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.

Operating each loom requires two people with great patience and skill. Li Yao / China Daily

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.