Shu Painting

Yu Xinxin works on a Shu painting work at her company in Nanchong, Sichuan province. YANG BO/FOR CHINA DAILY

Shu Painting is a traditional silk-painting art from China’s Sichuan region. With a history spanning over a thousand years, it masterfully combines techniques from classical Chinese painting, calligraphy, and local dyeing. More than just a craft, it is often described as "painting poetry onto silk."

At the heart of Shu Painting lies the principle of "using silk as paper and dye as ink." Artists select premium Shu brocade or plain satin as their canvas and employ specially formulated plant-based dyes. Through more than ten steps, including hand-painting, dot-dyeing, and layer-dyeing, they create vivid scenes of landscapes, flowers, birds, and figures on the soft fabric.

Historically, Shu Painting was a precious commodity on the Southern Silk Road. Scrolls of silk painted with Eastern landscapes journeyed from the Chengdu Plain, through the southwestern mountains, to Central Asia and beyond, serving as silent ambassadors of cultural exchange.

Today, Shu Painting continues to innovate while preserving ancient techniques. Inheritors of this intangible cultural heritage combine traditional methods with contemporary aesthetics, developing various forms such as screens, round fans, clothing, and cultural creative products.

In 2022, Shu Painting was included in Sichuan Province’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.