C China's post-00s young embroidery artist passes on ancient techniques

Lin Kai, a 19-year-old man from Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Central China's Hunan Province, is not only an avid follower of hip hop music like many young people his age, but also an apprentice of an intangible cultural heritage -- Xiang embroidery.

Lin Kai during an embroidery art class (Photo courtesy of Human Arts and Crafts Vocational College)

The cultural heritage that Lin focuses on learning is one of the traditional folk arts of China, whose development can be traced back 2,000 years.

Lin spent over half a year in the first semester of his sophomore year at Human Arts and Crafts Vocational College completing his first handiwork, which had a bird theme. In order to make the bird more lifelike, the man adopted three different techniques to embroider its mouth, tail and feathers.

"One embroidery skill can make the color transition more natural, while another makes the bird feathers more distinct and lifelike," explained Lin.

Lin still remembers clearly that the most challenging embroidery artwork that he worked on featured a flower. Starting from the bottom of the petals, Lin had to be particularly careful about the transition of various detailed colors. Little by little, he adjusted the color lines and stitches, made adjustments to different petals, and slowly mastered more embroidery skills.

When immersing himself in embroidery, Lin loves listening to various genres of music. For instance, while working on crewel embroidery, he especially enjoyed listening to English songs and hip hop music, which makes him "feel that the stitches move more freely."

For the next step, Lin plans to embroider a new artwork with a wind theme. When the work is completed, he plans to give it to his parents as a gift.