A silk carpet is on display at the Rugao Silk Carpet Art Museum. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Silk carpet making techniques in Rugao, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, were recently shortlisted for the sixth batch of national intangible cultural heritage items.

Silk carpet making appeared in China as early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), but as time went by, the art faded.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, handicraftsmen in Rugao decided to revitalize the art.

Li Yukun, a silk carpet artist in Rugao, said that no physical references remained except for some photos, and it was quite difficult to recover a silk carpet.

By studying handiworks similar to silk carpets and learning spinning, embroidery and other traditional Chinese arts and crafts, Rugao handicraftsmen managed to recover the silk carpet making techniques in 1973.

Once Rugao silk carpets became available, they were popular among Chinese art lovers. In 1982, Li and other silk carpet makers in Rugao cooperated with the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University to make silk tapestries modeled on renowned paintings.

The designs on Rugao silk carpets are not dyed, but weaved with different colors of silk thread, according to Li. A Rugao silk carpet usually features more than 100 colors, and some even have nearly 1,000 colors.

Li Yukun, curator of the Rugao Silk Carpet Art Museum, introduces a work on display at the museum. [Photo/WeChat account: rugaofabu]

For the 75-year-old handicraftsman, his biggest concern is the preservation of Rugao silk carpet making. He noted that in the 1980s, there were more than 10,000 silk carpet makers, but now there are less than 10, with the youngest being nearly 50 years old.

To familiarize more people with the art and attract young apprentices, Li opened the Rugao Silk Carpet Art Museum in 2020, which exhibits 210 sets of silk carpets and is free to the public.