What is Xiangyunsha Silk?

Xiangyunsha, originally named Liangsha and Liangshachou,  commonly known as Gènchou and Yunsha, is a collective term for Liangsha and Liangchou. It is a kind of silk fabric that is abundantly produced in Guangdong, China. [1] It is a specialty of Shunde District, Foshan City and a Chinese national geographical indication product. Because it makes a rustling sound when washed or when people walk while wearing it, it was originally called “Xiangyunsha” (the sound “xiang” here means the rustling sound), and later it was renamed “Xiangyunsha” (now the “xiang” is often associated with a sense of elegance rather than the sound).

As early as in the Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo’s Dream Pool Essays had recorded the dyeing function of the Chinese yam (Dioscorea cirrhosa Lour.). Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty also mentioned it. There is a long history of using the juice of the Chinese yam for dyeing.  At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Dan people in Guangdong, who mainly made a living by fishing, invented a kind of fabric to adapt to their life on the water.  The technique of sunning and dyeing with Chinese yam first emerged in Shunde. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Guangdong began to use the juice of Chinese yam to dye, sun and finish the mulberry silk fabrics, and these fabrics were used for export. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the dyeing and finishing technique of Xiangyunsha gradually developed and matured.  In the 1920s, the production of Xiangyunsha reached its peak. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, due to the invention of rayon, the production and popularity of Xiangyunsha declined sharply.  After 1958, affected by natural disasters and political factors, the Xiangyunsha industry declined day by day again.  In the 1970s and 1980s, under the conscious inheritance and promotion of the Department of Light Industry of Guangdong Province, new vitality was injected into the traditional cultural and historical product of “Xiangyunsha”.  In 1998, Xiangyunsha gradually recovered and thrived.  Nowadays, the dyeing and finishing technique of Xiangyunsha has been innovated in terms of raw materials, colors, patterns and other aspects.

Xiangyunsha is the only real silk fabric in the world’s textiles that is dyed with pure plant dyes. Its production process is as follows: first, the juice of Dioscorea cirrhosa Lour. is applied to the silk fabric and then dried, and this step is repeated several times. Then, the river mud rich in minerals such as ferrous ions, which is collected from the river channels in places like Shunde, Nanhai, Sanshui and Panyu, is applied to the surface of the silk fabric to form a uniform thin layer of river mud on it. After the iron ions and other biochemical components in the mud fully react with the tannic acid in the juice of Dioscorea cirrhosa Lour. to generate black ferrous tannate, the river mud is washed off. After that, the silk fabric is spread out flat on the grassland so that it can absorb the moisture on the grass and become softened. Finally, the silk fabric is rolled up, measured, and then properly packaged and stored in the warehouse.

Since Xiangyunsha is made of real silk, and Dioscorea cirrhosa Lour., one of its raw materials, is itself a traditional Chinese medicine, it has certain health care effects. In addition, due to the attachment of mineral river mud, the Xiangyunsha fabric has the characteristics of being cool and pleasant, easy to wash and quick to dry, dark in color and resistant to dirt, non-sticky to the skin, light and thin without being easy to wrinkle, soft yet having a certain body. In 2008, the dyeing and finishing technique of Xiangyunsha was included in the second batch of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.  In July 2011, Xiangyunsha was awarded the title of “Geographical Indication Protected Product” in China.  In 2020, Xiangyunsha was selected into the second batch of the protection list of the “China-EU Geographical Indications Agreement”.