Yang Chunying
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Yang Chunying, Female, Miao, from Luxi, Hunan, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Tiaohua (Ⅶ-25). The tradition is documented in Luxi, Hunan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tiaohua in Luxi, Hunan: Miao women in the local area practice cross-stitch skills from childhood alongside their elders, starting with individual patterns, and by the time they grow up they have become highly proficient. Common patterns and motifs include more than sixty kinds, such as two phoenixes facing the sun, dragon and phoenix bringing auspiciousness, carp leaping over the dragon gate, pomegranate blossoms, yang-ball flowers, peonies, maple leaves, bees gathering nectar and butterflies playing among flowers. All are stitched with blue or dark blue thread, producing clear lines and a most refined elegance. The history of Luxi Miao cross-stitch embroidery runs parallel with the Miao tradition of "thread counting." Local Miao women spin and weave their own "homespun cloth"; the cotton yarn used is relatively coarse, and the woven cloth has distinct horizontal and vertical threads with clear warp and weft, making it the best material for the cross-stitch technique. Cross-stitch work is used mostly on headscarves, and also on waist aprons, sleeves and baby-carrying wraps; the patterns all exist in the minds of the Miao women — there are no ready-made designs.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Female, Miao ethnic group, born in July 1950 in Luxi County, Hunan Province. She was trained within her family from childhood. Building on the traditional Miao cross-stitch repertoire, she has innovated pattern combinations, introducing five-colour threads into cross-stitch designs and emphasising the fashionability of decorative application, thereby enriching the expressive effect of cross-stitch patterns. She places importance on the study of Miao cross-stitch motifs and has collected, collated and created more than one hundred kinds of Miao cross-stitch motifs. Her representative works include Dragon and Phoenix Cross-Stitch Handkerchief and Miao Counted-Thread Interior Hanging Ornament. She emphasises the transmission of the craft, passing Miao cross-stitch techniques on to her three daughters and her apprentices. Within the documented technical tradition of Tiaohua in Luxi, Hunan: Miao cross-stitch embroidery, commonly known as "thread counting," is practiced most excellently in the Luxi Miao area of the Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi, Hunan Province, and is distributed mainly in Liangjiatan, Bashaping, Pushi and Tanxi, as well as the surrounding townships. Cross-stitch embroidery in Luxi is used mostly on headscarves, stitched on cloth that local Miao women spin and weave themselves as "homespun cloth." The cotton yarn used in the homespun cloth is relatively coarse, and the woven cloth has distinct horizontal and vertical threads with clear warp and weft, making it the best material for the cross-stitch technique. Unlike embroidery, cross-stitching places all its patterns and motifs on the surface of the cloth. When making a piece, the first stitch is placed at the center of the pattern; after counting three threads, the next stitch is placed, and then again after counting three threads, until the pattern is fully revealed. The final stitch of a cross-stitch piece usually returns to the center of the pattern (that is, the place where stitching began). The cross-stitch process is extremely meticulous and strict: in the stitch-by-stitch counting, not a single thread may be miscounted; if one thread is miscounted, all the thread counts that follow will be wrong, and the pattern will become distorted. There are no ready-made designs in cross-stitch work; all patterns and motifs exist in the minds of the Miao women. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Homespun cloth and head-wraps": Miao cross-stitch, called counting the yarn, is finest in Luxi, where it is worked chiefly on head-wraps using cloth the women themselves spin and weave. "Counting three threads to a stitch": Work begins at the centre of the motif and proceeds three threads to a stitch until the pattern is complete, the final stitch usually returning to the starting centre. "One miscounted thread distorts the whole": The process is exacting: a single miscounted thread throws off every count that follows and distorts the entire pattern. "Twin phoenixes, dragon-phoenix and bees among flowers": Over sixty motifs are common—twin phoenixes facing the sun, dragon and phoenix, carp leaping the dragon gate, pomegranate, peony, maple leaf, bees among flowers and butterflies—all in blue or black thread for a clear, elegant line.
Homespun cloth and head-wraps
Miao cross-stitch, called counting the yarn, is finest in Luxi, where it is worked chiefly on head-wraps using cloth the women themselves spin and weave.
Counting three threads to a stitch
Work begins at the centre of the motif and proceeds three threads to a stitch until the pattern is complete, the final stitch usually returning to the starting centre.
One miscounted thread distorts the whole
The process is exacting: a single miscounted thread throws off every count that follows and distorts the entire pattern.
Twin phoenixes, dragon-phoenix and bees among flowers
Over sixty motifs are common—twin phoenixes facing the sun, dragon and phoenix, carp leaping the dragon gate, pomegranate, peony, maple leaf, bees among flowers and butterflies—all in blue or black thread for a clear, elegant line.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
National representative bearer of Tiaohua (Miao cross-stitch), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Her works have been exhibited and have won awards in China and abroad.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Common patterns and motifs include more than sixty kinds, such as two phoenixes facing the sun, dragon and phoenix bringing auspiciousness, carp leaping over the dragon gate, pomegranate blossoms, yang-ball flowers, peonies, maple leaves, bees gathering nectar and butterflies playing among flowers. All are stitched with blue or dark blue thread, producing clear lines and a most refined elegance. The history of Luxi Miao cross-stitch embroidery runs parallel with the Miao tradition of "thread counting." Local Miao women spin and weave their own "homespun cloth"; the cotton yarn used is relatively coarse, and the woven cloth has distinct horizontal and vertical threads with clear warp and weft, making it the best material for the cross-stitch technique. Cross-stitch work is used mostly on headscarves, and also on waist aprons, sleeves and baby-carrying wraps; the patterns all exist in the minds of the Miao women — there are no ready-made designs.
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.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shi Jiumei | Huangmei, Hubei | 01-0085 | Other regional school |
| Fengxuemei | Longhui, Hunan | 01-0086 | Other regional school |
| Wang Shifu | Wangjiang, Anhui | 05-2604 | Other regional school |
| Yang Chunying | Luxi, Hunan | 05-2605 | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
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。