Shi Chengquan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From 1972 he studied the craft under his father and several teachers, and he is skilled in single-sided embroidery, double-sided embroidery, double-sided embroidery in different colours, and double-sided embroidery with different colours and different patterns on each side. Within the regional tradition and school record of Ouxiu in Wenzhou, Zhejiang: Ou embroidery is popular in the Wenzhou area of Zhejiang and originated in the embroidery practice of women in their boudoirs. By the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Wenzhou’s external transport links became increasingly developed, allowing Ou embroidery to absorb the strengths of the sister arts, so that its technique matured and it developed a style of its own. By the end of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, many embroidery shops had opened in Wenzhou, taking in commissions for embroidered official robes, brocade garments, theatrical costumes, and qipao. Since the 1970s Ou embroidery has been steadily declining, and only through rescue efforts in the late twentieth century did new-style stitch techniques re-emerge, including ink-wash embroidery, oil-painting embroidery, photography embroidery, and double-sided two-color embroidery. Since the 1970s, for a variety of reasons, Ou embroidery has been steadily declining and has reached the point where the art is on the verge of dying out together with its practitioners; rescue and conservation work has therefore become extremely urgent.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1957 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. In recent years he has concentrated on collecting and researching materials and has explored new stitches such as ink-wash embroidery, oil-painting embroidery, photographic embroidery and double-sided embroidery in different colours, attempting diverse expressions that integrate modern elements into Ouxiu. In 2008 three of his works, Wu De Tu (The Five Virtues), Jin Yu Ying Chun (Brocade Feathers Greeting Spring) and Wu Duo Jin Hua Ying Ao Yun (Five Golden Flowers Welcoming the Olympics), were collected by the China National Silk Museum. His work Ji Rui Tu (Gathering Auspiciousness) was displayed during the 2016 G20 Leaders' Summit at the Xizihu State Guesthouse in Hangzhou and was permanently collected there. In 2017 he travelled to Indiana in the United States to demonstrate Ouxiu on site, and in the same year he completed Wang Zhe Xiong Feng (The King's Majestic Bearing), the first work in the history of Ouxiu to combine different colours and different patterns on the two sides. He attaches importance to transmitting the craft, and his students' works have won numerous awards at competitions and exhibitions. Within the documented technical tradition of Ouxiu in Wenzhou, Zhejiang: Ou embroidery is a traditional folk embroidery art popular in the Wenzhou area of Zhejiang Province. It has a long history and originated in the embroidery practice of women in their boudoirs. Judged from its stitch styles and routines, Ou embroidery developed from the brocade garments of the Tang dynasty. By the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Wenzhou’s external transport links became increasingly developed, allowing Ou embroidery to absorb the strengths of the sister arts; its technique matured and it developed a style of its own. By the end of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, Ou embroidery was already very popular in Wenzhou, and among the people a tradition took shape, summed up in the saying “at eleven or twelve a girl combs her hair, at thirteen she is taught to embroider,” together with the custom of giving embroidered gauze skirts as tokens of betrothal between young men and women. At the time, many embroidery shops opened in the city, taking in commissions for embroidered official robes, brocade garments, theatrical costumes, and qipao, and business was brisk. Ou embroidery has a concise composition, brilliant colors, and rigorous stitching, with flexible and ever-changing needle work; its stitch logic is clear and its embroidered surface is lustrous, displaying a regional character all its own, that of the ancient land of Dong’ou. Blending the beauty of poetry, calligraphy and painting, and embroidery, Ou embroidery stresses the unity of stitch technique, brushwork, and the logic of natural forms, demonstrating a high level of craftsmanship and profound traditional cultural depth. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Ink, oil and photographic embroidery": New stitches that bring ink wash, painterly planes and photographic gradation into Ou embroidery, giving the old craft a modern cast. "The two-sided differing-colour work": The first two-sided work with different colours on each face, completed in 2017 and shown in Indiana, marks a structural advance in the craft. "Five Virtues; Gathering Auspicious Signs": Three of his pieces entered the China National Silk Museum in 2008, and Gathering Auspicious Signs was permanently acquired by the West Lake guesthouse after the 2016 G20 summit.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Ouxiu, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

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.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Shi Chengquan · National Representative Bearer Archive