Chinese Embroidery — — Fashion through the millennia
Embroidery is one of the most representative traditional handicrafts in China. As early as 3000 years ago, with the use of silkworm silk and the emergence of silk fabrics, it gradually developed. China is the earliest country in the world to use silk, and has a long history of more than 5,000 years.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, court embroidery was large-scale, and folk embroidery was also developed. Four embroidery varieties have been produced, namely Su embroidery, Shu embroidery, Guang embroidery and Xiang embroidery. They came from Suzhou, Sichuan, Guangzhou and Hunan of China.
Su embroidery was the first traditional handicraft to enter China’s intangible cultural heritage. It’s from Suzhou, inherited the exquisite gracefulness of south China, focusing on three-dimensionality sense and fresh color. The double-sided embroidery in Su embroidery is the top art in embroidery.
Until the Republic of China, many women also liked to wear Qipao with embroidery. Then in the 1950s, after the founding of New China, embroidery craftsmanship, like the Qipao, went into a destiny of decline. Today there are fewer and fewer embroidery craftsmen in China, and the price of embroidery is also very expensive, which is not suitable for daily use and wearing.
