Xianhe Street is located at the northwest end of the Qinhuai River New Bridge, starting from Jiqing Road in the south and reaching Xianhe Bridge in the north. As the name suggests, the origin of the name of this street is related to the beautiful and noble crane, and the moving legend about it is widely spread among the people. A long time ago, there were many families living in this area, most of whom made a living by weaving cloud brocade.

There was a family of mother and son, although ingenious, could only rely on the brocade materials from the owner to weave cloud brocade to survive, because they often used their meager income to help the poor. The seven fairies in the sky were moved by the diligence and kindness of the mother and son, and sent two beautiful cranes down to earth and flew to the mother and son's loom to circle a few times. Since then, a steady stream of brocade materials has appeared on the loom every day.

The mother and son no longer had to ask the owner for materials, and life gradually improved. The proprietor saw that they only produced brocade, no materials, and the cloud brocade was woven more beautifully than the original, which was very strange, so he sent someone to visit, and the mother and son were honest and told the truth about the flying crane. When the owner heard the news, he suddenly had a bad idea, and took the housekeeper to the mother and son's house, pretending to ask for warmth.

Taking advantage of the fact that the mother and son were not paying attention, they pounced on the loom, grabbed the warp, and dragged it out desperately. When the warp was about to end, suddenly, a pair of beautiful cranes flew out from the end of the thread, pecked the head of the proprietor and the housekeeper several times, and saved the mother and son from the loom. Since then, people have known this street as Xianhe Street.

He not only conquered the female stars of all China, but also made Yunjin amaze the world!

The most beautiful clothes should be fairies, weaving with the clouds in the sky, you will think that the clouds are nothing more than that, "Jiangnan is good, and the machine is heavenly." The peacock makeup is brocade, and the ice silkworm spits out the phoenix mist. A new kind of small dragon. "A song "Remembering Jiangnan" praises the beauty of Yunjin, the ingenious makeup skills, the extraordinary pattern style, the magnificent and gorgeous clouds, and the artistic realm that is like a natural is well-deserved.

Due to the rapid development of science and technology, many industries have gradually replaced manual labor with machines, so in recent years, "artefacts" have become more and more expensive, including clothing.

Different from foreign countries, China's clothing culture has a long history and far-reaching significance. As early as in the Book of Songs, it began to be recorded, and it was recorded in the Book of Songs, Xiaoya, Xiangbo, "Brilliant and Beautiful, into Bei Brocade", indicating that it was already able to spin into a very beautiful brocade at that time, which shows that the silk weaving technology at that time was very high.

Among the 5,000-year-old clothing treasures of China, I have to mention Yunjin.

Yunjin is named because of its brilliant color and luster, beautiful as the clouds in the sky, known as "inch brocade and inch gold", and has a history of nearly 1600 years. It is exquisitely used, fine weaving, exquisite patterns, gorgeous brocade patterns, the culmination of silk weaving technology in the past dynasties, and the valuable experience of other silk weaving processes, reaching the peak state of silk weaving technology.

In the ancient silk fabrics, "brocade" is the fabric that represents the highest technical level, and Nanjing Yunjin is the culmination of the cotton weaving craft art of the past dynasties, ranking the first of the four famous brocades in China. The Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties are all royal tributes, because of its rich culture and connotation, it is called the last milestone in the history of ancient Chinese brocade craft by experts, recognized as "Oriental Treasure", "China is a must", and it is also a precious historical and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation and the world.

As a representative of the highest level of ancient brocade weaving skills in China, Nanjing Yunjin wood machine makeup hand-weaving technology was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.

When many ancient textile techniques are gradually lost with the roar of the machine, now only Yunjin still maintains the traditional characteristics and unique skills, has retained the traditional jacquard wood weaving, this traditional hand-weaving skills woven by human memory still can not be replaced by modern machines.

Nanjing Yunjin brocade technology is unique, the difficulty of weaving Yunjin and technical requirements are very high, weaving Yunjin needs to be coordinated by the flower puller and the weaver, and the old-fashioned jacquard wood machine is used to weave, which must be completed by the jacquard worker and the weaver.

If you want to weave a 78 cm wide brocade, there are 14,000 silk threads on its weaving surface, and the composition of all flower patterns will be shuttled on these 14,000 threads, and two people with tacit understanding can only produce 5-6 cm a day, and this process can not be replaced by a machine, so there is a saying of "inch gold and inch brocade".

But it's also extremely beautiful. In the color matching of cloud brocade patterns, many of them are processed according to the specific needs of the pattern and using romantic techniques, such as clouds in the sky, with white clouds, gray clouds, and dark clouds...... In 2017, Lawrence Xu, the first famous Chinese haute couture designer to be shortlisted for Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, brought Nanjing Yunjin to Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.

He fell in love with Yunjin at first sight, and praised from the bottom of his heart, "Yunjin is like a grid in a deep alley." ”

At the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010, Fan Bingbing wore a dragon robe designed by him to open the red carpet sensationally, and won the third place in the top ten dresses of the world's major red carpet stars that year selected by fashion websites. The dragon pattern on this dragon robe and the river cliff sea pattern mopping the floor are all classic patterns of Yunjin.

Because it is very expensive, Yunjin is specially used by emperors, generals, princesses and princesses to make costumes. In ancient times, wearing cloud brocade was a symbol of status. In modern times, people also love the complex, gorgeous and beautiful Yunjin very much. In order to protect this ancient technology, on May 20, 2006, Nanjing Yunjin wood machine makeup hand-weaving technology was approved by the State Council and was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

As one of the characteristics of Nanjing, in 2004, with the support of the Nanjing Municipal Government, the "Nanjing Yunjin Museum" was established. Nanjing Yunjin Museum is the only professional museum of Yunjin in China and a national third-level museum, which mainly displays the Chinese national brocade art represented by Nanjing Yunjin, and is one of the "48 Views of New Jinling".

The reason why classics can be handed down is that in addition to their rarity and preciousness, of course, they are also indispensable for the integration with modern culture. With the growth of the younger generation, games have also become a good carrier for inheriting classic culture. Langang Interactive's first 3D dress-up palace fighting mobile game "Rouge Princess" is ingenious, on the basis of perfectly restoring the plot, its characteristic gameplay - palace dress-up system has also become the best combination with Yunjin culture.

It is reported that the mobile game "Rouge Princess" plans to combine the classic elements of Yunjin with ancient court costumes, specially produce a set of Yunjin game costumes, and spread Yunjin culture in the game, and pass on the treasures in Chinese clothing culture.

When the classics are combined with the modern, when the older generation is passed on to the next generation, it is in this kind of transmission from generation to generation that Chinese culture flourishes, like a great river flowing endlessly.

The word "brocade" of Yunjin is a combination of the word "gold" and the word "silk". The work is heavy, and its price is like gold. Therefore only His Holiness is served. This means that brocade is a luxurious and valuable silk silk, which only high-ranking officials and nobles can afford to wear in ancient times. In ancient silk fabrics, "brocade" is the fabric that represents the highest level of technology.

Yunjin brocade because of its color and luster is brilliant and brilliant, beautiful as the clouds in the sky and get the name, the materials are exquisite, the weaving is fine, the pattern is exquisite, the brocade is gorgeous, the style is elegant, it is developed on the basis of inheriting the excellent tradition of brocade in the past dynasties, and it has integrated the valuable experience of other silk weaving processes, and has reached the peak state of silk weaving technology.

In China, the most famous cloud brocade is Nanjing cloud brocade, its process is unique, the difficulty of weaving cloud brocade operation and technical requirements are very high, weaving cloud brocade needs to be coordinated by the flower worker and the weaver, with the old-fashioned jacquard wood machine weaving, the flower worker sits on the upper layer of the loom, responsible for lifting the warp; The weaver sits under the machine, responsible for weaving the weft, makeup and gold, two people can only produce 5-6 cm a day, this process can not be replaced by the machine, so there is a "inch of gold and inch brocade" said. The production process of Yunjin is very complicated, there are many processes, and the process of each process has a lot of mystery-like know-how. In general, there are five main parts of the process, namely, pattern design, flower picking, raw material preparation, machine building and weaving.

The pattern of Yunjin expresses the design idea of the core theme of Chinese auspicious culture: "power, blessing, lu, longevity, happiness and wealth", which expresses people's prayer for happiness and enthusiastic yearning. Nanjing Yunjin not only has the value of rare treasures and expensive historical relics, but also it is a symbol of national culture that is appreciated by both the elegant and the vulgar, and the collection is auspicious.

The use of materials in Chinese silk weaving technology, with its rich types, different texture characteristics and diverse structural forms, constitutes a myriad of visual images, making people feel the long-standing artistic connotation and cultural heritage conveyed in the materials, inheriting the strong national colors and emotions, and each cloud brocade pattern has its specific meaning.

Yun brocade is woven with gold thread, silver wire, copper wire and silk, silk and silk, etc., and the special materials used in cloud brocade, that is, the feathers of birds and beasts, such as peacock feathers, will also be woven into Yun brocade. Because of the colorful peacock feathers, under the illumination of the light, the cloud brocade woven with peacock feathers will refract a variety of colors, which is extremely gorgeous and beautiful. The extensive use of gold and silver in fabrics is a major feature of Yunjin, and gold and silver make Yunjin more magnificent. In particular, the use of "three-color gold" makes the color of Yunjin more varied, forming a unique style of golden brilliance.

In terms of color feelings, the Chinese tradition has always loved warm, bright, bright and strong positive colors, and disliked weak colors and repeated intercolors. Therefore, blue, red, yellow, green, purple, white, and black have become the main colors in Chinese decorative colors.

The color of Yunjin also inherits the tradition of this national decorative color. The brocade of the Yuan Dynasty changed from the traditional focus on color matching to advocating the use of gold as the main expression, which is a very prominent change in Chinese brocade decoration. The brocade of the Ming and Qing dynasties, under the influence of the prevailing gold in the Yuan Dynasty, not only paid attention to the color matching, but also paid attention to the use of gold, and the two decoration methods were eclectic, forming a new style of brocade decoration with equal emphasis on gold and color.

Under the influence of the gold culture of the Yuan Dynasty, combined with the specific practical requirements of royal costumes and court decorations, it formed its own color rules and decorative characteristics.

The commonly used pattern formats of cloud brocade patterns are: "group flower", "scattered flower", "full flower", "tangled branches", "string branches", "brocade group".

"Tuanhua" is a circular tuanhua, and the terminology of the folk machine shop calls it "light". It is generally used in the design of clothing. If the number is small, the mass pattern will be large; If there are more numbers, the smaller the group pattern will be. The composition of the group pattern, such as the traditional pattern of "five blessings and longevity" group flower, is the use of five bats of the same shape, as a centripetal equal combination, the center is placed with a round seal body "Shou" word, forming a complete group pattern.

"Eight Immortals Celebrate Longevity" group flower, is to use eight pieces of different shapes of treasures, in the circle to make a suitable combination of shapes, the center is composed of the word "longevity" in the seal body. "There are also eight groups of patterns of the same shape, which can be used as a centripetal or radial combination, and can also form a complete group pattern.

"Entwined branches" is a most widely used format in cloud brocade patterns. The pattern of tangled branches was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and was mostly used on Buddhist curtains and robes and gold garments at the earliest. Later, it has been inherited and applied, and has become a commonly used form of expression in Chinese brocade patterns. The commonly used twig patterns in the cloud brocade pattern are: "twined branch peony" and "twined branch lotus".

The tactful and smooth entwined branches, coiled with thick and full theme flowers, the entwined branches are like a moon halo, and they are also like halos; Coupled with dexterous vines, leaf buds and delicate flower buds, it forms a rhythmic and rhythmic pattern effect. The whole fabric looks like the flowers are white and the brocade is even, with a strong decorative style.

"String branches" is a commonly used format in cloud brocade floral patterns. At first glance, the effect of the twig pattern does not seem to be much different from that of the twig pattern; But if you look closely, there are still differences between the two. String branches, it is to use the main branch stalk to connect the flower head of the theme flower, in the unit pattern, can not see this obvious effect, when the unit pattern cycle is continuous, the momentum of the branch stalk through the string is clearly displayed.

"Jinqun", also known as "Tianhua brocade" or "Tianhua brocade" (take the meaning of "icing on the cake"). Jinqun is a kind of brocade with regular patterns all over the ground, and the basic brocade potential of Jinqun is to use various geometric shapes such as circle, square, diamond, hexagonal, octagonal, etc., to make regular staggered overlapping and form a brocade skeleton with rich changes. In the various changes of geometric skeletons, fill with various forms of small brocade patterns, such as back lines, curved water patterns, even money patterns and so on.

In the center of the main geometric pattern, a larger theme flower is installed to make it a kind of brocade with prominent main flowers, brocade style and rich brocade patterns. The characteristics of Jinqun are: "there are flowers in the brocade, and there are brocades in the flowers". The brocade shape and brocade pattern are varied, and the whole structure is balanced and even; The pattern is complex and regular, the overall effect is harmonious and unified, and it is rich in decorative flavor.

Cultural implications

Yunjin is one of the most luxurious and exquisite arts and crafts. From the perspective of the essence of the aesthetic art concept expressed by the wide variety of Yunjin, it can be summarized into three forms of beauty: that is, the beauty of the royal court, which is the graceful and luxurious beauty of pursuing expensive luxury; The beauty of scholars and scholars and patriarchs is to show the beauty of lyrical elegance and purity; The beauty of folk festive etiquette is the beauty of pure folk customs that combines practicality and gorgeousness.

It brings together the decorative beautification characteristics of silk texture, color harmony and beauty, and the beauty of pattern emotion, and the content and form of the combination of "quality and pattern", "ingenuity and art", and "image and image", so as to achieve the perfect and unified form and beauty of science and technology and literature and art.

Therefore, the unique decorative beauty of Yunjin makeup flowers can be adapted to people's enjoyment of the elegant artistic value of aesthetic sentiment.

No wonder the Song people have a poem praising Yunjin: "The wind and the moon will be half of the autumn." Last night, the moon was bright and tonight was full. Someone came with a crane to resist the wind, and the jade rope turned. Milky Way Light. Cool into the sky Sun Yunjin section.