Thread lanes, brocade mills, embroidery flower streets, etc., in the city. That proved the prosperity of suzhou embroidery. Some lived by embroidering. Daughters in rich families were engaged in it as a way of killing time and molding their experiment. That's how "popular embroidery", "boudoir embroidery" and "palace embroidery" came into being. Suzhou embroidery in Qing dynasty reached its culmination. Suzhou was called the "market of embroidery", famous both at home and abroad. There were various ways of knitting and they were applied widely. Mountains, rivers, lakes, pavilions, flowers and birds, characters were all embroidered. Suzhou embroidery was largely needed in the palace. Therefore wonderful and magnificent embroidery sprang up. At the end of Qing dynasty and the beginning of Ming dynasty, Songtao, an expert at embroidery, renovated the traditional way of knitting. Flowers and birds, characters embroidered in new ways, or endowed with new meaning ,were very characteristic. The image of Lina, the queen of Italy absorbed the theory of chiaroscuro. Close attention was paid to the vividness of the images. Such embroidery was called "art embroidery" or "emulation embroidery". Songtao combined the previous art and his own experience, classified the way of knitting into 18 varieties, as recorded by Zhangsui in a book. Thus the way of knitting was systematized. Her own embroidery won several awards for the country in International Fair. The pieces of embroidery on characters, animals and flowers, mountains and water are for appreciation. They can also be made into pictures, book marks, a set of hanging scrolls, etc. There are also the varieties of embroidery: single-side embroidery, double-side embroidery of different colors. Double-side embroidery, the specific style of suzhou embroidery can be appreciated from both sides. Pictures look exactly the same and wonderful on both sides. Special ways are used in knitting instead of knotting. There the end of silk threads are invisible. It is knitted in the right angle without piercing the other side. Both sides will present the same excellent effect. The Nangjing Bridge , Xiangjun, the peony, the cat, the goldfish are the masterpieces in double-side embroidery.

 

Suzhou Song Brocade with its magnificent color, delicate patterns and softness, Nanjing Yun Brocade, Sichuan Su Brocade are honored as the most famous brocades in China .

As early as in the Qin and Han dynasties, folk artisans carried deep researches in brocade. In Tang dynasty, there was famous brocade in Suzhou . In Five Dynasties, there was splendid brocade of fine colors in Suzhou . Many pieces of brocade existed in the cultural relics excavated in Mount Tiger Tower , and Auspicious Light Tower .

After the transition of Song dynasty to the south, the national center of economics moved south. Suzhou then was just second to Ling'an and was one of the centers of politics, economics and culture. Therefore, silk weaving industry developed more quickly. In order to satisfy the cultural need of the ruling class, there appeared a kind of very thin brocade, for the purpose of mounting pictures. Suzhou was famous for such brocade. Those old and beautiful pictures are preserved together with the brocade. They are habitually called Song Brocade. Song Brocade accepts the tradition of ancient normal brocade, adopting "Fang Sheng" decorative patterns, which show their changes in strict symmetry. In the usage of colors, there doesn't exist the sharp contrast of colors, instead, several similar colors of nearly the same brightness and darkness, were used to achieve the artistic effect of prominence through contrast.. It looked just bright without seeing too strong. It was splendid and in good order.

Song Brocade is the most precious traditional art pieces. However, Kuomintang and the feudal rulers paid no attention to it. It was on the edge of extinction before liberation. After liberation, the production of Song Brocade was recovered to meet the development of arts and trade. Wood machine was renovated in 1958. Electric machines were added. Therefore it could develop mechanically. The varieties of Song Brocade enlarged. Now, the state-owned brocade factory was located in Lions Lane . It also produces satin, velvet, Su flower silk, damask silk, etc, besides the brocade. In order to meet the need of the minorities, the color-collar brocade has been tried. With the open market and the growing need, brocade will become blindly bright, attractively splendid.

 

Suzhou fans have a long history and are famous at home and abroad. The exquisite sandalwood fan, folding fan, silk palace fan, paper fan are all characteristic of arts. The production of sandalwood fan include zigzag shaped steel thread on the two ends of a bamboo bow and the engraving of flowers with it. "Ironing Flowers" refers to the drawing of flowers and characters on the spread sandalwood fan with an electric pen. The drawing is vivid, with clear gradations, has the effect of drawing on paper. "Drawing Flowers" refers to the drawing of women, flowers and birds, mountains and waters on the silk on the upper half of the fan. The picture is colorful and the drawing is fine and delicate.

The folding fans of Suzhou are characteristic of being fine and elegant. The frame are mainly made of bamboo carved or painted, and pieces of white bones with elegant flowers. The drawn pictures include flowers and birds, poems and patterns clear and pleasant. Laofan brand of the folding fan is the best. Pictures are fine and beautiful. They are flat, strong and smooth. What's more, they last long.

The silk palace fan is the most famous one among the fans. It spread far and wide since Han dynasty. There are round, hexagon, rectangle ones. Its face is made of silk. Some are made of thin silk or cloth. There are also single level or double level ones. Pictures are drawn on it, matched by teeth, bones, bamboo handles. The ancient style and elegance are obvious. It looks fine and pleasant.

 

 

Wood-engraved pictures in Peach Blossom Wu (a depressed place) got the same because they are gathered in the place. Other two most famous wood-engraved pictures include Willow Green in Tianjin , Weifang in Shandong province.

Wood-engraved pictures in Peach Blossom Wu started in the end of Ming dynasty. It became prosperous in Yongzhen, Qianlong years in Qing dynasty. The pictures are spread widely south to the Yangtse River and many other places in China . What ' s more, they travel far to Japan, England and have deep effect on Fushi Organization in Japan because they are close to people's life, rich in decoration, cheap and beautiful.

Door pictures, central scrolls, hanging scrolls are the main forms of wood-engraved pictures. Their contents cover images of Gods, Languages of plays, suspiciousness and happiness, folk stories, customs, etc.

Wood-engraved pictures started, culminated and decayed. They had a clarification of distances and clear, rich levels, giving a vivid description of the prosperity in the city in Qian and Jian times. The pictures faded with the aggravating of the imperialistic aggression of politics, economics and culture after the Opium War. The market turned to face the countryside. Pictures focused on being pragmatic with the preservation of chromatography. They were prone to popularity with cheap printing materials, low price and costs. Therefore the style were fixed,pictures are rich in decoration, full and round; colors are bright, printings are rough.

Silk tapestry is a beautiful and traditionally Chinese textile. Silk tapestries have been found in the tombs of the Tang Dynasty emperors in Turpan, illustrating China 's long history and association with this beautiful textile. After the imperial family moved south during the Song Dynasty, this kind of tapestry became more popular around the Yangtze regions and development centered around Suzhou . In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, silk tapestry became a symbol of prestige and there is a famous tapestry of this period now in the Shanghai Museum .

The silk tapestry is commonly used in two ways, for daily use as cushions, table-covers, lamp shades and book-covers or as art work for decoration.

 

 

Stones and stakes are put in little flower pots. Grass and flowers are kept in them. They form natural scenes. That's what you can see everywhere in Suzhou garden. In Humble Administration Garden and Lingering Garden , special lower pot areas are kept for people to enjoy. There are over 1000 pots of stakes, water and stone pots in different postures. They are old, strong, prosperous. These make you enjoy the natural scenes about mountains and trees. Many of them use the treasures left from Ming dynasty.

Potted landscapes can be classified into two. One focuses on trees, with mountains and stones, characters and houses. The other focuses on mountains and stones with clear water, pavilions. The former is called stake potted landscape. The latter stone and mountain potted landscape.

Potted landscape of suzhou pay close attention to the postures of stakes and the age, curiosity of the appearances. These stakes are dug out from fields or deep mountains. Then they are cultivated carefully and treated artistically. Some look old and strong, like huge trees. Some only have two or three branches, like old trees in deep mountains. Some hang upside down like the ancient pine trees hanging along the precipitous cliff. Some lay twisted horizontally like dragons flying in the sky.

The expert on potted landscape, Zhou Shoujuan said that potted landscape include 60 percent of nature and 40 percent of art. Among the 40 percent, trimming covers 25%, binding up covers 15%. Only in this way can trees not look too artistic or become bad ones. At the same time, people should also learn from those famous pictures of the past and present.

The flower pots osed are also laid emphasis on. The purple pot from Jingshan, Yixing are often used. Some porcelain or stone ones are also used to reach the effect of bettering each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foreigner Hot Spots

ShiJuan Lu, Suzhou's Bar Street

This street is lined with bars and hotels, perfect for the western tourists who want a quick taste of the west while traveling in the east. The bars are plentiful and the restaurants feature food from many different countries and culture, including Japanese, Thai, Italian and even American.

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