[Chen Qinjian] A brief discussion on the protection of intangible cultural heritage: restoration, integration and reconstruction of ecological fields

At present, the protection of intangible cultural heritage is in full swing.

However, we have found that the lack of the environment on which intangible cultural heritage depends has brought great difficulties to the protection work: for example, in some areas, there is a lack of fields in the fields of Tian Shange, kitchen head paintings have no stoves, farmers have no farmers have painted, and handmade cotton spinning has no cotton fields.

In addition, the accelerated pace of life makes it difficult to pass on some categories with the meticulous and graceful characteristics of Jiangnan water towns, such as the meticulous Gu embroidery, the winding and melodious Jiangnan silk and bamboo, etc.; some categories require not only skills, but also a profound painting foundation to enable them to reach a higher artistic level.

Gu embroidery's protection and development are greatly restricted due to the lack of painting skills.

How to solve this bottleneck has become the first issue to be solved in the current protection of intangible cultural heritage.

I believe that as long as the ecological field of intangible cultural heritage is scientifically restored, integrated or rebuilt, it can be cracked.

If the ecological field foundation of intangible cultural heritage is still good, attention should be paid to efforts to restore it; if the ecological field foundation of intangible cultural heritage has been scattered, it should be integrated and sorted out; if the ecological field of intangible cultural heritage has been destroyed, it is necessary to reconstruct the intangible cultural heritage genes in a certain area.

a

A specific ecological field is the basis and prerequisite for the generation of certain intangible cultural heritage.

The so-called ecological field refers to the formation of the unique natural and humanistic holistic scene of the intangible cultural heritage site: the three-dimensional space of the combination of living environment, production methods, life wisdom, and cultural personality.

Their synergy is the primary condition for the occurrence of intangible cultural heritage and a prelude to the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

How to protect intangible cultural heritage that has entered the world or national list? As the protection of intangible cultural heritage of human knowledge and skills, can the preservation and inheritance of pure knowledge and skills achieve the purpose of protection? I'm afraid not.

In fact, the reason why a certain type of human knowledge and skills can become outstanding intangible cultural heritage is not simply the knowledge and technology itself.

It is the joint force of a specific ecological field, and so is its protection.

For example, this is the case with the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List "Wunijing Traditional Cotton Spinning Skills".

The cotton spinning skills that originated in Wunijing, Songjiang Prefecture, southwest Shanghai, in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty have had a milestone influence and significance in the development of the textile industry in China and even the world.

Research on the history of China's textile shows that the "Songjiang Cotton Textile Industry Center" that originated in Wunijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties has directly influenced China for 600 years and indirectly influenced a full 800 years since the late Song and the early Yuan Dynasties.

In 1949, Shanghai's cotton fields accounted for more than half of the cultivated land.

The Shanghai Textile Bureau, with 500,000 industrial workers, is the largest industrial worker team in Shanghai.

Shanghai's textile strength is the largest in the country, and its exquisite products are deeply welcomed by people across the country.

Shanghai's textile industry has always remained an important pillar industry in the city.

It was not until the reform and opening up and industrial restructuring in the 1980s that the history of China gradually faded out.

In his masterpiece "Science and Civilization in China", the famous British scientist Dr.

Joseph Needham spoke highly of the founder Huang Daopo's revolution in the history of cotton textiles.

During the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, cotton fields could be seen everywhere in the Songjiang area, and there was a scene where every family had a spinning wheel and everyone knew how to spin.

According to research by Zhao Wenbang, a professor at China Textile University,"It is estimated that in 1869, there were about 45 million pieces of cotton cloth sold across the country, of which 30 million pieces were in the seven counties and one hall of Songjiang Prefecture, accounting for two thirds of the country's total.

After about the 16th century (mid-Ming Dynasty), cotton cloth became a commodity circulating across the country and a widely used raw material for garments by the people.

At that time, whether north or south, whether noble or cheap, cotton cloth was used to keep out the cold.

About 99 out of 100 people used cotton cloth, and one person used silk cotton wool.

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, it achieved the reputation of "clothes quilt under the world".

Research shows that although the sales and spread of China cotton cloth in foreign countries originated in the 16th century.

In the late 16th century, China cotton cloth was shipped to the Nanyang Islands.

In the early 17th century, China cotton cloth was sold via Macau to Makassar and Cochin China in Southeast Asia, as well as to Japan.

In Japan, Shanghai cotton cloth is deeply loved by the Japanese people."Most of the things Japan needs are produced in China...

Pine cloth is valued by other countries." In the 1730s, cotton cloth always occupied the top spot in Sino-Indian trade.

The British East India Company expanded the transportation and sales of China cotton cloth to Britain to other European countries.

After the 1750s, European countries such as Spain, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Sweden also carried out the transportation and marketing of China cotton cloth.

By the middle of the 19th century, the United Kingdom had become the main buyer of China cotton cloth.

According to statistics provided by American scholar Morse, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Italy and other countries imported a total of 44622739 pieces of cotton cloth from Guangzhou from 1786 to 1831.

In 1819, a total of 3359000 pieces were imported, worth 1703486 yuan, the largest import amount at that time.

From 1804 to 1829, U.S.

merchant ships imported 33081714 pieces of cotton cloth from Guangzhou, with an average of more than 1.2 million pieces imported every year.

Most of them were shipped back to their own countries for sale, and a small part were sold to Europe, South America, the West Indies, Manila, Hawaii and other places.

However, from the perspective of the inheritance of pure knowledge and skills, it seems that this honor should not be in today's Shanghai City, but in Hainan Island.

According to historical records, Huang Daopo, the pioneer of cotton spinning skills in Wunijing, lived in Yazhou for more than 30 years.

He returned to his hometown during the Yuan and Yuanzhen years (1295 - 1297).

He spread and developed the cotton planting and cotton textile industry in Shanghai, and changed the production structure of some areas in southern Jiangsu during the Yuan and Ming dynasties and developed the industrial economy.

It promoted the development of the handmade cotton textile industry in Jiangnan and China, and won the praise of "Songjun cotton cloth, clothes and quilt in the world." However, why didn't this achievement happen on Hainan Island, where Huang Daopo's skills were first taught? The reason is that certain skills alone are not enough to constitute a certain perspective of intangible cultural heritage, but the comprehensive synergy of a specific ecological field is the decisive factor in constituting a certain intangible cultural heritage.

There were roughly four historical conditions for the rapid spread of Huang Daopo's new cotton textile technology at that time: First, the success of introducing one-year-old Asian cotton from Jiangnan in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasties, which provided necessary resources for the development of home-made handmade cotton textile industry in Wunijing, Songjiang, hometown of Huang Daopo; Second, Jiangnan is densely populated, and prosperous trade not only provides sufficient labor for the local development of the family cotton textile industry, but also facilitates the smooth flow of goods, forming the world-famous "Songjiang Cloth".

Huang Daopo's innovation and dissemination of new technologies were in the early days of Shanghai's establishment of a county, which was another opportunity; thirdly, the support and advocacy of the imperial court at that time had an incentive to accelerate the local cotton planting and cotton textile industry; Fourth, the local climate is humid and the groundwater level is high, which is conducive to cotton planting, spinning and brushing, providing favorable local conditions for weaving high-quality "Songjiang cloth".

In short, Huang Daopo was committed to innovating cotton textile technology.

At that time, she was born at the right time, with factors such as "time","geographical location" and "harmony between people".

1.

living environment

Shanghai is located at 30 ° 14 'north latitude and 121 ° 29' east longitude, on the south bank of the Yangtze River Estuary in the middle of the country's north and south coasts.

The eastern end of the Yangtze River Delta alluvial plain.

The territory is part of the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta, with flat terrain.

There are only volcanic rock mounds such as Sheshan and Tianma Mountain in the southwest, with an average altitude of about 4 meters.

The climate is mild throughout the year, with four distinct seasons, humid air, abundant rainfall, more sunshine, and long frost-free periods.

It belongs to the northern tropical monsoon climate and has good natural environmental conditions.

The local terrain is high, with an average altitude of 4.2~~~4.5 meters.

The cultivated soil is alluvial from the Yangtze River.

The soil texture is fine and uniform, the structure is loose, the soil layer is deep, and most of the soil is suitable for dry farming.

Soil species such as tidal sand mud, ditch dry mud, yellow mud and other soil species.

This provides a material basis for the growth of cotton, a dry crop.

Wunijing is an ancient town in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties.

It is located 26 miles southwest of Shanghai County and belongs to the 26 mile protection boundary.

It is the hometown of Huang Daopo, an outstanding cotton textile technology innovator in ancient China.

The site is located in the north of Huajing Town, south of Changqiao Town, and Dongwan Village, Longhua Township.

Wunijing Town had convenient transportation in ancient times.

There were seven main watercourses, including 4 in the east-west direction and 3 in the north-south direction.

It is precisely because of these waterways that water transportation in Wunijing Town is very prosperous, which is also conducive to the spread of cotton planting across the country and the development of cotton cloth trade.

2.

production methods

Since ancient times, my country has used hemp or silk as textile raw materials to make burlap or silk.

At the latest in the Han Dynasty, cotton had been passed from India to Hainan Island and ethnic minority areas in the southwest border of our country.

Roughly after the Three Kingdoms, cotton planting began to be gradually extended from Hainan and Southwest China to the Pearl River and Minjiang River basins.

Almost at the same time, cotton was also introduced from the northwest to Gaochang, Xinjiang and other areas in my country, and has been woven into cotton cloth.

It was not until the end of the Southern Song Dynasty that cotton was planted in the Jiangnan area, as evidenced by the poet Ai Ke Shu's "Cotton Poetry" at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Lu Xinyuan: "Song Dynasty Chronicle Supplement" Volume 35) The earliest place to introduce cotton in Jiangnan is probably Songjiang.

Volume 24 of "Nancun Stop Geng Lu" says: "About fifty miles east of Songjiang Prefecture is the Wunii Path.

The land, soil and fields are lush, and the people are not given food.

Because they were looking for tree arts to support their business, they looked for seeds there.) "However, at this time, Songjiang's Wunijing cotton textile technology was still very backward." At first, there was no use of treadmills, cones, and bows, but they cut off the seeds by hand, and the string and bamboo were placed in isolation between the tables to shake off the forming agent.

The work was very difficult.

"After Huang Daopo returned to her hometown in the early Qing Dynasty, she improved her equipment for defending, bullets, spinning and weaving, and her production technology developed rapidly.

As a result, thousands of households in the Wunijing area relied on them to make a living and have enough food and clothing.

As stated in "Shanghai County Bamboo Branch Ci","The sound of the cloth machine rolls out the eaves, and the weaving woman touches her fingers.

Fengshou Chenxing entered the market far away, and returned home with rice and salt." In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that "every field with five acres or ten acres should be planted with half an acre of mulberry, hemp, and kapok, and twice the amount of more than ten acres" and stipulated that in addition to using gold and silver to pay the land tax, they could also use cotton cloth and cotton to pay the land tax.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, cotton planting in the Susong area accounted for sixty-seventh of the cultivated fields, and cotton planting and weaving became a popular trend.

"The sound of machine expression is heard more than every household" and "Thousands of pieces of cloth are produced every day."

3.

life wisdom

British scientist Joseph Needham edited "The History of Science and Technology in China" in seven volumes and 345 volumes.

The book specially hired German sinologist and textile technology expert Joystern to write the history of ancient cotton spinning in China.

Joy Tun also wrote "The Legend of Huang Daopo in the 13th Century".

The article is based on historical facts and believes that annual cotton cultivation "by the Song Dynasty, this kind of crop has extended to the Jiangnan area." By the 13th century, the output of cotton fiber far exceeds that of silk and Xuanma.

Huang Daopo improved the "thread, string, and bamboo arc" and improved the efficiency of cotton processing.

Huang Daopo innovated the textile technology: the first process is the ginning machine, the second process is the wooden cone pulling the bowstring, the third process is the combing and kneading into cotton sliver, and the fourth process is the shaking spinning wheel to spin into yarn, the fifth process is the pulling into warp threads, and the sixth process is sizing, etc., forming a set of the most advanced cotton textile technology in the 13th century.

The most famous of the textile products made by Huang Daopo is the Wunijing quilt, which has the weaving technology of yarn-dyed jacquard.

Yarn-dyed means that the cotton yarns used for weaving are dyed with colored yarns of various colors in advance.

Jacquard means that during the weaving process, different changes in warp and weft cotton yarns are used to weave various complex patterns.

Tao Zongyi's "Stop Geng Lu" directly describes the weaving method and pattern of the Wunijing quilt, a textile technology innovation product of Huang Daopo, that is,"As for yarn mismatching, color matching, heddle, and flower removal, each has its own method.

Therefore, quilt, mattress, belt,, On it, the words broken branches, the phoenix group, the chess game, and the words were brightly written.

Some experts in the Qing Dynasty summarized the famous cotton fabrics produced by Huang Daopo and later people in the Songjiang Prefecture area as follows: "There are cloud cloth, flannel cloth, medicinal spot cloth, purple cloth, Ding Niangzi cloth, Lan spot cloth, Sanlin standard cloth, rare cloth, short head cloth, Korean cloth, square belly twill cloth, wicker cloth, reed mat cloth, double single seal, yin and yang seal and other printed fabrics, and pointed out their respective origin and characteristics."

4.

cultural personality

In addition to Wunijing in Shanghai, there are also Sanlintang areas in Pudong, Longhua, Qibao, Xinzhuang, Meilong and other areas in Punan.

There is almost no family that is not engaged in spinning and weaving.

Girls learn to spin at the age of seven or eight, and learn to weave at the age of eleven or twelve.

Inheriting and learning Huang Daopo textile technology has formed a trend in the local area.

Women have thus become the main force in the family economy.

Different from the traditional household "male farming and female weaving", in the current Shanghai City area where the former seven counties and one government in Songjiang were seven counties and one government, female weaving in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties had broken away from the "self-sufficiency" state and became an important circulation commodity in society at that time, which also changed the status of women in the family in Shanghai and affected the situation of love and marriage.

Women have some autonomy.

The unique regional cultural personality of men and women in Shanghai, which is the nationally famous for their love, marriage and family lives, was the tone set by this production and life during that period.

In this way, the protection of intangible culture such as Wunijing's traditional cotton spinning skills cannot be considered solely from the perspective of knowledge and skills, but should focus on the restoration, integration and reconstruction of the ecological field of the heritage itself.

second

To rebuild the ecological field, we must also pay attention to building a cultural atmosphere suitable for the inheritance place and intangible cultural heritage, and cultivate the unique cultural literacy and taste of the inheritors of skills and intangible cultural heritage.

Jiading bamboo carving is Jiading's most classic folk handicraft and a wonderful flower in the garden of Chinese art.

Jiading is located in the south of the Yangtze River.

Since ancient times, green bamboos have been spread, the scenery is clear, the humanities are gathered, and the people are outstanding.

The unique good natural environment and profound cultural heritage are important factors that gave birth to Jiading's bamboo carving art.

During the Zhengde and Jiajing periods of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu He (the word Ziming, the name Songlin) used a knife to replace the writing to integrate the art of calligraphy and painting into bamboo carving, creating a "profound technique" characterized by open carving and deep carving, and dissociated bamboo carving from being attached to practical craftsmanship.

It became an independent carving art.

Zhu He's sons Zhu Ying (also known as Qingfu, known as Xiaosong) and Sun Zhu Zhizheng (known as Sansong) both inherited bamboo carving and introduced the new.

The "Three Zhu" established the bamboo carving style of Jiading School.

After the Three Zhu Dynasties, Jiading's bamboo people made innovations.

During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Jiading bamboo carving entered its heyday.

Wu Zhi? [(The word Lu Zhen, the name Donghai Taoist) Chuangbo Di Yangwen.

The levels are changeable and the beauty is vigorous.

During the same period, there were also three brothers Feng Xilu (word Yi Hou), Feng Xijue (word Jin Hou) and Feng Xizhang (word Han Hou).

They were all good at carving figures and their works were vivid and vivid, and were then called tripod.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there were many bamboo carving schools in Jiading School.

Zhou Hao was a leading figure.

He combines the masterpieces of Jiading's bamboo carving, uses knives like pens, and his works are vivid and mixed, and is called "the best products" by the world.

In the early Qing Dynasty, Jiading bamboo carvings were introduced to the court as tributes.

Kangxi and Yongzheng not only collected many bamboo carvings, but also called bamboo figures Feng Xilu, Feng Xizhang, Shi Tianzhang, etc.

into the inner court to worship them.

Qianlong not only loved Jiading bamboo carving, but also wrote his poem inscriptions on a pen holder for the bamboo people to carve it.

The royal family's love and advocacy made Jiading's bamboo carving more famous.

In the late Qing Dynasty, due to the decline of people's livelihood, bamboo people maintained their livelihood and made a large number of practical handicrafts such as business card boxes, cigarette boxes, glasses boxes, and walking sticks.

Artistic taste has declined, but there is still fading glory.

Liao Shouheng, a native of Jiading who was then the Minister of Rites, once presented a bamboo walking stick to the emperor's teacher Weng Tong.

Weng Tong?? Compose a poem to express your joy.

Jiading bamboo people use knives as tools and bamboo as carrier to integrate the art of books, paintings, poetry, literature, and printing, giving bamboo new life.

The works have a touch of bookish spirit and gold and stone flavor, elegant and vulgar, and are the elegant play of literati and bureaucrats of past dynasties.

The styles of bamboo carvings in Jiading include pen containers made of bamboo tubes and bamboo chips, incense tubes (smoked), armrests, inserted screens, and arms; there are also figures, mountains and rivers, vegetation, animals, etc.

carved from bamboo roots.

Jiading bamboo carving consists of more than ten basic techniques such as shallow carving, profound, thin ground yangwen, shallow embossed, deep embossed, open carving, and round carving.

It has obvious regional nature and distinctive originality.

After the advent of Jiading bamboo carving, it attracted the attention of literati and scholars.

Famous literati and scholars such as Li Liufang, Lou Jian, and Qian Daxin all intervened in bamboo carving, further improving the cultural taste of Jiading bamboo carving.

Jiading bamboo carving has a history of more than 400 years, and there are more than 130 famous bamboo people in the past dynasties.

The works are collected by museums at home and abroad and by private individuals.

People at home and abroad claim that "bamboo carving has extraordinary skills and poetic imagination" and is a "peerless art."

It can be seen that Jiading's bamboo carving is purely manual operation, with complex technological processes, time-consuming and labor-intensive production, and low economic benefits.

However, it has a high cultivation and edification of bamboo people's art and has few successors.

It is currently in an endangered state and urgently needs rescue.

three

In order to ensure the smooth protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, we must also pay attention to the natural interaction and integration of protecting intangible cultural heritage and the ecological field, and the positive transmission of the relationship between teachers and successors.

In turn, promote the protection of intangible cultural heritage itself.

For example: Shanghai Opera.

As the most representative drama in Shanghai's regional culture, it originated from Tiantou folk songs and folk songs on both sides of the Huangpu River.

The music and singing have a strong charm of Jiangnan silk and bamboo.

It has taken approximately 200 years from the earliest Huagu opera to contemporary Shanghai opera.

The development of Shanghai opera has always been closely related to the ecological field of Shanghai's social, cultural and economic changes.

From "Bentan" and "Shenqu" to the naming of Shanghai Opera; from teahouses, bookyards, amusement parks, to the formation of large-scale theaters comprehensive art.

Shanghai opera has formed characteristics that reflect real life since its inception.

Early couplet opera used the form of telling the news and singing the news to depict the secular customs of suburban towns in the late Qing Dynasty.

After entering the city, a large number of fashion dramas were performed.

About 250 of them were called "Shanghai Opera Suit Cheongsam Opera".

They reflected the urban life of modern Shanghai and adapted to the new aesthetic needs of citizens and audiences.

In turn, the ecological field of Shanghai's urban life also gave birth to the origin of Shanghai Opera.

Made it a star on the Shanghai literary and artistic stage in the 1930s and 1930s.

This historical experience is worth learning from and learning from today's Shanghai opera and even the national intangible cultural heritage protection work.

Different from the protection of material cultural heritage, the key to the protection of intangible cultural heritage is respect for the spontaneous inheritance methods of people.

Nanhui District, Shanghai has investigated and registered folk artists who possess intangible cultural heritage skills.

Old artists of gongs, drums and calligraphy art that have been included in the national intangible cultural heritage are clearly objects that need to be protected.

Based on the principle of priority, the local government provides these artists with differentiated special subsidies starting from 60 years old and 5 years old as an age group to improve their artistic skills and require them to display their skills every year so that they can be utilized.

They are also required to teach their skills and encouraged to recruit more apprentices to pass on to future generations.

Add traditional arts and skills to the curriculum of local schools to make young people realize that protecting them is an extension and promotion of the quintessence of the country.

The government encourages groups to possess a certain skill so that this intangible cultural heritage has certain continuity.

Another main means of protecting intangible cultural heritage is to use various means of dictation from famous teachers to strengthen such exchanges and integration.

Gu embroidery is the only embroidery school in Jiangnan named after her family.

Over the past 400 years, it has experienced changes from prosperity to decline, even extinction and rebirth.

It can be described as a miracle in the history of folk embroidery in Shanghai.

Gu embroidery, also known as "painting embroidery", is the most distinctive manifestation of Gu embroidery.

It was created, developed and spread by three female families, Miao, Han Ximeng and Gu Lanyu, of the family of Gu Mingshi, a scholar in Songjiang Prefecture in the 38th year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty.

The one who gave the artistic soul of "painting embroidery" was Dong Qichang, a leading figure in literati painting of the Songjiang Painting School.

Dong, a native of Songjiang, is a world leader in painting, calligraphy, appreciation, theory and other fields.

With his close relationship with Gu Family and profound influence, Gu embroidery has become an extension of the acupuncture art of literati painting of the Songjiang Painting School.

Gu embroidery is based on the principles of painting by literati of the Songjiang Painting School to create embroidery products that "combines painting and embroidery", forged Gu embroidery's unparalleled position in Jiangnan, and had a profound impact on embroidery in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan and Shu.

Dong Qichang can be described as an advocate and practical guide of "painting embroidery".

Therefore, Chongzhen's "Songjiang County Annals" stated: "Gu Xiudou made flowers and birds, and fragrant sachets made characters.

The carvings were exquisitely carved, unprecedented in other counties."

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Gu's family fell into decline, which became a turning point for Gu Xiu to leave his scholar-official family and flow into the people of Jiangnan.

However, although Gu embroidery techniques have been spread widely, they have not really popularized among the people.

As a "painting embroidery", Gu embroidery takes a long time to produce and requires personnel to have calligraphy and painting skills, so it is difficult to be truly popularized.

Moreover,"painting embroidery" is a product of the combination of folk embroidery and literati culture.

Once it leaves the soil of the Songjiang Painting School, most of those who lose their essence and gain their skills turn from purely ornamental art treasures to daily crafts.

With the lack of successors to Gu's family, although the name of Gu embroidery is famous, the true meaning of "painting embroidery" has almost disappeared in Shanghai.

Qing Jiaqing's "Annals of Songjiang Prefecture"(Volume 4, page 16) stated that Gu embroidery: "...

Recently, the value has been declining, and the craftsmanship has gradually become inferior to before.

There is also space for embroidery with silk and cotton on the periphery like ink.

The color is elegant and elegant.

Recently, the price is getting smaller and smaller, and the author is rare." Tongzhi's "Shanghai County Annals"(Volume 8, p.

14) is more blunt: "Nowadays, there is no one in the Gu family who has passed down the system.

Although there are such authors from time to time, there are few famous ones."

Gu embroidery is endangered, but the counterfeiters are jumping for joy.

The Qing Dynasty's "Reading the World Chapter" said: "...

Later, all imitators were called Gu embroidery, and the embroidery shop was named Gu embroidery.

All embroidery belonging to the Su Dynasty was named Gu embroidery." Qixianglou said,"There are also women in the city imitating Gu's imprint." Xu Weinan (1936) sighed: "Shanghai embroidery has formed 'asking for more than supply', and the common people are also accustomed to living...

The dew fragrance gardens that the city customs are amazed by are everywhere, and they are almost made by needle workers in later generations."

However, there are many people among the scholar-bureaucrats who understand and love the value of Gu embroidery.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Nantong celebrities Zhang and Su were affiliated with the famous Gu embroidery master Shen Shou, who established Gu embroidery school to continue the popularity of Gu embroidery in the Ming Dynasty.

Later, the "Gu Xiu Class of Songyun Women's Vocational School" also appeared in Songjiang.

Through the flow of inter-school teachers and teaching, the inheritance of education became an opportunity for Gu Xiu to return to Songjiang in the Ming Dynasty.

Dai Mingjiao, a female student in Gu Xiu's class at that time, became Gu Xiu's inheritor in Songjiang half a century later.

It has been 74 years since the "Gu Embroidery Class of Songyun Women's Vocational School" in the last century.

Ms.

Dai Mingjiao worked in the Street Embroidery Society in the 1950s and merged with the Society into the Gu Embroidery Group of Songjiang Crafts Factory in the 1970s.

Until her retirement, she embroidered and painted 41 "painting embroidery" works throughout her life, cultivating 20 descendants of Gu Embroidery, exceeding the historical growth rate.

Gu Xiu has been in Songjiang for more than 400 years, with ups and downs, and the inheritance of master and apprentice is clear.

The essence of "painting embroidery" has become famous all over the world, and embroidery products are exported to 24 countries and regions; embroiderers have also been invited to visit foreign cultural exchanges.

Songjiang has become Gu embroidery's new production center and inheritance place.