Hotan has been a centre of silk production for at least fifteen centuries, and the atlas silk — ikat-woven fabric with its characteristic blurred geometric patterns — produced here is distinctive enough that it has received protected geographical indication status. Several workshops in the old city still produce it using traditional handlooms, and visiting one provides a direct encounter with a craft that has changed very little.
The process is worth watching from the beginning: raw silk thread is dyed in resist patterns using a pre-binding technique, then dried and unwound to reveal the pattern before being loaded onto a wooden loom. The weaving itself is fast and hypnotic — the shuttle passes back and forth under the skilled guidance of a weaver who adjusts the tension constantly by hand. The resulting fabric has a sheen and weight that synthetic imitations cannot replicate.
The workshops in the old bazaar area are genuine production operations rather than tourist demonstrations; most of them will let you watch and will sell directly from the bolt. Prices are substantially lower than in the shops of Kashgar or Ürümqi. A good length of atlas silk makes a genuinely original purchase — if you can carry it.