[Video provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

Kesi, also known as "silk carving", is one of the most traditional decorative silk fabrics in China. It had been used in the royal courts since the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, commonly for weaving the costumes of emperors and empresses, imperial manuscripts, and calligraphy of famous people.

As the weaving process is extremely meticulous, the copy is often better than the original and the extant works are extremely rare. They are often the highlight of today's embroidery collections and auctions.

In Ma Duanlin's Wen Xian Tong Kao (Comprehensive Textual Research of Historical Documents) of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), there is a record of Nantong presenting kesi works to the royal court as tribute. 

In 1914, Zhang Jian, a local industrial magnate and scholar, set up a technical training center for female workers in Nantong and launched weaving and kesi courses. Many kesi works were presented to Lu Xun and other celebrities from all walks of life at the time.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Nantong established an arts and crafts research institute with a practical crafts department specializing in kesi. In the late 1970s, the institute restored and trial-produced an ancient kesi technique and learned of other technical branches dating to the Tang (618-907) and Song dynasties from Japan.

The biggest feature of Nantong kesi is that the fabric is very scratchy and the surface of the fabric presents a "corrugated" groove effect. Although the surface is rough, it also features delicate and intriguing craftsmanship.

The Nantong kesi silk weaving technique, as a part of the Chinese silk weaving techniques, was included in the World Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2009.

In 2016, the technique was included in the fourth batch of intangible cultural heritage items of Jiangsu province.