Li Xingxiu
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Li Xingxiu, Female, Qiang, from Wenchuan, Sichuan, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Qiang Embroidery (Ⅶ-76). The tradition is documented in Wenchuan, Sichuan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Qiang Embroidery in Wenchuan, Sichuan: Qiang embroidery is practiced in the Qiang settlement areas of Wenchuan, Li County, Mao County, Songpan in Sichuan, and Ningqiang in Shaanxi. The cross-stitch patterns on aprons, yunyun shoes, and baby carriers differ from family to family, each serving as a household emblem; the jiahua (cross-stitch picking) of the Wenchuan area is the most renowned, and traditional motifs such as yinzihua (seal-flower patterns), yangjiaohua (goat-horn flowers), and the swastika (wan) symbol are believed to be connected with the totems and blessing beliefs of the ancient Qiang people, and also serve as important markers by which different villages recognize their kin. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Qiang cross-stitch embroidery was already very prevalent in the Qiang regions.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Female, Qiang ethnicity, born in April 1961 in Mao county, Sichuan Province. Influenced from childhood by her grandmother and her mother, she began learning embroidery at the age of eight. She has practised Qiang embroidery for more than forty years and has a comprehensive command of all its techniques, including the most difficult and central ones, and her embroidery skills are highly proficient. She has investigated and collated Qiang embroidery techniques and Qiang costume, and on the basis of tradition has carried out innovative exploration, introducing many types of Qiang embroidery with novel design concepts and many styles of Qiang costume. In addition, she has trained large numbers of embroiderers for a number of embroidery enterprises and training courses. Within the documented technical tradition of Qiang Embroidery in Wenchuan, Sichuan: Qiang embroidery is a traditional embroidery art practiced in the Qiang settlement areas of Sichuan and elsewhere, and it has a long history. After their labor, Qiang women take up needle and thread and embroider freely, creating in practice a Qiang embroidery rich in ethnic characteristics. Qiang embroidery stitching centers on the delicate jiahua technique (cross-stitch picking), and includes many others besides, such as zhizi (figured weaving), nahua (bunched stitch), piehua (flat satin stitch), and gouhua (chain stitch). Each of these techniques has its own character: nahua produces a uniquely bright and delicate effect, while gouhua appears bold and uninhibited. Qiang embroidery most often takes flowers, plants, vegetables and fruits, and birds and beasts as its subjects, and can also depict human figures. Its embroidered content is invariably fine and beautiful, lifelike, and full of auspicious meaning, reflecting the Qiang people’s longing for a better life. Qiang embroidered articles are most famous for their floral aprons and yunyun shoes; their embroidered patterns are mostly geometric, with rigorous composition, even organization, and extremely strong decorative quality. Their colors are bright and clear, mostly black and white, while the coloring applied in the cross-stitch and nahua work is dazzlingly brilliant, like a five-colored rainbow. Qiang embroidery is both beautiful and practical: the parts decorated with embroidery are precisely those places on garments and worn articles that are liable to wear and tear, and the dense stitches increase the clothing’s resistance to abrasion, revealing the ingenuity and craftsmanship of the Qiang people in design. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Five stitches of Qiang embroidery": Raised cross-stitch leads, with pattern-weaving, looped flower, flat flower and chain-loop; the loop is bright and clear, the chain bold and rough. "Aprons and cloud shoes": Its best-known products are the flower apron and the cloud shoe, geometrically patterned, strictly composed and set with silver plaques and roe-teeth. "Wang Guofang and her motifs": Wang Guofang learned from her mother and was threading needles at twelve; her seal-flower, ram's-horn and wan motifs are strongly Qiang in character.
Five stitches of Qiang embroidery
Raised cross-stitch leads, with pattern-weaving, looped flower, flat flower and chain-loop; the loop is bright and clear, the chain bold and rough.
Aprons and cloud shoes
Its best-known products are the flower apron and the cloud shoe, geometrically patterned, strictly composed and set with silver plaques and roe-teeth.
Wang Guofang and her motifs
Wang Guofang learned from her mother and was threading needles at twelve; her seal-flower, ram's-horn and wan motifs are strongly Qiang in character.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
National representative bearer of Qiang Embroidery, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She actively transmits the craft and has taken thirty-three disciples, among them Ren Kangqin, Li Hui and Zhang Heqiong, who have become bearers at the prefecture level, and Pan Yunlan and others, who have become bearers at the county level.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Qiang cross-stitch embroidery was already very prevalent in the Qiang regions.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wang Guofang | Wenchuan, Sichuan | 03-1293 | Same declared area |
| Li Xingxiu | Wenchuan, Sichuan | 05-2686 | 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。