A Study On The Categories And Patterns Of Industrial Silks In The Republic Period (1912-1949)

Silk-producing has a long history in China and had formed a stable technical system in ancient times. However, from1840the traditional system began to be influenced by western silk industry, especially in the period of Republic of China (1912-1949). As modern looms, materials and techniques were introduced and applied, silk industry in China had gradually been modernized and the first batch of modern silk-producing factories was established and a new silk technical system, which was totally different from the traditional one, was formed. Silks, especially silks produced by modern machine, which represented the highest level of Chinese silk-producing at that time and had laid a good foundation for further development of Chinese silk industry, were abundant in categories, items and patterns. Although silk industry in the Republic period plays an important role in the whole Chinese silk industry history, the research of the silk of the Republic period (from20th century to now) mainly focuses only on specific points, such as economic history, social history, etc., and no research has been done specially on industrial silks. Therefore, the dissertation tries to make a fundamental and comprehensive discuss about the categories and patterns of industrial silks in the Republic of China, which would be a groundbreaking in an academic sense.Industrial silks (silks produced by modern machine, also including pure rayon textiles or others, which best represent silks in the Republic period) are studied in this dissertation, with a focus on categories and patterns. Silks and historical documents are two great bases of this dissertation. On that basis, the dissertation tries to compare some factors of silks, pattern for instance, with existing images and records in documents by comparative studies, and to explore several issues such as categories, structures, name system, characteristics in pattern designing etc. by comparing the results of scientific experiments with historical documents. In addition, induction method is used in each research stage, thus it is able to undertake a comprehensive study from the perspectives of both art history and technology history about industrial silks in China, especially in areas around Taihu Lake Basin.The main contents of this dissertation are as follows: First of all, on the basis of reviewing the records in documents and the researches done by present scholars, the dissertation introduces the rise of Chinese modern silk enterprises and the characteristics of silks produced by different factories in categories and patterns. Meanwhile, more emphasis is put on the characteristics of silk industry modernization in different stages and the imbalance between regions and in silk industry. And the dissertation points out that innovations in materials and weaving technology which had achieved the technical requirements for machinery and facilitated in the modernization, enough electric power supply and the acceptance of new things among people in local silk industry are also vital to the imbalance.Secondly, based on the analysis of silks, according to their weave structures and appearance features, and with reference to records in historical documents and modern classification methods, industrial silks are divided into three kinds:silks woven with straight warps and wefts, silks woven with crossing ends/doup ends and fixed ends within a fixed structure, and silks in a warp-pile weave with pile warps raised in loops by rods above a ground weave. The first kind includes traditional categories such as pongee, twill damask, satin damask, chiffon, crepe, and also new categories like Ti (silk-cotton products). Ge (bengaline), Ni (matelasse), woven photograph etc. The second usually refers to gauze and leno, and the third kind is generally known as velvet. Generally speaking, industrial silks in this period have upgraded from traditional silks, being diverse in weave structures and using warps and wefts.Thirdly, basic on a comprehensive study of silks, documents and images, the dissertation divides the patterns on industrial silks into four groups:naturalistic patterns, geometric patterns, the patterns of figures and landscapes, and the patterns of artifacts, then makes further studies on the motives, design methods and the relationship between the pattern and weave structure. It shows that patterns on industrial silks in this period have three characteristics:being more various in motives, more three-dimensional in presentation and more abundant in shapes.Fourthly, the dissertation discuses the style and content of industrial silks’Zipai (woven inscription), and compares them with traditional ones. Moreover, based on the discussion of the design and technique of Zipai, the dissertation points out that techniques applied in accessorial comber boards is an innovation for the arrangement of warps in main part is different from that in the inscription part, and this innovation leads to the flourishing of "Central Independent Pattern" woven inscription.Lastly, the dissertation picks Shanghai Meiya Silk Factory-the biggest modern silk enterprise in this period, as a case study, analyzing its developing process, production management, designers’training system, and designer committee decision-making system, and puts more focus on the samples of Meiya Silk Factory in the China National Silk Museum collection, exploring their categories and analyzing the features of the production of Zipai.In conclusion, the dissertation points out that there are many impact factors of the development of categories and patterns of industrial silk textiles, among which, technology is the most important factor. The improvement and development of raw materials, production tools, dyeing technology and other factors, especially the application of Jacquard loom, bannister shaft, and rayon, greatly expanded the range of categories and patterns of silks. Meanwhile, business competition and market demand have become dominant factors affecting the development of industrial silks in a highly commercialized society. For higher profits, manufacturers needed to constantly promote the categories and patterns of textiles, therefore they have to apply modern new looms and materials, and abandon outdated categories and patterns. Those were also facilitating the modernization of machine production.