Nantong Blue Calico Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum at Tianjin University. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The Nantong Blue Calico Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum at Tianjin University recently opened to the public, marking the sixth blue calico art museum established by Wu Yuanxin, a representative practitioner of Nantong blue calico tie-dyeing techniques.

In 2021, Wu established the first of its kind, the Nantong Blue Calico Art Museum in Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong. Spanning over 2,000 square meters, it features a dazzling array of blue calico products, including clothing, tablecloths, and door curtains.

To bring these techniques to life, the Qidong museum established an Inheritor's Studio where Wu has taken on three local apprentices, who not only learn the techniques but also regularly visit primary and secondary schools to hold classes, teaching children to make bookmarks and handkerchiefs using blue calico. Today, this museum serves as a vibrant cultural landmark of the city, attracting over 50,000 visitors annually, 40 percent of whom are young people.

According to historical records, Chinese blue calico originated in Suzhou, which is also the ancestral home of Wu in Xiangcheng district, Suzhou. In 2023, the Xiangcheng district government invested to convert a granary into the Suzhou Blue Calico Art Museum. Wu donated nearly 200 pieces of blue calico works, showcasing the historical origins, classic patterns, and folk significance in the Jiangnan region.

In 2024, the Nantong Yuanxin Textile Dyeing Museum was completed in Chongchuan district, Nantong, stemming from a collection dilemma. "I had a batch of blue calico items with nowhere to store them, and it would have been a shame to lose them," Wu said. Upon learning of this, the Chongchuan district government offered a 3,000-square-meter community space free of charge to create a comprehensive textile dyeing museum.

In Wu's view, these venues are not isolated landmarks but an interconnected whole that links the origins, inheritance, innovation, and research of these techniques, forming a protective and communicative network that bridges academia and the public, and connects tradition with modernity.