Since the Tang Dynasty, ancient mulberry silk quilt manufacturing skills have been handed down from generation to generation. Even today, these traditional skills are still preserved in workshops around mulberry- and cocoon-producing areas. However, the development of mechanized mass production and the costly complexity of hand-crafted works have squeezed the survival of this traditional art.

If you find yourself in Hangzhou, walk into an ancient mulberry silk workshop called Folk Silk. All the craftsmen there are old workers.

Some people are selecting cocoons, some people are boiling cocoons, some people are drawing silk threads from fibres, some people are striping cocoons, some people are hanging silk floss out, and some people are manufacturing silk quilt. The workshop is bustling.

The handcraft necessary for mulberry silk quilt production is sophisticated and exhausting. Stripping cocoons requires a person to dip both of their hands into hot water and repeat work over and over again which the modern young people can hardly stand to bear. This is a reason why few young people decide to study and inherit this ancient skill and tradition.

When interviewed, an 80-year old quilting master said that she started learning this skill in her teenage years and has been doing quilt renovation for nearly 70 years now. She and other older people introduce that a silkworm can live for just 28 days and spin a silk thread 1,000 meters long. To produce a quilt requires about 7,000 cocoons, so as you can tell, the costly price of hand-made mulberry silk quilt is more than justified.