Guangdong Embroidery

Guangdong Embroidery, together with Jiangsu Embroidery, Hunan Embroidery and Sichuan Embroidery, are the four major schools of embroidery in China.

It is rooted in Guangdong Province with a long history of over 1,000 years, dating back to the first year during the Yongzhen reign of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). During the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368), Guangdong Embroidery began to be exported to foreign countries and regions. During the Qianlong reign (1736-1796), the first professional industrial union called Yue Xiu Hang (Yue is the shortened form of Guangdong, Xiu means embroidery, and Hang means union) was founded in Guangzhou City. After 1915, representative works of Guangdong Embroidery won several prizes on the Panama World Exposition and the world expositions.

Guangdong Embroidery is well known for its gorgeous color, distinct contrasts, graphic patterns and imagery, well-conceived designs, and changeable needle technique.

Guangdong Embroidery has four varieties, woolen embroidery, purl embroidery, pearl embroidery and plain thread embroidery, whose products include garments, articles for daily use, ornaments, pictures for appreciation and stage costumes. The most gorgeous and luxurious of these is the gold thread embroidery.

A new branch of Guangdong Embroidery is rising in Chaozhou, marked for balanced designs and impeccable needlework. The embroidery industry in Guangdong has developed more new forms of embroidery with products being exported to more than 50 countries and regions in Europe, America, Australia and Asia.