Editor's Note: This article is produced in collaboration with the Chongqing Institute of Foreign Studies as part of a series of ongoing reports exploring the city's abundant resources in intangible cultural heritages.
Wuxi Daning River Embroidery (Wedding Flower)
Did you know that the Wuxi wedding flower is a dowry a girl embroiders for herself? Wuxi Daning River embroidery, known as the wedding flower, is a traditional local handicraft. This craft involves using embroidery needles to weave colorful threads, creating floral motifs on textiles based on specific designs.
In Wuxi County, it is customary for girls to begin learning this art at the age of eleven or twelve. They create their future dowries by hand, infusing the embroidery with their hopes and dreams. By the time the intricate embroidery is complete, they are often ready for marriage. This ancient embroidery tradition has been passed down along the Daning River for thousands of years.
Tang Lijuan, the current inheritor of this tradition, started learning the craft at the age of eight. Despite becoming increasingly distanced from it during her career as a teacher, she began collecting various pieces of wedding flower embroidery in her spare time, thirty years later. These pieces, diverse in shape and meaning, tell the stories of their creators through stitches and threads, highlighting the urgency of preserving this tradition. Without someone to carry it on, this skill risks disappearing.
In 2013, despite strong opposition from her father and husband, Tang resigned from her teaching job and chose to focus on preserving this intangible cultural heritage. This decision was far from easy. During the most challenging times, she relied on financial support from friends and family. Nevertheless, she remained dedicated to her work. After seven years of effort, Tang has collaborated with renowned universities in China to develop a wide range of products that serve everyday needs, including clothes, shoes, accessories, and embroidered oil paintings.
"Wuxi wedding flower is a creation of the working people, embodying truth, kindness, and beauty," says Tang. The embroidery features themes from the natural world to mythical stories, showcasing folk wisdom, unconventional expression, and imagination. Along both sides of the Daning River, the lives and dreams of the people are captured in the stitches and threads of young girls.
Chinese script: Wang Siqi
Tutored by: Yang Xiao
Translation: Feng Lei
Tutored by: Wu Shulin Huang Yan Hu Wei
Voice-over: Wang Hao
Tutored by: Lei Yu