Chinese Embroidery is a traditional folk art with a long history. It plays an important role in the history of Chinese arts and crafts. Silkworm raising and silk reeling and weaving promote the development of Chinese embroidery. The art of embroidery stemmed from the production of silk threads and fabrics.
Nowadays, Chinese embroidery is widely practiced in almost every part of China. There are four famous Chinese embroideries: Xiang embroidery in central China's Hunan Province, Shu embroidery in western China's Sichuan Province, Yue embroidery in southern China's Guangdong Province and Su embroidery in eastern China's Jiangsu Province.

1. Xiang embroidery
Xiang embroidery, dated from the Chu Kingdom of the Warring States Period, is well known for its long history, excellent craftsmanship and unique style. The material of Xiang embroidery is hard satin, pure silk, nylon and soft satin. And various colorful silk threads are mixed together. Xiang Embroidery absorbed the characteristics of traditional Chinese paintings of landscapes, human figures, flowers, birds and animals and formed its own unique characteristics. Animal patterns such as lions and tigers are the most common design on Xiang embroidery.

2. Shu embroidery
Shu embroidery, with another name of Chuan embroidery, enjoys an age-old history. Thanks to a peaceful society and favorable conditions for the development of embroidery industry, Shu Embroidery developed rapidly during the Five Dynasties and Ten States periods (907-960), and then peaked in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Made with soft satins and colored threads and Originating among the folk people in the west of Sichuan Province, Shu embroidery is distinguished with its characteristics of smoothness, brightness and neatness.

3. Yue embroidery
According to historical records, Yue embroidery, with a long history of over 1000 years, was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasty. Because Yue embroidery has originated from Guangzhou, Shantou, Zhongshan, Fanyu and Shunde in Guangdong Province, therefore, it has been also named “Guang embroidery”. Influenced by national folk art, designs on Yue embroidery is characterized by its unique features of rich and complicated content, neat designs and strong, contrasting colors, and elaborate and meticulous needlework.

4. Su embroidery
Su embroidery, well known for its characteristics of smoothness and delicateness, has a history of over 3,000 years. During the Song Dynasty, Su embroidery was produced on a large scale. It was named for embroidery products in areas around Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. During the early Qing Dynasty, Su embroidery got Suzhou the title City of Embroidery. At that time, Su embroidery absorbed Japanese and Western fine art sand and combined them with traditional Chinese embroidery skills to produce a kind of embroidery with ray effects. Since the founding of new China, the Su embroidery industry continued to develop after a decline. In 1950s, many the Embroidery Research Centers and institutes were established in Suzhou. With age-old history, Su embroidery formed its own characteristic: neat rim, flat surface, harmonious and bright color, dense lines, thin needle and even picture. And the design on Su embroidery is quite simple and high light a main theme. For its delicacy and elegance, Su embroidery has become famous throughout the world.