Every time Liu Xianglan sits gracefully on the ground with her back straight, fastens a hand-loom around her waist, and begins to weave, a steady stream of questions flows from the curious visitors to her hometown of Wuzhishan city in South China’s Hainan province.

They are mostly eager to learn how the colorful threads move back and forth on a set of anachronistic looking tools and transform into the delicate patterns of Li brocade, says the woman in her 50s.

The loom, an ancient yet ingenious device, stretches before her with one end tied to a wooden post secured by her feet while the other wraps around her lower back, allowing her to control the tension of the threads through her posture and movements.

“This is warp thread and that is weft thread. These small wooden rods have different functions. Some are for pulling the threads or arranging the warp, and some are for securing the threads,” says Liu from Fanmao village in Wuzhishan.

Li brocade is known as a “living fossil” — a rare, ancient textile tradition that has remained largely unchanged for over 3,000 years.

Unlike the sophisticated silk looms used for other brocades, Li brocade is made on a waist loom, preserving one of the world’s oldest techniques.

“Each piece of Li brocade tells a story — a unique history book of the Li people,” Liu says.