What are the four great brocades of China?

Nanjing Yun brocade, Chengdu Shu brocade, Suzhou Song brocade, Guangxi Zhuang brocade and called "China's four famous brocade".

"Cloud brocade" is the general name of the traditional jacquard silk fabrics in Nanjing, its history can be traced back to the Song Dynasty in Nanjing set up a government weaving - Kam Department, began to weave the brocade, with its gorgeous, colorful, colorful, changing as the cloud haze and so named. Cloud brocade was very popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and was woven for the court, mainly used as "imperial offerings" for court costumes and rewards. Cloud brocade is designed for the royal production, selection of materials, good flexibility, good flexibility, good gloss made of high-quality silk. Until after the late Qing Dynasty, it was spread to the people. Because of the modern production of only one place in Nanjing, it is usually called "Nanjing brocade". The traditional craft of brocade is mainly "makeup flowers", "gold" and "Jinbaoji" and so on. Make-up brocade with rich color changes, a fabric pattern on the color up to more than 10 kinds, up to 20 to 30 kinds, the layout of the pattern is rigorous and solemn, concise and generalized. Gold brocade pattern pattern all with gold or silver thread, or gold and silver thread and weaving. Jinbaodi brocade pattern pattern all with gold silk woven all over the ground, and then in the gold ground weaving a colorful, gold-colored pattern. Modern brocade in the traditional varieties on the basis of the development of successful, not only to maintain the traditional style of brocade, but also to adapt to the needs of modern life of the new varieties, such as rain brocade, dunhuang brocade, gold and silver makeup, diamond brocade and so on. In general, the layout of the pattern of brocade is rigorous and dignified, changes in generalization is strong, colorful contrast is also strong, and often with a piece of gold hook edge, white and color halo transition, the pattern has a thick and simple traditional style, color is gorgeous, unique. Motifs of a wide range of subjects, both large twining flowers, but also a variety of animals (such as dragons and phoenixes, cranes, lions, etc.) and plants (such as Baoxianhua, lotus, Buddha's hand, pomegranate, plum, orchids, bamboo, chrysanthemums, etc.), and also expressed the auspicious "eight treasures", "dark eight immortals", "auspicious", "longevity", "swastika", Ruigusa and a variety of gestures of the changing cloud (such as seven coincidental clouds, Ruyi cloud, and the cloud, leaf cloud, traveling cloud, lying cloud, the size of the hook cloud, etc.). Lifelike, such as seeing the real situation, especially in the pattern used in the technique is subtle and excellent, can fully embody the guest and master echo, call out, and pattern levels, flower clear ground white, brocade empty uniform. In terms of color, the use of color halo and reconciliation techniques, so that the pattern color beautiful and moving. Yun brocade is mainly used in the production of Mongolian, Tibetan, Manchu and other ethnic minorities of clothing and dress materials, as well as high-level clothing, in ancient times, it is mainly used in sewing dragon robes, decorating palaces and temples, as well as the god's robes, sacrificial cushions, draperies and so on.

Shu brocade is the longest history of brocade, which originated in ancient times, flourished in the Qin and Han dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The patterns of Shu brocade are very wide and rich, such as myths and legends, famous generals and landscape figures. Shu brocade has undergone more than 2000 years of development and change, there is a feature that runs through all the time, that is, a wide range of clever use of plants and animals, geometric ornaments, natural scenery, etc., combined into a copy pattern with a certain meaning.

Song brocade is one of China's traditional silk handicrafts. Started at the end of the Song Dynasty (about the 11th century AD), the product is divided into large brocade, small brocade, colorful ribbons and other types. Big brocade is also known as "antique brocade", there are more than 40 kinds of colors. Song brocade, its origin is mainly in Suzhou, so it is also known as "Suzhou Song brocade", Song brocade color and lustre is gorgeous, the pattern is exquisite. Song brocade originated in the Song Dynasty, the main production area in China's Suzhou, so it is also known as "Suzhou Song brocade". Song brocade has a long history, dating back to the Sui and Tang dynasties, and it was developed on the basis of the brocade of the Sui and Tang dynasties. Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty vigorously promoted Song brocade to meet the needs of court dress and painting and calligraphy framing at that time, and set up a special Song brocade weaving department in Suzhou. Suzhou is a famous silk city in China, the home of brocade and embroidery, the land of silk. Suzhou Song brocade, gorgeous color, exquisite pattern, soft texture, it and Nanjing brocade, Sichuan Shu brocade together, known as China's three famous brocade. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties weaving Song brocade called "antique Song brocade" or "Song-style brocade", collectively referred to as "Song brocade".

Strong brocade is a traditional and famous silk fabric of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which was produced in the Song Dynasty, in which the Zhuang people were called the Boys, so Strong brocade is also called Boy brocade. It is a color woven jacquard fabric with cotton or linen yarn strands as warp and mulberry silk as weft, and it is also woven with dyed mulberry silk as warp and dyed glossy rayon or gold (silver) leather as weft. Two sets of warp threads and four sets of weft threads are used to weave various colors of weft flowers on the satin pattern organization, forming a symmetrical pattern, or picking out the pattern with a variety of colorful weft threads. The pattern of Zhuang brocade is close to the paper-cutting pattern, which changes in a thousand ways. Traditional patterns include flowers, birds, fish, insects, beasts and the word "Wan", "Double Happiness", etc. The lines are thick and strong, the colors are brilliant, and it is often used to weave several different colors of silk threads, with the colors of red, green, black and yellow as the main colors, and usually with red as the background. The colors are red, green, black and yellow, usually with red as the background, colorful and splendid, with strong contrasts and a strong and bold artistic style. There are many varieties, according to clothing and apparel purposes, can be divided into lace silk, belt silk, headscarves, scarves, quilt tops, tablecloths, backpacks, backpacks, cushions, aprons, bed blankets, wall towels, brocade screen and so on.