As a traditional handicraft of Sichuan Province, Sichuan embroidery or Shu embroidery in brief, is acclaimed as one of the Four Major Embroideries of China along with its counterparts from Jiangsu, Hunan and Guangdong. Featured by its unique needling methods and techniques, Shu embroidery is vehemently expressive and highly aesthetic. Its artistic style is boiled down to the following words: meticulous and subtle needling, elegant and tranquil hues, graceful and flowing lines, bringing the best of the Chinese ink painting into full display.

One of the earliest records of Shu embroidery was conducted by Yang Xiong, a rhythm prose writer of Han dynasty. In his Ode of Sichuan, he described the magnificence of the embroidery as “if spread, it becomes so voluminous that, one can never tell where the end would be”. Later, he also composed a poem named Xiubu to express his strong attachment to Shu embroidery. A solid foundation was then laid for Sichuan embroidery as the local silk industry began to prosper, leading to the robust growth of the industry in the end of the Western Han dynasty. Just as the History of Latter Han put it, the silk industry, though plied by largely female workers, is capable to clothe the world”, the embroidery’s far-reaching fame is widely known. The development of Shu embroidery benefited much from the local abundance of various products, especially plentiful silk with good quality (the renowned Silk Road takes its origin in Chengdu). As a time-honored art, Shu embroidery enjoys popularity both at home and abroad with its distinctive technique (like double-sided embroidery and Sanyi embroidery, literally different colors, patterns and needling on each side) and native patterns (like lotus and carps, landscape, bamboo forests and grouses, pandas, flowers, birds and human figures). It may take dozens of days even several months to accomplish one single piece of embroidery until the final work is exquisite and unparallel in the world. Ranging from practical daily necessities to luxurious works of art, the embroideries also embrace hundreds of sub-varieties such as quilt cover, pillow cover, embroidered slippers and other ornaments.