Han Brocade Chronicles: A Story

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Western Han, the realm was at peace and trade along the Silk Road was flourishing. Han brocade, a pinnacle of the Han dynasty's traditional silk-weaving craft, was a treasured item used for court sacrificial robes, gifts to foreign states, and everyday life. The weaving houses in eastern and western Chang'an, the Three Weaving Offices in Qi, and the Brocade Bureau workshops in Shu stood as three pillars, and jacquard weaving had reached the height of its age. Chen Baoguang's wife, a folk weaver from Julu, possessed a unique mastery of a 120-treadle, multi-harness loom. She could weave grape brocade and scattered-flower damask, but a single length of fine brocade took sixty days to make and was worth ten thousand coins. Her skill surpassed all others, yet she remained in the countryside, where few inherited her craft.

Huo Guang, the Grand General who held power over the court, had a wife named Huo Xian. When she heard of this peerless weaving art, she summoned the female weaver to her private residence in Chang'an and ordered her to produce imperial brocade for the nobility. She intended to keep the craft firmly in the hands of the great clans, letting it enrich the aristocratic families alone and forbidding it from spreading among the common people. Huo Guang, then Grand Marshal and Grand General, valued Han brocade as an important diplomatic gift, but, egged on by his wife, also sought to monopolize the finest weaving techniques and suppress the workshops of the common folk.