Embroidery traditions thrive in central China

A Dong master shows her brocade technique to her peers. Yang Shaoquan / For China Daily

Hand-woven clothes, with rich colors and ornaments, are still popular among ethnic people in Hunan. Provided to China Daily

Ancient art finds fertile soil in Hunan's remote regions

In the past, young girls in China had to learn needlework at a very early age because the ability was seen as the key to finding a good husband.

In most parts of the country, it seems the tradition has gone the way of the dinosaur, but in the remote areas of China's Hunan province, the tradition is still alive.

Ethnic peoples, such as the Tujia, the Miao, the Dong and the Yao, have dwelled in the west and south of Hunan for many generations. They have created several renowned textile crafts that are regarded as treasures of traditional Chinese culture.

For instance, there is a branch of the Yao ethnic group called Huayao - or "Flowery Yao" - because they are known for their special and colorful clothes as well as outstanding cross-stitch embroidery.

In a Huayao village located at the foot of a mountain in southwest Hunan, cross-stitch embroidery is still the most important skill for women.

"Normally from the age of 7 or 8, a Huayao girl has to learn counting threads, using needles and gradually grasping the cross-stitch embroidery techniques under the instruction of her mother or sisters," said Feng Xuemei, an inheritor of the Huayao cross-stitch embroidery craft.

Unlike machine-aided embroidery, the cross-stitch technique does not require a draft design or embroidery frame but only hands and skills.

Huayao women follow the veins of the hand-woven cloth and make embroidery according to a picture in their mind.

The women always carry their needles and embroidery work with them so that they can make cross-stitch whenever they have time.

They are often seen with their needles and cloth in front of a diaojiaolou, a wood-structured house over the water, on a stone near a brook or in the forests.

The hand-woven cloth in plain colors of blue, white or gray becomes art with aid from the needles of the Huayao women. Images of flowers, Mandarin ducks, golden sunsets and rainbows transform plain cloth into something extraordinary.

These are then made into scarves, cloaks, belts, skirt lace and underwear.

Women from the Miao and the Dong add even more romantic elements to their craftsmanship.

They not only make clothes for family members but also bed covers, handkerchiefs and pillows.

They even weave flower belts using colorful threads as tokens of affection.

Pursuit of beauty

"The Miao ladies are passionate and have a love of beauty. However in past periods of scarcity, they had to make every effort to make adornments by hand and make themselves look better," said Wu Jinglian, the only inheritor of the tie-dye technique in the county of Fenghuang.

"The pursuit of beautiful things is just one reason for the prosperity of ethnic embroidery," said Sun Wenhui, member of the Hunan intangible cultural heritage expert committee.

"The origin of the ethnic groups' colorful and picturesque clothing started with the demands of offering sacrifices during the long-past totem worship period."

For example, animal imagery is another important theme of the Huayao's cross-stitch work. The snake is one of the most widely used images.