Representative inheritor of the Qing Shui silk spinning and weaving techniques
Release Time:
2025-04-28
Inside the earthen stove, dry firewood crackled, flames licking the bottom of the pot. Gradually, a pot of water was heated to a boil by the roaring flames. Beside it, a woman in traditional clothing held a long wooden stick, occasionally stirring the firewood in the stove to ensure a moderate fire. Beside her, an old cloth bag lay quietly on the ground, its mouth open, revealing a full bag of snow-white cocoons, as pure as the first winter snow.
Time passed quietly. As the water in the pot boiled more violently, the woman—Zhang Jinghui, the representative inheritor of the Qing Shui silk floss processing technique—slowly got up, lifted the bag full of cocoons, and carefully poured them into the boiling water. As soon as the cocoons met the hot water, they seemed to come alive, gently swaying with the waves, emitting a faint fragrance of silkworms.
Forty minutes. For others, it might just be a short rest, but for Zhang Jinghui, it was a blend of observation, waiting, and expectation. She kept looking down at the cocoons in the pot, her eyes full of reverence and love for this ancient craft. Finally, when the scheduled time arrived, she quickly picked up a long-handled net scoop and skillfully fished out the cooked cocoons one by one, placing them in a basin of cold water prepared beforehand.
Then, Zhang Jinghui selected a perfectly cooked cocoon, gently pinched it, and placed it in another basin of clear, cold spring water. Her hands seemed to be endowed with magic, skillfully moving in the water, searching for the opening of the cocoon. In a short while, her fingers accurately located that subtle spot. With a gentle push and a quick flip of her hands, the pupa slipped out of the cocoon shell like a released sprite, leaving behind a layer of silk floss as thin as a cicada's wing and as white as jade.
At this moment, a satisfied smile bloomed on Zhang Jinghui's face. She knew that this was not just the birth of a piece of silk floss, but also a perfect inheritance of the Qing Shui silk floss processing technique.
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