Colorful homespun fabric exhibition held in Nantong

[Video/Nantong Daily]

Wusan Art Museum in Nantong offered an exhibition featuring uniquely beautiful butterfly patterns set on colorful homespun fabric.

The exhibition showcased more than 20 pieces produced using the fabric, which saw its height of popularity in Nantong and Shanghai's Songjiang and Chongming during the 1940s to 1950s.

A spinning wheel and scroll of colorful homespun fabric with butterfly patterns on display at the exhibition. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

This type of colorful homespun fabric with butterfly patterns is an extremely rare variety as the weaving technique is quite complicated, explained Song Yajun, head of the Nantong Baicao Qianhua Homespun Fabric Institute.

He added that the butterfly pattern often appears together with a star pattern and the Chinese character "喜," connoting longevity, love, blessings, and auspiciousness.

Close-up of a scroll of colorful homespun fabric with butterfly patterns showcased at the exhibition. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Zhang Yuanyuan, curator of the exhibition, noted that by utilizing modern patterns on colorful homespun fabric, the exhibition is hoped to have piqued the interest of younger generations in the traditional craftwork.

The origins of Nantong's colorful homespun fabric can be traced back to 5,000 years ago, when the people of Qingdun Culture in the city began pioneering new spinning techniques. Jumping ahead to the early 20th century, the handicraft industry experienced unprecedented development, with annual production reaching 17 million scrolls, utilizing hundreds of patterns.

A blouse made with colorful homespun fabric with butterfly patterns on display at the exhibition. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Sponsored by the Nantong Folk Literature and Art Association, the Nantong Federation of New Literary and Art Groups, and the Nantong Baicao Qianhua Homespun Fabric Institute, the exhibition ran until Jan 14.