Nanjing Yunjin Museum

Cultural heritage

In Jianye District, the Nanjing Yunjin Museum is run by the China Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute, founded in 1957 as the country's only dedicated Yunjin body, and is China's sole museum devoted to the brocade. It collects and displays fine Ming-Qing Yunjin, replicas of silk relics and ethnic brocades, centring on the national and UNESCO-listed hand-loom weaving craft and telling the story of a fabric once said to be 'worth its weight in gold'.

Visiting: Rows of large drawlooms fill the hall, where visitors watch a 'pattern-puller' perched aloft and a 'weaver' passing the thread, the pair managing only a few centimetres a day; alongside displays of figured cloth and Yunjin garments, it is the clearest way to grasp the intricacy and splendour of this living silk craft.