Ethnic Embroidery of Qiang – A Miracle in Chinese Folk Art (1)

Embroidery is one of traditional Chinese folk industrial arts styles, is an integral part in China’s folk culture. Qiang’s folk embroidery art is the image carrier of Qiang nation’s culture, it is a direct and aesthetic symbolic performance of customs and lifeways of the minority nation with a long history.

Qiang people’s folk embroidery art has passed down from generation to generation for its own traditional folk style, rich exotic moods and sophisticated artistry, which combines the practicality and beauty in one, is one of people’s favorite articles used for decorating and beautifying the life.

When the new China founded, the Qiang people’s folk art developed further, become more attractive and dazzling. In July 1959, embroidered waist belt created by Mrs. Wang Yuhua named "Happiness Ocean" from Wenchuan County in Sichuan province was sent to Chengtu city to attend the State Industrial Art Exhibition and won the first prize.


Containing simple and rich ancient rustic flavors and superb artistry, in 1978 Qiang people’s folk costumes won lot of national academic reputations at home and abroad. At the end of same year, Japan's National Museum of Ethnology purchased the Qiang nation’s folk apparel for collection.

In 1980, carpets produced by factories in Aba county were exported to the United States, Canada, India, Nepal, the Philippines and other countries, thus Qiang nation people’s folk art won wide reputations and praises.


To the Ming and Qing Dynasties, embroidery has become very popular in the region of Qiang minority. Qiang nation’s embroidery art has 16 kinds of embroidering stitches, there are pick embroidery, ‘Nahua’ embroidery, fine flower embroidery, chain clasp embroidery, emboss finish embroidery, jacquard embroidery, applique embroidery, crocheting embroidery and hand embroidery mainly.

Among them, the pick embroidery is the most favorite technique practices used by Qiang nation’s women. The pick embroidery’s images drawn from the reality life in nature, such as flowers, birds, fishes, animals, and so on, which are familiar in people’s daily life. These natural beings full with rich biological spirits, through skillful pick embroidery processing, have been created into various colorful patterns and images, they mostly symbolizes people’s blessings of auspicious fortunes, fine aspirations for bright future, such as "Bouquets of Flowers and Piles of Brocades ", "Harmony in Water and Fish", " Phoenix Flying in Peony."

Pick embroidery also called “cross embroidery”, is a sort of embroidery technique which strictly in accordance with the fabric’s latitude and longitude lines, through a set of tight embroidery stitches and bring out cross patterns in equidistance and same length, thus embroider out a variety of patterns of visual forms, which have regular, symmetrical, distinctive features. Through this method, images of all natural beings are formed of cross right angles and cross straight lines, and formed unique styles of geometric deformation, it’s fancy and interesting.

Qiang minority nation’s women mostly using cotton threads in their embroidering work, sometimes silk color threads applied too, the colors in which mainly are black and white in vivid contrast. Colors in embroidered image are commonly bright and varied to create clear, simple and generous visual effects.

Qiang nation’s embroidery patterns are clean, exquisite, and contained rich implications. For example, the colors in flower design embroidery and fine flower embroidery are distinctive in great contrast, while flying belts’ patterns have very strong decorative impressions, coupled with the embroidery techniques of chain clasp and so on, the Qiang people’s wild, uninhibited but delicate characters were open out fully with rich connotations.