Ancient art gets a modern makeover

Showgirls wear Song Brocade dresses during the 53rd World Table Tennis Championships. Photo provided to China Daily

Silk was still, a high-end product in the 1980s and '90s. "Some silk factories paid their workers better than banks did. Everybody wanted a job in the silk industry," says Wu.

Wu built his first silk factory in 2001. It mainly produced basic products in the silk industry that filled the "gap" between large State-owned and small private factories. "We produced goods that small factories were not able to produce, and large State-owned factories did not care to produce," said Wu. He was very successful.

China's silk industry, which catered more to the overseas market than to the domestic, witnessed a sharp decline after the global financial crisis of 2008. One of the country's largest silk factories, built in 1919, was put up for sale－Wu bought it.

After the purchase, Wu found himself in possession of a large team of silk experts and skilled workers. Two years later, in 2010, he had his first brand of silk products.

He wanted to develop a product that has a story to tell, and can be fashionable and of good use at the same time.

A senior curator at the Suzhou Silk Museum suggested he take a look at the Song Brocade. The brocade will die out when the current generation of artists, who are all very old, pass away, he said.