ANGUS DESIGNS on developing major ties with the Orient are to move later this week with the unveiling of the first official Chinese-Scottish tartan.

The plaid, featuring colours from the flags of both nations, will be revealed on Thursday as part of Scotland’s Tartan Day celebration, which the council has embraced in a bid to enhance the country and county’s image on the global stage.

The tartan has been created by Forfar’s Strathmore Woollen Company in a collaborative project with Angus Council and this week the first official example of the cloth will be presented to Chinese Consul General, Madame Guo Guifang, who was the inspiration behind the idea.

Angus Provost Bill Middleton is just back from the latest 10-day trade mission to China involving Angus Council and local business, and said the tartan launch was an exciting development in rapidly strengthening ties.

“The new Chinese-Scottish tartan symbolises the co-operation and harmony that exists between Chinese people and Scottish people everywhere,” he said.

“As this tartan belongs to the Chinese as a nation, we hope to see it worn around the world.”

Angus research has revealed that China’s link with tartan goes back almost 3000 years when an explorer in Xinjiang, western China discovered the burial place of a group of ancient Caucasian travellers wearing perfectly preserved, complex tartans.

“This discovery records the earliest evidence of tartan and its placement on Chinese soil strengthens the connections between Scotland and China,” Mr Middleton added.

Madame Guo Guifang identified Scottish tartan as a key component of the appeal the nation holds for Chinese tourists, sparking the new project.

“It is expected that this unique tartan will create new opportunities for tourism and business co-operation between China and Scotland,” Provost Middleton said.

The tartan will be supplied by the Forfar firm, whose marketing director Heather Yellowlees is now seeking a Chinese business partner to launch and manufacture a brand of high fashion clothing.

Blue and white are incorporated in the tartan to evoke the Saltire as well as the red and yellow featured in the Chinese flag. Green bands intertwine the other colours in a representation of the great co-operation that has existed for many years between China and the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, which houses the world’s largest collection of Chinese plants outside China.

Mr Middleton revealed that Chinese textile firms and fashion houses were interested in forming a business relationship with Strathmore Woollens.