Weaving, spinning, and organizing — Chen Hongshou, Fengqiao Experience, operational research, shirt factory, and 5G.

Two-channel projection

40 minutes

2022

        Weaving, spinning, and organizing — Chen Hongshou, Fengqiao Experience, operational research, shirt factory, and 5G involves three relevant perspectives that are constantly infiltrated and entangled in the writing: the history of technology in the textile industry; local governance and organization of social relationships; the intertwining of technology, culture, and regional politics and economy.
        The field study was carried out in and around Fengqiao Town, Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, which is one of the three largest production bases for shirts and textile accessories in China. And Keqiao District, which is close to Zhuji City, is the largest textile trading market in China. Compared with Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo, the long history of the textile industry in Zhuji is not very celebrated, which makes the experience of this area more universal.
        The work started with the analysis of paintings by Chen Hongshou. As one of the “Three Worthies in Fengqiao”, Chen Hongshou was known for his figure paintings in the Ming Dynasty. His works of figures and landscapes presented decorative features that are distinctive during that period. In the west, decorative works emerged on the eve of the modern craft revolution. However, the painting of Chen Hongshou was influenced by the different technology and cultural backgrounds, including the material basis established by local textile production. The curving or straight parallel lines in his works weaved with the wrinkles on clothes and the poses of figures. Meanwhile, his personal life was weaved into the ensemble of literati in the Southern Yangtze River Area at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
       In the 1960s, the cadres and masses of Fengqiao created the "Fengqiao experience” of “Mobilizing and relying on the masses, insisting that conflicts are not handed over, solving problems on the spot, and realizing fewer arrests and better public security”. This case, involving regional autonomy and organization, was affirmed and promoted by Mao Zedong in 1963 and is still frequently mentioned nowadays. During the socialist construction, another prominent case of the organization was the "operations" and "optimization” methods raised by Hua Loo-Keng, which were also practiced in the textile industry in Zhejiang Province in the 1970s.
        Zhejiang Province is the advanced region of handicraft and agriculture in China, as well as one of the origins of China’s modern textile industry with a long history of textile technology and an advantageous geographical position that is near the sea and close to Shanghai. During the socialist construction, as non-key areas in coastal zones, many cities and towns that are not traditional textile cities such as Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Wenzhou faced opportunities for development due to the national support for smaller and lesser-known cities. Especially in the 1980s, with the Moganshan Conference on economic reform and the liberalization of private economies, the textile industry quickly developed, and Zhejiang became the production and export base for textiles, knitting, dyeing, chemical fiber, and textile machinery in a globalized economy. Nowadays, regional culture, textile production and weather forecasting are reintegrated into a digital and artificially intelligent smart village network under the 5G system.