Threading a path through time

It gave full play to her passion and drove her to study and practice Bian embroidery even more intensively. In the space of eight months, she was promoted to the position of director at the production workshop.

In 1958, Wang Suhua took on the challenging task of embroidering the classic long-scroll painting, Qingming Shanghe Tu (Along the River During the Qingming Festival), by painter Zhang Zeduan from the Song Dynasty, for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China the following year.

She immediately led a team to scour local neighborhoods in search of old Bian embroidery pieces and to uncover more traditional needlework methods to better present the complexity of the painting, which features hundreds of characters and trees, as well as numerous livestock, ships, bridges and buildings.

Whenever she had time, she went to the countryside to observe the exact color of donkeys, the shape of cattle, and the habits of camels. She also went to the Yellow River several times to experience life on the water, to see how many strands were in the ropes the boatmen used and how they wound them. When she saw birds' nests in the trees, she would look up and observe them for a while, examining their structure, materials and colors.

Wang Suhua also went to Beijing to see the authentic painting and examine its details at close quarters.

"To embroider high-quality works, it's essential to pay attention to the details and study them carefully," Wang Suhua says.

For the following three-and-a-half months, she and her teammates worked through one problem after another by integrating traditional Bian embroidering methods with a dozen new approaches.

Various techniques were used to create three-dimensional and lifelike effects, particularly on elements such as the tiles on the cowshed roof, the ropes on the ships and the branches of the willow trees, she explains.

The work was then displayed in the Henan hall at the Great Hall of the People and later collected by the National Museum of China. Wang Suhua was also invited to watch the national 10th anniversary celebration in 1959.

More than seven decades of Bian embroidering experience have enabled Wang Suhua to develop a strong personal style.

"My basic expectations for every embroidery work are soft and elegant colors, exquisite craftsmanship, clear layering, and vivid and lifelike presentation," she says.

Wang Suhua opened her own Bian embroidery school in 1990 right after retirement.

She says she wants to give back to society with the skills she acquired and help more girls and young women make a living through Bian embroidery.