Originating from the drawloom with heald harnesses in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, the Song brocade loom took shape as a system centered on the small jacquard loom with flower tower in the Song Dynasty, whose complete form was recorded in the ancient artwork Silkworm Weaving Picture. It continued to be used and refined throughout the Ming and Qing Dynasties; in modern and contemporary times, however, it was on the verge of being lost due to its sophisticated craftsmanship. Later, electronic jacquard looms were developed by upgrading digital jacquard looms, which boosted the weaving efficiency by 200 times compared with traditional models and thus realized the modern transformation of this intangible cultural heritage craft.
The traditional Song brocade loom was extremely difficult to operate, requiring cooperation between two weavers—with one worker responsible for pattern lifting and the other for shuttle throwing. It relied on manual pattern drafting and knotting to convert designs into "pattern programs", and the precise control of more than 7,000 warp threads depended entirely on the weavers’ experience, with only 5–10 centimeters of brocade producible per day. Although modern electronic jacquard looms have simplified physical operations, operators still need to master the unique warp and weft interlacing techniques and pattern design logic of Song brocade, and the inheritance of its core craftsmanship still requires long-term accumulation.