The ink that takes five years to make: Longquan lotus silk paste

This treasured paste takes 14 steps to produce, from harvesting lotus stalks to drying and dyeing. Extracting lotus silk is a slow and meticulous process: 5,000 kilograms of lotus stalks yields only 100 grams of silk. Longquan ink paste is an intangible cultural heritage from Changzhou, Jiangsu Province.

 (Subtitle by Sun Tianren, Zheng Qi, Huang Jingjing, Zou Yun, GaoYuan and Dong Feng; source: Shijie App-Peng Nanke)