [Source: History of Silk]
Silk had many more uses than just for clothing and decoration, but while the Chinese had already discovered this thousands of years ago—the West has only just realised this in modern times.
Silk, indeed, rapidly became one of the principal elements of the Chinese economy. Silk was used for musical instruments, fishing-lines, bowstrings, bonds of all kinds, and even rag paper, the word's first luxury paper. Eventually even the common people were able to wear garments of silk.
It also became a form of currency, especially for silk farmers who controlled this means of currency production, while the circulation of it reached the upper echelons:
During the Han Dynasty, silk ceased to be a mere industrial material and became an absolute value in itself. Farmers paid their taxes in grain and silk. Silk began to be used for paying civil servants and rewarding subjects for outstanding services. Values were calculated in lengths of silk as they had been calculated in pounds of gold. Before long it was to become a currency used in trade with foreign countries. This use of silk continued during the Tang as well. It is possible that this added importance was the result of a major increase in production.
The character for silk (糸) soon constituted one of the principal radicals of Chinese script, which tells of how essential it is in Chinese livelihoods to have made it into the common languages.
It found its way so thoroughly into the Chinese language that 230 of the 5,000 most common characters of the mandarin "alphabet" have silk as their "key".
Whenever I see historians document why the Chinese so closely guarded silk, it seemed that the focus was primarily on the capital that silk provided, as well as the framing of a sense of greed and stinginess in desiring to monopolise the silk trade. It undoubtedly holds some racialised harmful stereotypes of the Chinese. An example of this is as follows:
Because of its value and its artificial scarcity, silk was considered to be a prized export for all Chinese people. At that time, silk was highly in demand among the kings and nobles of foreign lands, and they were ready to pay a high cost for the silk cloth.
Therefore, the Chinese rulers do not want to reveal their secrets to others and make more income from their silk production. Overall, China wanted to dominate the world in silk production.
While this is undoubtedly partially the reason, this remains a narrow focus which frames Chinese peoples protective over our culture as stingy peoples obsessed with wealth. And this is additionally malicious where it unsurprisingly comes from the Chinese peoples’ secrecy and protectiveness we have over our culture and cultural arts.
Silk itself was not just wealth. It was culture, it was livelihood, it was stories passed down, it was pride, it was Chinese dignity in the reverence for the empire and those who represented it, as connected to our heavens. It was friendship and alliances forged through the art of giving something not only something precious, but something made precious through intricate devoted processes of raising and harvesting silkworms, and the Intergenerational womens’ trade of silkweaving.
It was the significance of being a Chinese person in a rapidly commercialising and globalising world. Where much of our cultures and talents had been exported and commodified, this was allowed insofar as we were respected, received credit and adequate trade in the transaction. But this did not always last and so much of our art, talent, techniques and raw materials have been adopted and stolen with the cultural history forgotten.
Even whilst peoples from those cultures systemically oppressed our peoples, and our own lose pride in ourselves and forget the value of our own cultural practices, arts and products.
To be forgotten is not a coincidence. It’s erasure.
So the next time anyone sees anything made of silk, “brocade” or any of Jin derivatives and inspired forms in other cultures, remember its history and the peoples foundational in its founding.
"Like the nearby crimson example, this is a damask. Its subtle pattern was achieved by contrasting the shiny warp face with the matte weft face of the same weave, a technique that European weavers learned by studying imported Chinese silks. The motif’s midsize scale renders this design versatile enough to be used for furnishings, wall coverings, or dress fabric."
