Lifelike Vivid Embroidery Masterpieces Impress Visitors in Chongqing

The silk thread used in embroidery is even thinner than the human hair.

By Keqiao Cheng, EDITOR

The beauty of peony, the agility of koi, the cuteness of cat and everything else do have impressed the visitors at the embroidery exhibition.

A special exhibition themed on intangible cultural heritages opened September 25 in Chongqing. This show lasts for five days, and it has brought a large number of masterpieces of traditional Chinese embroidery.

 

Making the embroidery of Chongqing to go global

44-year-old Shan Daqiong is a master of arts and crafts from Chongqing, national top-level embroiderer, and inheritor of intangible cultural heritage.

Born in a family of embroidery, Shan has succeeded this craft of silk and needles, and has brought the beauty of embroidery to the world.

A visitor is watching Shan embroidering a vivid cat.

“The traditional Shu Embroidery (also known as Sichuan Embroidery) is a carrier of the women for their pursuit of beauty and wishes for happiness.” Shan kept making the introduction to the visitors at the exhibition.

Cheongsams with embroidered peonies

According to her, the embroidery is quite complicated. There are several ways to compose the images, and over 100 techniques to handle the needles. It took her nearly 20 years to learn.

A hand fan with embroidered panda

Practice makes perfect, and now I can embroider any image you want, said she. An embroidery work of peony by Shan was sold at RMB 0.6 million.

 

Embroidery with Disordered Needles

39-year-old Yan Yongxia is also an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, and she is an expert in Embroidery with Disordered Needles.

Yan Yongxia is showing the unique embroidery technique at the exhibition.

The Embroidery with Disordered Needles (Chinese: 乱针绣) originated in the 1930s. It derived from the Su Embroidery, and it is a fusion of traditional Chinese embroidery techniques and western painting methodologies.

Embroidery of stilt houses in Chongqing

Yan started to learn the embroidery when she was a girl. When she got married in 1999, her mother-in-law gave her an album of embroidery patterns, with which she took a further step in this field.

Embroidery of koi fishes and ginkgo leaves

When her embroidery studio inaugurated in 2009, Yan has a collection of 500 books about embroidery. By building this studio, I want to share the art of embroidery with others, she said.

 

Source: CQCB

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