Xiamen Zhuxiu
01 · Historical Records
Xiamen bead embroidery took shape in Xiamen, Fujian, in the late Qing and early Republican period, and has a history of more than a century. Its rise was directly related to Xiamen's opening as a treaty port for trade: glass beads, shell beads, and iridescent film from the Philippines, the Nanyang (Southeast Asian) region, Europe, and America were imported by sea, and local embroiderers combined them with the stitches of Suzhou and Guangdong embroidery, creating this new type of embroidery with the arrangement of beads and thread in which 'moving points form lines and moving lines form surfaces'; a stable industry and export network took shape between the hometowns of overseas Chinese and the docks.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Xiamen bead embroidery is a traditional handicraft that uses hollow glass beads of various kinds and iridescent film as materials, applying eight major techniques to embroider patterns of light and deep relief; it took shape in Xiamen, Fujian, in the late Qing and early Republican period and has a history of more than a century. Xiamen bead embroidery takes velvet cloth, leather, and similar fabrics with cotton lining as its ground, and selects hollow glass beads of varied forms and iridescent film as the beading material. Using techniques such as flat stitching, raised stitching, string stitching, granule stitching, random-needle stitching, vertical bead stitching, and layered-film stitching, and the arrangement of 'moving points forming lines and moving lines forming surfaces', it works through contrast, balance, symmetry, and relief to embroider patterns with a shallow-relief effect. Its craft process is complex, comprising many steps: designing the embroidery draft, color matching, designing the stitch method, joining the lining to the cloth, die-cutting the materials, stretching the cloth on the embroidery frame, embroidering the pattern, and pasting the inner surface. The patterns of Xiamen bead embroidery include both traditional auspicious motifs and modern abstract designs, and it is especially adept at creating patterns that reflect the local character of Xiamen and its maritime culture and art. Its products are highly varied, including art decorations such as wall hangings and ornaments, and applied items such as footwear, garments, and bags. Unlike other embroidery types, Xiamen bead embroidery exploits the visual transformations produced by the texture of its materials under light, achieving a brilliant iridescent visual effect and a three-dimensional relief tactile effect, and fully expressing the richly colorful yet harmonious character of folk art. Xiamen bead embroidery is the product of the blending of multiple cultures against the background of maritime culture; it is an important carrier of folk culture in southern Fujian (Minnan) and is of great significance for promoting, inheriting, and spreading traditional Minnan culture. It combines artistry with practicality; it is a representative craft category of Xiamen and has value for cultural exchange.
Archival Records of Process Steps
Its craft process is complex, comprising many steps: designing the embroidery draft, color matching, designing the stitch method, joining the lining to the cloth, die-cutting the materials, stretching the cloth on the embroidery frame, embroidering the pattern, and pasting the inner surface.
Beads to line, line to surface
Flat, raised, strung, grain, loose, upright and overlapped beadwork, arranged bead by bead until the lines carry a shallow relief.
Eight techniques and the materials
Hollow glass beads and iridescent film, worked in eight techniques on velvet or leather backed with cotton, cut to pattern and stitched on a frame.
Eight workshop stages
Eight stages from design and colour matching to backing and facing, with every shade matched point by point to the drawing.
Products differ across the region
Centred on Xiamen and spread to Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Chaoshan and Southeast Asia, the products shift from shoes and wall hangings to altar curtains and ceremonial robes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The project now has its core area in Xiamen City, Fujian Province, spreading to Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and other places in the Minnan region; it is also found in the Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province and in various countries of Southeast Asia. Because of regional cultural differences, its products each have their own character: Xiamen, Quanzhou, and Southeast Asia focus on footwear, wall hangings, and bags, while Zhangzhou and the Chaoshan area of Guangdong focus on altar-table drapery, bedroom curtains, bags, and formal dress. At the same time, it promotes flexible employment and foreign trade, and is of far-reaching significance for advancing the integration of culture and tourism and for promoting cultural exchange along the Belt and Road.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Xiamen bead embroidery has collected and organized the relevant knowledge and skills through the traditional mode of master-apprentice transmission, and has been passed down through six generations to date.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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