Ethnic Embroidery of Qiang – A Miracle in Chinese Folk Art (4)

Paper-cutting and embroidery are both folk industrial art forms of China, they both are indivisible parts of Chinese folk culture. As a wonderful art miracle of Qiang nation culture, Qiang embroidery, in terms of design, color, form or stitch styles, are all imbued with rich deposits of the ancient Qiang nation’s millennium culture and Qiang people’s ideas for life.

The author believes that the merits and meanings to dig out the Qiang nation’s folk embroidery and paper cutting art are not only exists in art scope, for us it’s undoubtedly valuable and significant to learn more about the history of this nation and be aware of the relationships between the Qiang folk art and that of other nations.

Qiang nation, also be called "the nation stay in clouds ", mainly live together in the Mao county of Aba prefecture, Wenchuan county and Li county, as well as the Beichuan autonomous county of Qiang nation in Mianyang city in Sichuan province China. "Qiang Embroidery" is a subsistent heritage of Qiang nation culture that most lively so far and closest to Qiang nation people’s life, it also is the best art communication bridge to the real-world, its forms, color matching and stitching styles are featured with significant ethnic characteristics.

Qiang nation people’s costume are gorgeous as well as simple, and whether men or women in Qiang nation are all prefer to wearing headscarves, they are accustomed to wear long linen gowns that woven by themselves, wear long cloth gowns, coats, sheepskin vests too, and ”Yunyun shoes" (a sort of Qiang nation’s embroidered cloth shoes) on feet. A variety of geometric patterns of embroidery are familiar on Qiang women's clothes and they usually wearing silver jewelry such as earrings, silver plates and so on, and wearing embroidered shoes with sharp hook toes. Men in Qiang nation generally tie hanging knives and leather wallets on the waist, they wearing fabric shoes or straw sandals, and wrapping wool puttees, also with waist belts tied on. Today, in areas close to the cities and towns of Han people, affected by the Han people’s clothing, Qiang people mostly wearing Han apparels and only wearing Qiang costumes in holidays.

Through the changes of history and turns of times, with the developing of Chinese cities, modern people favorite for going after changes and curious about adventures, as life styles and aesthetic concepts transformed, traditional folk embroidery appeared in cities from the countryside gradually, not only the sentiments and aspirations of citizen members have been infiltrated with embroidery art, but also thousands of families effected by and began to practice the skill of embroidery together.

Qiang folk art could switched to response the times, thus naturally to regain a new life. In particular, as in this prosperous millennium, people greet the occasion and are all eager to be rich, the embroidery art should to catch the popular fancy and focus on displaying the connotations of people’s hopes that praying for rich, profit, good luck and safety. So, as served as a national product, Qiang embroidery could be descended and developed at the same time. Therefor, we can conclude that there is potential large market for the national folk art’s enhancement and development.

In 21st century the most promoted idea we referred is innovation, we believe that based on maintaining the Qiang embroidery’s traditional essences and integrated with our rich and profound culture deposits and modern styles, thus produced works combined with modern fashion elements, we are able to obtain a broader space for development and display Qiang embroidery art’s unique charms.

Ethnic Embroidery of Qiang – A Miracle in Chinese Folk Art (3)

Qiang's ethnic folk art are rooted in China's ancient history and folk culture, applied with colorful silk threads and cotton color threads, Qiang nation's peoples created various embroidery patterns and images such as flowers and fruits, fowls and beasts, pines, bamboos, plums, chrysanthemums, a mass of blossom, Harmony in Water and Fish and so on. In those simple artistic forms, rich connotations are contained and displayed out.

Women in Qiang nation are all good at embroidery work, which is one of essential skills that Qiang nation women experienced, and it's also a main rule to measure whether a Qiang nation girl is intelligent, dexterous and diligent or not. Women in Qiang are often be taught by their elderships to practice embroidery skill hardly when they are still a little girl. When they are in their 6 or 7-year old, the mother will began to teach her daughter to learn the embroidery skill, so when the daughter grew in her marriage age, she usually has become a skilled embroidery master, and when a man in Qiang nation going to pursue for a wife, the basic requirement is the girl should having grasped the embroidery skill well, if the girl are not skilled with embroidery work, the man would not like her. As a result, no woman in Qiang nation could not do embroidery job.

Women in Qiang nation commonly according to the intention person to choose the embroidery image pattern, for example, image patterns of "Fu", "Lu", "Shou" and so on are mostly designed for the elderly, and hereby to wish good health and longevity of the elderly; For children, images to against evil spirits would be picked mostly, and thus to bless healthy growth of children, and flower patterns would be choose also to imply children’s good health and favorable growth.

Young girl usually embroidered cigarettes bag for her lover, there are two pattern designs are most familiar, one is "The Mandarin duck plays with Water", the other is "The Swallows flying wing to wing from winter to spring". Both the two embroidery patterns are implies to love each other forever and stay together forever, and that is so-called "loves are contained in the sachet".

Served as a part of Qiang's ethnic culture, Qiang's ethnic embroidery bearing Qiang nation's people's love to the nature, their yearns for a better life, which are all displayed on their embroidered apparels, to show their rich regional culture and folk customs from one glance side. It can be said that the Qiang's folk embroidery and paper-cut art are visual carriers of Qiang's ethnic culture, they are direct and aesthetic symbolic expressions of this age-old ethnic groups' customs and lifestyles.


Qiang nation's "Yunyun shoes" is the most characteristic embroidered shoes, which are made with fabric and in a boat shape, with a little raised shoe toes and thicker soles, clouds images embroidered on the shoe uppers, it’s durable and wearable, is a typical lyric-by embroidery.

Not only with spirit appeal, but also actual practicality, this kind of art form congealed Qiang nation people's simple desires of blessing an auspicious future and a better life, and its culture characters extended whereby. This character is not only belongs to the Qiang nation, but also belongs to all Chinese working people.

Ethnic Embroidery of Qiang – A Miracle in Chinese Folk Art (2)

Qiang ethnic minority is one ancient nation in our Chinese ethnic family. For thousands of years, together with the other members of our big folk family, the ethnic minority of Qiang have created the Chinese nation's great splendid civilizations.

From the nomadic times to the farming times, from ancient times until today, The Qiang nation has experienced countless glory and honor, also suffered from hardships and tribulations. They always keep the Chinese nation’s fine qualities of hard-working, kind-hearted, simple and unadorned. In the mountains on the northwest Sichuan, between the canyons, they spread over and descended toughly from generation to generation, to retain a special, ancient folk culture gene in China.


Embroidery is a kind of traditional Chinese handicraft that using needles to draw various color threads go between fabrics and created drawings on it. The various embroidery patches and embroidered image patterns on Qiang nation people’s apparels are all belong to the traditional Qiang’s ethnic folk arts and crafts, which has a long history.

As to the production means, Qiang’s ethnic embroidery were produced by various individual families, also is through this method to achieve following and continuation traditionally. It is a unique art created own by Qiang nation’s people, which is imbued with their wisdoms and originalities.


Qiang’s ethnic embroidery works full of free imaginations and followed regular norms at same time, it is a sort of art creation that featured with merits of spontaneity, amateurism and self-entertainment. In the long history of development, Qiang’s ethnic embroidery formed its unique aesthetic styles, color specifications and functional forms naturally, also folk and self-embodied with national folk art rules which has aesthetic values.

As to the function, Qiang’s ethnic embroidery mainly used for decorating people’s coats and skirts, shoes, head towels, belts, ribbons, bands, straps, cuffs, pants, trousers bodies, shoe-uppers, insoles, pillowcases, handkerchiefs, clothing edges, sleeves and sachets, from these art patterns we can view the history line of Qiang’s ethnic costume culture.

As long as to do a bit statistics, we can learn that there are over 100 kinds of embroidery patterns merely in Qiang’s ethnic apparels, that is really colorful! Containing Qiang nation people’s fine aspirations for a better life, these exquisite embroidery works created by fine techniques are simple, rigorous, arranged ingenious and reasonable, also using moderate colors, thus to integrate the aesthetic forms and functional forms naturally: Not only for wearing beautiful, but also wearable, and the use lift extended consequently.

As per to Qiang’s ethnic embroidery, the aesthetic and practical functions of which could not be separated sharply. The reason is referring the practical function, to increase its wearable quality only is a primary step; in a deeper sense, those gorgeous and colorful image patterns on Qiang’s ethnic embroidery actually congealed Qiang nation people’s praying and blessing for life, which reflected their dreams of beyond reality.

As the image patterns they selected: fishes, flowers and birds, worms, fowls and beasts, figures, fruits and melons, flowers, ‘Fortunes smile upon and Favor you’, Treasures Fill the Home, Hundreds of birds visit Phoenix, all these designs are profound and lifelike. Although done with some geometric or other forms of transforming treatment, but are closely related to their reality all along, and the starting point of their ideas for a better life is just existed in such a reality of survival.

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.

China's Handmade Embroidery - Embroidered Silk Visual Art

Hisotry of Chinese Handmade Embroidery



China has always been famous for its silk and its handmade silk embroidery. For millennia, the renowned "Silk Road" brought Chinese silk and embroidery to Central Asia, Western Asia, Europe and Africa. The silk trade created exchanges between China, India, Greece and Rome and acted as a link between these four ancient civilizations.

Since the earliest fabric samples of 3000 B.C. People in China realise that human beings have wanted to enliven their surroundings clothing, toiletries and linens by adding hand work of some kind over the woven fabrics.

Different areas of the devised their own peculiar styles. The type of thread, colors, motifs and presentation of each area and style are unique. Each region had a few stitches unique to their style. The motifs were related to nature and religion and everyday life of people.

Religious embroideries spanned the breadth of the age of the many religious organizations and royal courts. Handmade Embroidery art had patrons just like other art forms. These embroideries include gold threads or zardosi, chikankari, kasuti and kashmiri.

Chikankari is said to have a Turkish impression though it is mentioned in the records of Megasthenes in 3rd century B.C. Kashmiri embroidery is colorful with symbols like chinar leaf, apple blossom, lily, the saffron flower and the fauna of the region. Phulkari has brightly colored flowers on coarse cotton. Beadwork and Zardosi are Mughal introductions where as mirror work is typical to Gujarat and Rajasthan. Kantha' Embroidery of Bengal makes imaginative use of waste rugs and Kasuti is famous for religious themes.

- Styles of Chinese Silk Embroidery Art





There are several different levels of Chinese embroidered silk visual art:

• Antique (all handmade obviously)

• High quality, classical handmade

• Ordinary quality handmade

• Machine made

As corresponding, Suzhou embroidery (Su embroidery for short), Hunan embroidery (Xiang embroidery for short), Sichuan embroidery (Shu embroidery for short) and Guangdong embroidery (Yue embroidery for short) are the four most famous styles of embroidery in China.

The city of Suhou is the center of the Chinese handmade embroidered silk visual art. From there the silk industry spreads west to other cities including Suzhou and it extends to Shanghai, Wuxi, etc. and now includes Beijing, Guangxi, Guangdong. Shenzhen, Zhejiang, Shanxi, Shandong, Hubei, Anhui and other places.

Merits of Chinese Handmade Embroidery






Handmade classical silk embroidery is alive. The high quality work looks lifelike. It's been created with loving care by an individual artist. These people are masters of their trade.

They have incredible skill and their work is stunningly beautiful. But it looks alive. The machine made versions look stiff and unnatural. It's quite easily distinguishable.

Handmade embroidery is done with pure silk thread. It has an exquisite, glossy feel to it. Real silk thread will break when used in a sewing machine. So the thread that is used in a machine is thicker and has an artificial fiber feel to it because it is a mix. It is not pure silk.

Chinese handmade silk embroidery is highly collectible. There are many collectors in Germany, the rest of Europe, the USA, Japan, Africa and in other countries, usually the affluent art aficionados all over the world. The embroidered silk is truly representative of Chinese art.

Authentic antique silk embroidered visual art sells for anywhere between $35,000 and $125,000, and is an excellent investment as their prices continue to rise. Over the long term (hundreds of years) the value has increased by as much as 50 times. These pieces are on display in museums and exist in private collections and become available for sale in much the same way any antique art does: dealers, auctions and so on, with the usual problems of verifying authenticity and provenance.

But machine embroidery may have become common these days and perhaps more economical but theuniqueness, variety, intricacy, art and fineness of hand embroidery is unmatched and as yet unchallenged. Today you can also buy modern, hand embroidered silk of the type that is being produced. This varies greatly in quality. At one extreme there is ordinary handmade silk embroidery which you can buy for as little as $100 for a piece. Then there is high quality, classical embroidered silk being produced at higher prices. These pieces tend to sell at auction and therefore the prices can go very high and be somewhat unpredictable.

A Special Kind of Chinese Handmade Embroidery - Chinese Double Sided Embroidery






The double sided embroidery is a technique in which stitching takes place on both sides of a single transparent silk fabric. The design shows on both sides (front and reverse). Such a piece is normally mounted on a wooden frame as a screen, one really can't tell which side is the front or the back.

Most of the double sided embroideries, almost all, people see in shops have the same images on both sides. However there are a few double sided embroideries that have two different images on both sides. It's a mystery and secret how this kind of works are made.

Fine Works of Chinese Handmade Embroidery

People from different countries have different tastes. A silk handmade embroidery popular in one country is not necessarily popular in another country. But there are some silk embroideries that seem almost everyone likes them.






Have you ever seen such a beautiful painting on a piece of silk satin? Just imagine embroidering such a delicate figure with threads and needles! But such exquisite embroidery has been one of China's most famous art forms for many centuries, and four main schools of embroidery have established with their unique techniques.





The Chinese Art of Painting with Silk Threads

Remark: Clever photographer, Nancy Fox, recently returned from a tour of mainland China. A visit to an embroidery factory in Suzhou was high on her list of places to see. She was not disappointed. When she arrived, the artists were hard at work producing these paintings. They readily consented to let Nancy photograph them while they worked.

* Last, if you interests, you can find all kinds of Chinese silk handmade silk embroidery art for sale on the Internet like any other modern or old art.


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