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Operating each loom requires two people with great patience and skill. Li Yao / China Daily
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Cai Xiangyang, 33, is Zhou's favorite trainee and the only apprentice that Zhou recognizes.
Cai had a bachelor's degree in law when he joined the Nanjing Brocade Research Institute in 2004. He later completed a master's degree in intangible cultural heritage protection.
Cai's persistence and diligence have won the trust of the institute officials.
"I can sit at a loom for 10 hours a day, and I keep practicing through Saturdays and Sundays. The job calls for scrupulous attention and the ability to resist distractions and loneliness," he says.
Cai has followed Zhou's steps and hopes to succeed Zhou as the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage one day.
"For Master Zhou's generation, their job has focused on preserving the traditions and repeating the conventional patterns, such as dragon, phoenix and peony flowers," Cai says. "The ambition of the younger generation is to master the ancient skills and experiment with new ideas, to make these formerly exclusive dresses accessible to the public."
Today, the brocade is used in home textile products, wedding gowns, scarves, and cushions, folding screens and framed artworks.
Cai says the brocade museum will give guided tours to young athletes taking part in the Asian Youth Games in August. They will be invited to have a try at making silk thread from a cocoon, dyeing the threads and operating the loom.
Hu Delong, 49, has 30 years' experience weaving cloud-patterned brocade. At the institute, weavers are paid by finished pieces and many weavers are husband and wife, or sisters and brothers, pairing up as a team. It takes three to five years to finish training.
Hu, his wife, and his sisters-in-law, are all weavers.
He says he earns at most 6,000 yuan ($972) a month, and sometimes only 3,000 yuan a month. He works at the exhibition hall at the institute, demonstrating the weaving techniques to visitors and answering their questions.
Hu does not intend to introduce his only daughter to the business, because young people often struggle to cope with the boredom and demanding workload of the job. Hu himself has developed a true passion for the handicraft and plans to work until he is 60.
He takes pride in the fact that his masterpieces are recognized by television presenters during Spring Festival galas, exhibited in international sporting events, and purchased as souvenirs.
"There can be endless variations in using different colored thread to make a given pattern. It demands ingenious intuition rather than merely memorizing the weaving procedures," Hu concludes.
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