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Jiang Zaihong

04-1770Hunan EmbroideryTraditional Fine ArtsChangsha, HunanBatch 4 (2012)

01 · Lineage & Regional School

She comes from a family of embroiderers spanning seven generations and studied under Zhou Jinxiu and Liu Aiyun. Within the regional tradition and school record of Hunan Embroidery in Changsha, Hunan: Xiang embroidery takes as its traditional production areas several dozen townships in Changsha and the Changsha County, Wangcheng County, and Kaifu District under its jurisdiction; among them, the Shaping area of Changsha County has been a village of embroiderers since the late Qing dynasty. The farm households of Wangcheng, Ningxiang, and other places also take part in embroidery as a household sideline, forming a production-and-marketing pattern centered on the embroidery shops of the Changsha city proper, with the embroiderers of the surrounding countryside as the periphery. In 1979 the provincial factory was reorganized into the Hunan Xiang Embroidery Research Institute, and in 1998 the Hunan Provincial People's Government allocated 7.8 million yuan to establish the Hunan Xiang Embroidery Museum. In 1986 the Changsha Shaping Xiang Embroidery Factory (privately run) was established, and in 2003 the Hunan Xingsha Xiang Embroidery City was built as a Sino-foreign joint venture.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, of Han ethnicity, born in March 1968 in Changsha, Hunan Province. She is a Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts and a visiting professor at Hunan Normal University. She has a fluent command of many embroidery stitches, including the roaming, straight, blending, flat, even and fluff-wool stitches, and has revived the lost linked-pearl stitch, combining the traditional pursuit of formal and spiritual resonance with the beauty of modern embroidery materials and the craftsmanship of stitch technique. Her representative works include The Lion Roars with Majestic Power, Male Lion, Lotus in Morning Mist and Family Joy, and the double-sided embroideries The Axis of Yin and Yang and The Giant Panda, a national treasure; her patented products include Fireworks and Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Many of her works have been exhibited and have won awards, and are held by institutions such as the National Museum of China and by friends abroad; two of her works travelled on the Shenzhou-6 and Shenzhou-7 spacecraft. Within the documented technical tradition of Hunan Embroidery in Changsha, Hunan: Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Blended stitch and Li Yihui": The late-Qing artisan Li Yihui created blended stitching to render light and shade and graded tones; combined with fine thread-splitting it conveyed literati painting, and was spread through Hu Lianxian's pupils. "Wucaixia workshop and the Xiang embroidery trade": In 1898 Hu Lianxian opened the first Xiang embroidery workshop, Wucaixia, at Simenkou; after 1949 state workshops were formed and employment peaked near 100,000. "Shaggy-hair stitch and Xiang lions and tigers": Yu Zhenhui perfected the shaggy-hair stitch, giving lifelike lions and tigers and a stitch unique among China's four famous embroideries; such pieces are national treasures in the China Craft Art Museum. "Fully different double-sided embroidery": Fully different double-sided embroidery lifts Xiang work to an astonishing level, praised at home as a super embroidery and abroad as magic art; the craft now has 72 stitches in five categories.

Blended stitch and Li Yihui

The late-Qing artisan Li Yihui created blended stitching to render light and shade and graded tones; combined with fine thread-splitting it conveyed literati painting, and was spread through Hu Lianxian's pupils.

Wucaixia workshop and the Xiang embroidery trade

In 1898 Hu Lianxian opened the first Xiang embroidery workshop, Wucaixia, at Simenkou; after 1949 state workshops were formed and employment peaked near 100,000.

Shaggy-hair stitch and Xiang lions and tigers

Yu Zhenhui perfected the shaggy-hair stitch, giving lifelike lions and tigers and a stitch unique among China's four famous embroideries; such pieces are national treasures in the China Craft Art Museum.

Fully different double-sided embroidery

Fully different double-sided embroidery lifts Xiang work to an astonishing level, praised at home as a super embroidery and abroad as magic art; the craft now has 72 stitches in five categories.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Hunan embroidery, a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. For many years she has persisted in passing on her skills, teaching in universities, secondary and primary schools and taking apprentices, and has trained a large number of outstanding talents.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

Historical origin

In 1979 the provincial factory was reorganized into the Hunan Xiang Embroidery Research Institute, and in 1998 the Hunan Provincial People's Government allocated 7.8 million yuan to establish the Hunan Xiang Embroidery Museum. In 1986 the Changsha Shaping Xiang Embroidery Factory (privately run) was established, and in 2003 the Hunan Xingsha Xiang Embroidery City was built as a Sino-foreign joint venture.

Declared area
Changsha, Hunan
Safeguarding unit
Changsha Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center (Changsha Intangible Cultural Heritage Hall)
Inscription batch
Batch 1 (2006)
Item code
Ⅶ-19
Category
Traditional Fine Arts

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

BearerDeclared areaRoster codeRelation
Liu AiyunChangsha, Hunan01-0080Same declared area
Liu JianxinChangsha, Hunan04-1769Same declared area
Jiang ZaihongChangsha, Hunan04-1770This page
Li YanChangsha, Hunan—Same declared area

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

  1. Jiang Zaihong · National Representative Bearer Archive

This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。