Outside the east gate, can be used as retting linen pond
Beautiful and kind girl, can sing opposite her
Outside the east gate, can be used as retting ramie pond
Beautiful and kind girl, can talk with her
——《SHI JING》
In the green hills and clear waters of a thousand years ago
Girls and boys in the moat
Soak, wash and bleach linen together
Playing, chasing and laughing
In the old agricultural society of intensive farming
A vast expanse of pure linen
Time went by slowly in weaving linen
Every piece of cloth reflects the hard work of the workers.
Early in the Chunqiu Period
Linen began to grow in Jiangxi
According to the New Book of Tang
Jiangxi has long had a history with linen fabric
Commonly known as "Chicken Ming Cloth"
Also called "flat yarn" and "raw cloth"
Tracing back to the East Jin Dynasty
It has a history of more than 1600 years.
Light as cicada wings, thin as rice paper
Flat as a water mirror, fine as a silk
As early as the first year of the Tang Dynasty, it was listed as a tribute
Since ancient times, it has been sold and exported, home and abroad
Records of Wanzai County in Qing Dynasty
In the thirty-third year of Emperor Guangxu, the output reached 18,000 tons
There are more than 1,000 workshops in the county producing linen fabric.
The collective wisdom of the working people through generations
The production technology of linen fabric is becoming more mature
Today there are still handicraftsmen in Wanzai, Jiangxi Province
Art is the instrument and craftsman the way
Weaving hand-made linen cloth
Peeling and bleaching, with yarn fabrics soaking
Craftsmen will only be sincere
Integrate into long labour work that is only truthful
Expression of a peaceful ethos of an ancient kingdom
The linen fabric is an everlasting flower
It embodies the philosophy of the craftsmanship of a nation
Embroidery and painting on fine linen cloth
An encounter between two a thousand years apart
Elegant matching color , light hue and the dyed halo
If blue and white the main embroidery chosen
A thousand-year history of the porcelain capital shown
Bringing to this day and age the old exquisite craftsmanship
Revealed fully and vividly
Enriching the flavor of this nation olden
Wanzai linen cloth weaving spans ten thousand generations
Seemingly rough, but soft to the touch
Seemingly old and simple, but calm as the wind ad never crinkles
Stitch by stitch, needle after needle
Thousands of years of ingenuity in the craftsmen's hands
Thousands of years of national savour
Seemingly vague, but in spiritual forms it gathers
Seemingly indifferent and peaceful, but with a voice like thunder
In between its long breaths
Flows slowly millennia of national rhyme
Craftsman's Way, National Taste
Bringing a wisp of ancient rhyme to the world's wise men
