Xiang Embroidery is a collective name of the embroidery products in Changsha, Hunan. Xiang Embroidery ranks among the top four famous embroideries in China (Su Embroidery, Xiang Embroidery, Yue Embroidery and Shu Embroidery).

Xiang embroidery is made from silk, hard satin, soft satin, transparent gauze and colorful silk and yarn. It features rigorous composition, bright colors and expressive needle techniques. Through rich colorful lines and changing needle techniques, the characters, animals, landscapes and flowers and birds are all bestowed with a special artistic effect. Seen from the embroidery product unearthed from a Chu tomb in 1958, embroidery already gained some development in Hunan in the Spring and Autumn Period as early as over 2500 years ago.

In recent years, with the development of the Xiang embroidery production, and through diligent work of the embroidery workers and the improvement in the Xiang embroidery technique by some excellent painters, many fine traditions of Chinese painting have been transplanted to embroidery products and skillfully combined with Chinese traditional painting, embroidery, poetry, calligraphy and stone art, hence forming Xiang Embroidery that is based on Chinese painting and applies more than 70 needle techniques and lines of over 100 colors to bring the expression of the needle technique to full play as well as to depict the appearance and internal features of an object in fine detail. Xiang Embroidery has won a reputation as “flower embroidered creates fragrance, birds embroidered can be heard, tiger embroidered can run and man embroidered can be lifelike.”

（Source：http://en.changsha.gov.cn）