Suzhou Embroidery

Special: Decoding the Culture Genes of China

(ECNS) -- A silver needle moves with the hand while the thread dances across the silk;

Chinese Su Xiu uses needles to depict the beauty of Jiangnan (the south of Yangtze River).

Suzhou embroidery is one of the four famed embroideries in China and dates back to over 2,000 years in ancient Suzhou.

The craft is divided into random and flat stitching. Artisans can make single- or double-sided embroidery in elegant colors.

Dazzling stitches endow Suzhou embroidery with the charm of poetry.

Silk splitting is a unique method of processing thread in Suzhou embroidery.

The artisans split the thread to the thinnest, to only one-tenth of a human hair. An exquisite piece of embroidery needs thousands of stitches.

Between every stitch, the ultimate "ingenuity" is measured. Most traditional Suzhou embroidery is based on Chinese brush paintings, such as flowers, birds and small animals.

The most outstanding ones are "kitten" and "goldfish", whose delicate and loveable poses are recreated with each stitch. Modern Suzhou embroidery has integrated Chinese and Western painting, photography and other art forms.

Suzhou embroidery embraces the nature of heaven and earth and blends the natural elegance into stitching.

It is the masterpiece of Chinese culture and artistic skills, in which the landscape can be distinguished in terms of depth perception.

The pavilions provide a deep and mysterious view, while the characters hold vivid expressions. Suzhou embroidery brings the amazing Chinese aesthetics to the world.