Zhang Juhua

01 · Lineage & Regional School

She studied the craft under her mother, Yan Jinxiu, from whom she learned Malian embroidery. Within the regional tradition and school record of Minjianxiuhuo in Guangyuan, Sichuan: Maliu embroidery is concentrated in Maliu Township of Chaotian District, Guangyuan City, and spreads to the villages and homesteads of Chaotian and Pingsha. When embroidering, no draft pattern is used; instead the embroiderer “counts the threads and stitches,” planning the motifs, patterns, and their size and arrangement on the spot, guiding the needle as if wielding a brush, so that the embroidered images are completed in one continuous flow. Representative pieces include “Chrysanthemum Picture,” “Orchid Picture,” “Flower Pillow,” and “Dragonfly and Lotus Pillow Towel.” Maliu embroidery, commonly known as “stitched flowers” (ZhaHua), is a folk embroidery art popular in the Chaotian District area of Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, and is closely related to local customs. Guangyuan has long had the saying “To know whether a family's daughter is clever, look at how good her needlework is”: local girls begin learning embroidery at the age of six or seven, and only after reaching adulthood do they discuss marriage; before that, someone must first be invited to “inspect their needlework,” so the quality of a girl's embroidery bears directly on her marriage prospects.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in January 1977 in Guangyuan, Sichuan Province. She has a thorough command of Malian embroidery techniques such as jiahua, xiuhua, chuanhua, tiaohua and youhua, and is a well-known deft embroiderer in the locality, enjoying a degree of representativeness and influence. She embroiders without a prepared draft, instead counting the threads as she stitches and planning the motifs and their scale and arrangement extemporaneously; her needle moves as a brush would, and the images she embroiders are completed in one sustained flow and rendered to life. Her embroideries such as Chrysanthemum, Orchid, Floral Pillow and Dragonfly and Lotus Pillow Towel are widely appreciated. She carries out her work of transmission actively in many ways, taking disciples, holding free training courses and serving as an embroidery teacher in schools. Within the documented technical tradition of Minjianxiuhuo in Guangyuan, Sichuan: Folk embroidery is also known as “needle embroidery,” “stitched flowers,” and “flower embroidery”; since it is mostly done by women, it is also habitually called “women's needlework” (nügong). It is a traditional folk craft: a needle threaded with colored thread is passed through the fabric to form stitches, so that the embroidered marks create specific patterns or characters. Finished folk embroidery pieces are indispensable gifts and decorations in folk activities. The craft has a long history and is closely bound up with the daily life of ordinary people; since ancient times, Chinese folk tradition has circulated the saying “To know whether a family's daughter is clever, look at how good her needlework is.” Folk embroidery embraces a wide range of subjects and rich cultural connotations, and its regions of transmission span the length and breadth of the country, from the great river valleys to the Great Wall frontier. In Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Beijing, and elsewhere, folk embroidery has developed creatively, giving rise to distinct regional styles. Maliu embroidery, commonly known as “stitched flowers” (ZhaHua), is a folk embroidery art popular in the Chaotian District area of Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province. Maliu embroidery is closely related to local customs. Guangyuan has the saying “To know whether a family's daughter is clever, look at how good her needlework is,” and local girls begin learning embroidery at the age of six or seven, mainly embroidering everyday articles such as bed curtains, pillowcases, waist aprons, hand towels, and embroidered shoes. In the past, Maliu embroidery mostly used homespun cloth in black, white, and red with colored homespun thread as its materials; today it has switched to white cloth or other solid-colored fabrics, and the embroidery threads are also more varied. Maliu embroidery has several stitching methods, including quan tiao (all counted-stitch work), quan xiu (all satin-stitch work), and ban tiao ban xiu (half counted-stitch and half satin-stitch work). When embroidering, no draft pattern is used; instead, the size and position of the design are determined by “counting the threads of the base cloth,” which ensures that the stitched lines are even and regular. Maliu embroidery is brightly colored and rich in subject matter, covering flowers, birds, animals, and insects; plowing, sowing, and harvesting; and wedding and funerary rites, among many other themes. Its compositions fall into two types, continuous and segmented; whether used separately or alternately, they can be combined ingeniously, brimming with a strong rustic flavor, with a powerful decorative sense and distinct characteristics of Qiang embroidery. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Counting threads and improvising": Working without a pattern, counting the threads and improvising, the needle moving like a brush so that the design emerges complete in one stroke. "Five stitches of Maliu work": Zhang Juhua is adept at frame, running, bead, lifting and free stitches, and is regarded locally as a leading hand of the craft. "Chrysanthemum and dragonfly pieces": Her chrysanthemums, orchids, floral pillows and dragonfly-and-lotus kerchiefs are much prized; she has taught the craft by apprenticeship, free classes and school posts.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Folk Embroidery (Malian embroidery), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She is the fourth-generation bearer of Malian embroidery.

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. Zhang Juhua · National Representative Bearer Archive