Liu Xiuhua

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From 1972 she studied Beijing embroidery under her father-in-law Ning Guoxi, known as Butterfly Ning. Within the regional tradition and school record of Beijing Embroidery in Fangshan, Beijing: Beijing embroidery is centered on Fangshan District, Beijing, and radiates to Hebei Province, Tianjin, and other areas; its transmission is directly related to the movement of artisans in the court embroidery workshops of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Embroiderers in the Fangshan area rely on organizations such as the Beijing Jingdu Xiuniang Handicrafts Specialized Cooperative for production and training. Their products have expanded from court garments and rank badges (buzi) to modern clothing, decoration, and everyday articles; the tools include embroidery needles, hoops, frames, thread spools, and scissors. In the Yuan dynasty, the flat-gold, couched-gold, and seed-stitch techniques now common in Beijing embroidery had already appeared.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in November 1950, a native of Beijing. Upholding tradition, she has comprehensively mastered both gold-thread work and silk-thread work, and excels at such stitches as coiled gold, seed stitch and flat gold. In her works the gold and silver threads are even and lively, the silk threads fine, dense and compact, the stitching flat, and the colours bright and harmonious. Her representative works include Nine-Dragon Wall, Nine Provinces Rejoicing Together and Chinese Dragon. She took part in the traditional culture displays at the 2008 Olympic Games and in other promotional and exhibition events, spreading the art of Beijing embroidery. Within the documented technical tradition of Beijing Embroidery in Fangshan, Beijing: As a traditional court hand-embroidery technique that once served the imperial family, Beijing embroidery is transmitted with Fangshan District, Beijing, as its center, radiating to Hebei Province, Tianjin, and other areas. It is rich in patterns and exacting in technique, gorgeous in color, dignified and luxurious, strongly decorative, and artistically distinctive; it is one of the “Eight Peerless Arts of Yanjing.” Embroidery has a long history and is an important component of dress culture. In the Tang dynasty, the silk-weaving industry in the Beijing area began to flourish, and embroideries came to feature such stitches as couched gold, couched silver, and satin stitch. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the artistic division between court embroidery and folk embroidery became increasingly clear; court embroidery was known for short as “palace embroidery,” that is, Beijing embroidery, and its stitch techniques, use of labor and materials, and motif designs grew ever more distinctive, drawing on the strengths of many schools while highlighting the character of court art. Beijing embroidery is complete in technique and standardized in content, comprising two branches: gold-thread work and floss-thread work; its essence is embodied in four aspects: stylistic character, selection of materials, colors and motifs, and stitch methods. Its tools include embroidery needles, hoops, frames, thread spools, and scissors; the threads are gold and silver threads and floss threads, with the gold thread purchased from the Nanjing Gold Leaf and Gold Thread Factory. The colors used in Beijing embroidery are yellow, white, chi-red, qing-blue, xuan-dark, black, red, and green, with three to six shades of each; bright yellow is a symbol of imperial power. Its main stitches include couched-gold outlining, flat goldwork, and seed stitch; other techniques include lock stitch, satin stitch, long-and-short stitch, couched line, net stitch, and brocade-darning. The stitchwork demands “that qi follow the needle with standardized technique; that the grain be clear and the stitches even; that shading be harmonious and gradation distinct; and that tension be moderate and composition balanced.” Motifs follow the principle that “every picture must carry meaning and every pattern must be auspicious.” The motifs are traditional and richly symbolic, including the twelve emblems of the emperor's gun robe, Buddhist images, plant and animal motifs such as bats and peonies, natural motifs such as clouds and water, and motifs of longevity, happiness, and the eight auspicious symbols. Overall, Beijing embroidery is composed with fullness yet without stagnation; its motifs are dignified and steady, its forms lively and well proportioned, and its colors sumptuous. Whether on garments, decorative pieces, or everyday articles, it consistently pursues an elegant, refined, and exquisite style. Beijing embroidery creates art through symbolic expression, using homophony, associative meaning, and metaphor so that its patterns implicitly convey the traditional Chinese cultural wishes for blessing and fortune and for warding off evil; it thus has social and cultural value. With standardized techniques and a gorgeous style of finished work, it also has high artistic value. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Gold work and velvet work": Its complete technique divides into gold work and silk-floss work, judged by style, materials, colour and pattern and stitch; the gold thread comes from Nanjing. "Yellow, white, red, blue and black": Its palette of yellow, white, red, blue, black, vermilion and green each carries three to six shades, bright yellow symbolising imperial power. "Every image carries meaning": Following the rule that every image means and every motif blesses, patterns range from the emperor's twelve emblems to bats, peonies, clouds and the eight auspicious symbols. "One of the eight Yanjing crafts": Counted among the eight Yanjing crafts, palace embroidery or gongxiu became distinct in Ming and Qing technique, materials and motifs.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Beijing Embroidery, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Since 1979 she has taken apprentices and passed on the craft, travelled repeatedly to Hebei Province to teach it, and recruited apprentices widely and free of charge in her home area, training more than a hundred disciples.

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. Liu Xiuhua · National Representative Bearer Archive