"Soft Gold Hanging on the Wall"- Intangible Cultural Heritage of Handmade Silk Carpet from Cangxi, Sichuan

Handmade silk carpet in Cangxi county, Guangyuan city, Sichuan province, is a kind of traditional handicraft with unique craftsmanship and exquisite patterns. It was selected into the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection List of Sichuan Province in 2015.

With both practical qualities and high collection value, the carpet is natural, environmentally friendly, unique, irreproducible, and aesthetic, hence has earned itself a reputation as "soft gold hanging on the wall", as well as the treasure of oriental handicraft. The product is made of natural silk entirely, requiring more than 100 complicated working processes including drawing, painting, making thread, dyeing, winding thread, weaving and leveling fabric, etc. It takes a long time to complete a carpet product. A skilled craftsman who works 8 hours a day can only weave 4 to 6 square meters of carpet each year.

In recent years, Cangxi handmade silk carpet has been exported to Japan, the United States and other countries, which has been very well received by the market, effectively promoting the prosperity and development of local culture and further enhancing friendship among people from all over the world.

Liu Hua (first one from the left), inheritor of Cangxi handmade silk carpet, introduces products. [Photo by Liu Hui]

Production site of Cangxi handmade silk carpet [Photo by Liu Hui] 

Cangxi handmade silk carpet art piece [Photo by Liu Hui]

Cangxi handmade silk carpet art piece [Photo by Liu Hui]