Guangdong Embroidery

01 · Historical Records

Its history can be traced back to the Eastern Han period; by the Ming and Qing dynasties it was already widely popular among the people of the Chaoshan region.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Bead embroidery is an important component of Yue embroidery and one of China's traditional fine-art forms with highly distinctive characteristics. Bead embroidery is a hand-embroidery art in which a needle and thread are used to string pearls, glass beads, gemstone beads, sequins, crystal stones, resin stones and other materials onto canvas, textiles, printed cloth, artificial leather, genuine leather and other grounds, stitching out vivid, three-dimensional and brightly colored patterns that depict the flowers, birds, insects and fish of the natural world as well as people, things and events. The glass beads and sequins used in bead embroidery are three-dimensional and translucent; through the refraction, reflection and scattering of light they present varied visual changes from different angles, with the beauty of gleaming, pearl-like luster. Its imagery has both the style of Chinese painting and the flavor of Western painting. Bead embroidery mainly includes pearl embroidery and glass-bead embroidery. Pearl embroidery is stitched with pearls the size of grains of millet and similar materials. Glass-bead embroidery has two types: full-bead embroidery and half-bead embroidery. In full-bead embroidery the entire fabric surface is covered with glass beads; in half-bead embroidery glass beads are stitched onto only part of the fabric. Bead embroidery works are completed entirely by hand, and the production process is complex and elaborate. Because of the differences in materials, it has developed its own distinctive system of stitches; the commonly used ones include continuous alignment stitch, scattered-point stitch, random-ground stitch, tassel-hanging stitch, sequin-hanging stitch and seeping stitch, more than one hundred different stitches in all. Its subjects are wide-ranging and its types numerous: there are both magnificent giant works of art and small, exquisite art objects, as well as practical items such as beaded knitwear, beaded bags, bead curtains, beaded toys and beaded belts. Bead embroidery is transmitted mainly through instruction from master to apprentice. Bead embroidery is a typical representative of Chaoshan culture, reflecting the aesthetic tastes of the Chaoshan people, and it has a distinct regional character. With its varied stitches and flowing, overflowing color, it has rich visual expressiveness and outstanding artistic characteristics.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Its core area of distribution is the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong, comprising the three prefecture-level cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang, among which Chaozhou has the longest history, the widest spread and the greatest representativeness; at the same time it has spread to the surrounding areas of Shanwei, Meizhou, Heyuan, Guangzhou and Shaoguan. At present the project is in good condition and has become one of the eight pillar industries of the locality. It is closely integrated with the daily life of the local people and is an important bond for promoting cultural identity; it plays a positive role in raising the level of local economic development and social harmony and in enriching cultural exchange in eastern Guangdong and along the Belt and Road.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Guangdong Embroidery · Guangdong Embroidery.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Lin Zhicheng (record in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1922, from Chaozhou, Guangdong. Representative inheritor of Yue Embroidery (Chao Embroidery), a first-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project; master of Chinese arts and crafts. From the age of twelve, Lin Zhicheng was an apprentice at the Taisheng Embroidery Shop in Chaozhou; he later moved to the Xu Bingfeng Embroidery Shop as a Chao embroidery designer. After the joint public-private transformation he entered the Chaozhou Chao Embroidery Factory, where he served as director of the design office and then as technical factory director. Using techniques such as padding, piecing, appliqué and folding, together with strongly contrasting colors, and incorporating gold-and-velvet embroidery as well, he produced works that are splendid and highly three-dimensional. He also drew on the artistic techniques of Su embroidery and, combining them with the characteristics of Chao embroidery, created double-sided three-dimensional Chao embroidery works of art, such as Wealth and Honor in the Jade Hall. On the basis of his decades of practice in Chao embroidery, he also summarized 250 stitches and embroidered samples of their patterns for later generations to learn from. Lin Zhicheng passed on the accumulations of his whole life to the young embroiderers of the factory and to his own children. His representative works include Red Phoenix Facing the Sun, Changban Slope and Everybody Is Happy. Kang Huifang (record in the official file of the associated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in July 1948, from Chaozhou, Guangdong Province. She learned Chao embroidery technique from childhood, and was later selected by the senior artisan Lin Wanying to work at the state-run Chaozhou Chao Embroidery Factory. For several decades she has delved into Chao embroidery stitches; she excels at the combined use of traditional Chao embroidery stitches and techniques, seeking to bring together traditional subjects and modern visual effects so that the two set each other off. Her works have full compositions and lifelike patterns, with intense colors in the velvet threads and meticulous nail-gold work. She participated in embroidering the large padded-embroidery screens Nine-Dragon Screen and Playing the Flute to Attract the Phoenix. She has been appointed deputy director of the Guangdong Province Yue Embroidery Research Institute and technical director of the Xiangqiao District Arts and Crafts Embroidery Research Center in Chaozhou, and has devoted great effort to training the next generation of Chao embroidery successors. Representative inheritor of Yue Embroidery (Chao Embroidery), a fourth-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project. She has taught and trained more than a hundred students and apprentices.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Chen Shaofang 01-0081
• Lin Zhicheng 01-0082
• Kang Huifang 04-1771
• Sun Qingxian 04-1772
• Xu Chiguang 05-2597
• Li Shuying
• Huang Weixiong
• Wu Jieyi

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Guangdong Embroidery (Chaozhou, Guangdong) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Lin Zhicheng · National Representative Bearer Archive
3. Kang Huifang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗