Newly Discovered Ancient Silk Fabrics in Xinjiang—Qi, Jin and Xiu

From 1959 to 1960, a batch of silk fabrics from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220) and the Northern Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty (6th–seventh centuries) were discovered in Xinjiang, which provide new materials for studying the history of the development of textile technology and cultural exchange and trade between ancient China and the West. This paper introduces the unearthed situation of this batch of ancient silk fabrics, and makes a detailed textual research on their textile technologies such as patterns and weaves. At the same time, it points out that these ancient textile technologies in China were spread to the west through the “Silk Road”, which promoted the development of western textile technology, while China also absorbed the advantages of western textile technology and adopted some western art patterns.