According to a historical text Babad Lasem written by Mpu Santri Badra in 1479, the famous Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral Zheng He arrived in Lasem in 1413. One of his crews, Bi Nang Un and his wife, Na Li Ni, fell in love instantly with the small town that they decided not to go back to the ship but to stay in Lasem.

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To survive in the new place, Na Li Ni started to make hand-drawn batik with mythological creature motifs, such phoenix, dragon, chrysanthemums, as well as Chinese coins, then colored them in red, the color that symbolizes good luck in the Chinese culture. Since Lasem was a part of important trading route, Na Li Ni's batiks were brought to many different places in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Demands for Lasemese batiks increased that Na Li Ni had to teach the locals to make batiks, so they could eventually work for her.

 

Over the years, the motifs of Lasemese batiks grew more diverse. The Lasemese came up with latohan (sea grapes) and sisik ikan (fish scale) inspired by their coastal surroundings, while some also adapted the motifs from the neighboring batik producing cities, such as Gunung Ringgit from Tegal and Sekar Jagad from Yogyakarta and Solo. During the Dutch colonial period, the people of Lasem had to participate in a forced labor to built the legendary 1,000-kilometer road stretched from Anyer in West Java to Panarukan in East Java, where they were to break rocks into gravels (kricak in the Javanese language). When the forced labour was over and they could finally make batik again, they tried to forgive the Dutch by inventing kricak motif.

 

In the 1950's, Lasemese batik had to compete with print batik makers. It was, of course, a losing battle. In the 1960's because of the political conditions, many Chinese batik makers stopped their business. In 1950's, according to Rembang Forum Economic Development, there were 144 Lasemese batik companies and in 1970's, there were only 70. In 1980's, it was getting worse leaving only 7 batik companies.

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Since UNESCO announced batik as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the batik industry in Lasem somehow revived and currently there are around 30 batik house owners.