Chapter 29 Chapter 25 Suzhou Embroidery, Random Needle Embroidery, Double-sided Embroidery...

There is a local specialty that Suzhou people are particularly proud of, that is Suzhou embroidery. Suzhou embroidery, as the treasure of the four traditional Chinese embroidery, has long been the attention and love of the world.The most dazzling and precious of Suzhou embroidery is "double-sided embroidery".The so-called double-sided embroidery means that the front and back sides can be viewed, even exactly the same.This kind of craftsmanship is the unique superb art and form of expression of Suzhou embroidery. When talking about Su embroidery, one important figure must be mentioned, she is Shen Shou, the founder of modern Su embroidery and an educator of Su embroidery.It is said that her two works caused a sensation at the World Expo and won the "World's Highest Excellence Award".Shen Shou was originally named Yunzhi, and it is said that her superb embroidery skills were favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi and she was given a longevity name.Suzhou embroiderer Shen Shou later married the talented painter Yu Jue. The two cooperated side by side, bringing Shen Shou's embroidery art to the peak and creating a new style of "imitation embroidery" in Suzhou embroidery.Later, Shen Shou also established the China Embroidery Women's College in Nantong, which trained a large number of outstanding embroidery artists for the country.

Embroidery art is a national craft protected by the world's intangible cultural heritage among traditional Chinese crafts. Its beauty lies in manual embroidery.The general embroidery is single-sided embroidery, that is, one side of the stitches is not exposed to the viewer.But Suzhou double-sided embroidery breaks through the routine of this traditional embroidery, making embroidery embroidery realize the ornamental value of both sides. Someone once said: "If embroidery is compared to the crown of arts and crafts, then double-sided embroidery is the jewel in the crown." What is "double-sided embroidery" in Suzhou?Maybe someone has seen such a famous embroidery.On the embroidery frame, on one side is a gray civet cat, staring up, with a lifelike expression; from the back, it is a yellow civet cat, which is also lifelike.This is a typical double-sided embroidery, and it is also called "double-sided heterochromatic embroidery" because the colors of the cats on both sides are different.Embroidery works like this, in addition to the basic techniques of double-sided embroidery, also need to take care of the double-sided stitches and threads, so that the colors on both sides do not affect each other, the stitches are not exposed, and the hidden needles in it must be well hidden. Hidden coincidence.Only a superb artist can complete such masterpieces.Experts in Suzhou embroidery told me that the stitching method of "double-sided embroidery" is very unique, and the stitching and threading are actually very "chaos". It all depends on the artist's feeling and hand skills. It seems to have no rules and is very random, but in fact it is the highest state of needlework, because this kind of "chaos" is not only the absolute mastery and proficiency in skills, but also a good product that keeps the shape and spirit intact. In the creation of "double-sided embroidery", , are all integrated into the chaotic needle technique, so it is lifelike.

Suzhou embroidery is a wonderful and mysterious world. You can’t imagine that on the same piece of embroidery, the same object can be embroidered on the front and back and the color can be changed, all thanks to the stitches and threads in the hands of the embroiderer?What's even more amazing is that this kind of double-sided embroidery can also embroider completely different scenery or animals on the front and back of the same embroidery!In Zhenhu Town, the hometown of Suzhou Embroidery, I saw such a double-sided embroidery: on the same screen, on one side is a crouching little white cat. So pretty.On the other side is a brownish-yellow pug crouching to the left. It is simple and interesting, with overlapping hair and silk, and the embroidery surface is rough and thick, as gorgeous as an oil painting.If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, how could you believe it was the masterpiece of Suzhou Xiuniang!

There is an embroidery street in Zhenhu, where every household has beautiful embroiderers embroidering paintings with needles day and night. Their works can be not only daily decorations for ordinary people, but also gifts for heads of state.Those embroiderers can split a hair-thick silk thread into 64 strands. This skill is unique in China and unique in the world.No wonder Mr. Zhang Shuai, a high official in the Southern Dynasties, praised: "The ingenuity of creation is found in all kinds of crafts, and it is better than embroidered. From Emperor Yu to watch the wind, miscellaneous algae fire and rice, Yushan dragon and Chinese insects. If the husband observes its structure, rather than imitating it, the tortoise and the dragon are writing, and the gods are like images. The five colors are full of thoughts, and the lotus root is full of thoughts. It has the shape of all things, and it is the shape of all things..."

Su embroidery, especially double-sided embroidery, is a business card of Suzhou, and it is actually a character image of Suzhou people.She is exquisite and bright on both sides, the outside and the inside are the same, which not only embodies a kind of superb art, but also permeates a kind of way of life.This reminds me of a common saying that my parents and folks often say: face and inside.Clothes have face and interior, and people also have face and interior.People in Suzhou are very particular about saving face. They think that they can’t let outsiders gossip about what they do. If they can’t even do things with face, then this kind of person, this kind of family, and this kind of unit must be bad. Yes, so for the sake of face, they can go bankrupt and pay for it with their lives.Therefore, if any street or building in Suzhou is not decent, and foreigners who come to visit point and make irresponsible remarks, then Suzhou people will not be able to bear it the most, and they will definitely try their best to improve it to perfection Everyone says "yes".Suzhou people don't like comments like "almost", but Suzhou people like "very happy": when the heart is open, it means that the heart is in full bloom, and that is the perfect result.

Paying attention to face is actually for a kind of human dignity and reputation.Suzhou people care about this face very much.If you take a walk on the ground in Suzhou, no matter if it is a village or a town, if you see a road or a place that does not pay attention to hygiene, or hurts people by exporting to tourists from other places, you can criticize and criticize in front of everyone. will be attacked by the locals. And Suzhou people have a special point: they pay more attention to the unity of face and inside, and often regard the benefits and truth of inside as more important.Because "whether it is warm or not depends on the inside of the folder": my folks and folks know this simple truth best.

For example, Suzhou embroidery is already a world-famous art treasure, but Suzhou people still have to work hard to improve their craftsmanship.They created "double-sided embroidery", which is the same inside and outside, and both the front and back can stand up to appreciation, and this should be regarded as excellence, right?But Suzhou people continued to think forward and created "double-sided different-color embroidery"-you can see different scenes on the front and back of the same embroidery, which is so beautiful that outsiders have nothing to say! Suzhou people call this pursuit and realm "taste".

"Double-sided embroidery" is considered by Suzhou people to be the most Suzhou-style and representative "taste". The knowledge in this "taste" is too deep. If all those who want to learn from Suzhou don't understand the "taste" that Suzhou people say, you will never be able to learn their true meaning. Have you heard of a kind of Biluochun tea that is rich in Xishan on the shore of Taihu Lake in Suzhou?Do you know why this kind of tea has a special fragrance?This is because: first, the "seed" used is good, and it is said that the seeds are carried by cranes; second, it is because of the special picking process.What Xishan Biluochun pays attention to is that the pickers are all local girls and new wives. They need to bathe and change clothes before picking. After picking, because they are afraid of damaging the tender tea buds, they often put the tea buds in their bosoms for preservation. As soon as the body temperature is warmed, a strange fragrance immediately hits the nostrils, so Suzhou Xishan Biluochun is also known as "Scare Sharen Fragrance".It is a tradition for young beauties in Suzhou to put tea buds on their breasts to keep warm, as evidenced by an ancient poem "When the eyebrows are picked on the fifteenth day, a piece of crispy breasts will be steamed with green jade".After watching the picking process of Biluochun tea leaves in Suzhou, a European poet passed out drunk in the promenade beside Taihu Lake, and wrote such a poem: "In the fragrant Biluochun soup, I see the beautiful spring scenery in the south of the Yangtze River in China. The spring scenery makes me linger and forget to return, drunk to death and dreaming..."

This is the "taste" of Suzhou.It makes you deeply feel what is the beauty from the bottom of your heart and the source of life... People in Suzhou pay special attention to taste, what they eat and what they do, they all pay attention to taste.In the hearts of Suzhou people, taste is quality and realm, and paying attention to taste is the pursuit of quality and realm. Anyone who has been to Suzhou has seen that the people here like to live in the alleys and courtyards with winding paths, and they don’t like to live in places adjacent to tall buildings. This is because they think that the deep alleys have a taste , this taste is quiet and tranquil, peaceful and peaceful.In the depths of such an alley, during the day she looks like a girl who reads quietly, in the evening she looks like a lady embroidering flowers by a lamp, even in the middle of the night when only crickets chirp, she looks like a sleeping beauty, there is always something to say kindness.

This is what Suzhou people call "taste". In today's society, ordinary people pay special attention to the orderliness and luster of the surface, but don't care about the content and substance, so we have so many "image projects" and things that make people abuse.People in Suzhou pay attention to face, but pay more attention to "clip", because in their consciousness and concept, "clip" is affordable and real. Can't be sloppy. Suzhou people pay attention to face and the examples in the folder. You can also help you know Suzhou from how Suzhou people appreciate beautiful women.

Suzhou people do not rule out looking at the face or even the breasts when looking at beautiful women, but most Suzhou people prefer to look at the eyes of beautiful women when evaluating and appreciating beauties, so you will find that the eyes of Suzhou women are mostly like that. Lovely beauty.There are many beauties with double eyelids and big eyes in Suzhou, but the eyes of women in Suzhou are not round like Zhang Fei’s eyes, but generally curved, like a crescent moon, always flickering when looking at people , with gentle affection, eyes like water, and like pear blossoms after rain.Lin Daiyu in the book is a girl from Suzhou. The author used 18 words to describe her eyes: "Two curved eyebrows that seem to be frowning but not frowning, and a pair of eyes that seem to be happy but not happy." Close your eyes and think about such "beautiful eyes and hopeful eyes." Xi", don't you want to go crazy?Men in Suzhou are happy. Even if they see a woman arguing with you, she will never get angry, her eyes are like a cow, at most she will close her eyes and walk away.What is left behind is the beautiful back, isn't that more flavorful?With such beautiful women for life, Suzhou men have a certain "femininity" in their personality-but Suzhou men know that this kind of "femininity" should not be too much, and it will make people feel tired. I don’t know if outsiders have noticed that Suzhou women have a characteristic: whether they are happy or unhappy, they blink for a longer time. This may be a few tenths of a second, but it makes people feel that her pair of eyes are full of tenderness. There are more secrets in the bright eyes; no matter what the secret is, it will always make her more beautiful. Another special thing Suzhou people appreciate about women is their back view.Suzhou people believe that the back of a woman is the most flavorful, graceful and subtle, which makes people have boundless reverie and pondering, and can be permanently etched into the mind. But Suzhou people also told me that there is another special thing about their admiration of women, that is, they like to listen to "her" voice-this point seems to be liked by outsiders, because Suzhou women's voices are pure and full of a magnetic mother voice , soft and tender, hiding all concern and love deep in it.The reason why Suzhou men like to listen to "her" voice is that they pay more attention to the "sound" after her "sound".A woman's "voice" is just like her appearance, and the most important thing is to pay attention to her "voice"; "voice" is her heart and emotion.Isn't there a saying "Listen to the drums to listen to the sound"!The "voice" of Suzhou women is naturally pleasant, but her "voice" has more flavor in it. However, this is not all that Suzhou people appreciate a woman. The most fundamental criterion for Suzhou people to appreciate a beautiful woman is whether her hands are beautiful or not. The ancients always used "slender fingers" to describe the hands of beautiful women.In the eyes of Suzhou people, whether a woman is beautiful or not depends on whether her hands meet such standards, because Suzhou people believe that hands represent a woman's self-cultivation, taste and ability.So what kind of Suzhou woman is a beauty?As a result, nine out of ten people from Suzhou told me that it was Xiu Niang, that is, those women who embroider.Their hands are slender and dexterous, threading needles and threads all day long, as if they are playing a piece of melodic music, as if thousands of troops are fighting fiercely on the ancient battlefield, the drooping eyebrows and the flying silk thread in front of the chest, and the movement left behind The momentary beauty and eternal beauty on the embroidery frames are always heart-pounding and imaginative... The hands of Suzhou beauties are the beauty of labor, and the beauty of labor is the beauty above all beauty. Therefore, the aesthetics of Suzhou people is noble and refined, so the taste will be stronger. One example is convincing.In recent years, all localities have been carrying out the construction of a new socialist countryside in the vast rural areas in accordance with the spirit of the central government.What is the new socialist countryside that our peasant brothers want?In some places, large buildings and villas are built for farmers, which are more luxurious and extravagant than the "gardens" and "rich areas" where people live in the city. not doing well".People in Suzhou say, we don't do that kind of "new countryside".So they launched a demonstration village called "Jiang Lane" to promote it.The branch secretary of Jiangxiang Village, Chang Desheng, is an old acquaintance of mine. As early as more than ten years ago, I wrote about this outstanding Communist who led the villagers to get rich.His deeds are very touching, and the collective economy in the village is also very strong.At first, I was worried whether his "new countryside" would also make the villagers living in villas and new buildings feel bad.After visiting Jiangxiang Village again that year, I was completely relieved: the new countryside here is so beautiful!The beauty is not that they also have new villas and western-style buildings, or that they also have wide and green roads extending in all directions. The beauty here is that each commoner and each farmer can according to their own needs, hobbies and habits. Find the free lifestyle and life content that you want to live.For example, the elderly can live in new villas and new buildings with their children, or live in free apartments for the elderly, and even allow the only family of farmers who do not want to move into the new villa to stay in their old house.All the constructions in the village are based on the living habits of the farmers. They not only run enterprises, but also focus on the construction of ecological agriculture.As a result, the village not only kept the villagers' self-sufficient crop land, but also had lakes and fish ponds for breeding poultry and aquatic products that were several times larger than before, and a "farmers' park" that allowed villagers to relax and exercise.What's interesting is that Murakami still retains a complete traditional farmhouse "museum", where 80-year-olds can pick up the old household items they used in childhood, and children who are just toddlers can also learn about the old homes of their parents. What is it like.The new rural construction of Jiangxiang Village not only has modern facilities, but also preserves folk customs and public opinion.No wonder Wen Jiabao and other state leaders sighed after seeing Jiangxiang Village: This is our ideal new socialist countryside. The farmers in Jiangxiang Village told me with a smile: They like this new village with a taste; the taste is good air, good environment, good life, family harmony and freedom. Look, farmers in Suzhou know what is really good. "Taste" is their ideal goal. "Paradise" and "Paradise", if there is a taste, it is a good paradise. Now in Suzhou, there are many people talking about "taste", and there are many officials, almost all of them are talking about "taste".This surprised even an "old Suzhou native" like me.In my memory when I was young, there was something about "taste", but it definitely didn't talk as much as today's fathers and folks, and cared so much about "taste".Why is that?The folks answered me with a smile: You lived poorly when you were a child, and you don’t pay attention to taste when you live poorly. I see!No, if you want to taste, it must be established when the material civilization and spiritual civilization have reached a certain level. The theory of "taste" after being rich and rich is the reflection of the life of Suzhou people today, and it is also a way of thinking and behavior for them to pursue ideals and promote the continuous development of society. It contains lofty ideal pursuits and never Contented mental gesture. Secretary Wang Rong told me one thing: At the beginning of 2003, a netizen named Gong Jian was comparing the gross domestic product (GDP), per capita output value, per capita income of urban and rural residents, per capita housing area, and total retail sales of consumer goods in Suzhou and Chengdu. After comparative analysis of statistical data such as private car ownership and other statistical data, it is found that in addition to GDP, total import and export volume and other figures, Suzhou greatly exceeds Chengdu, and in many economic indicators related to residents' living standards, Suzhou, which is the most developed area in the east, is even worse than Chengdu. He did not go to Chengdu, which is located in the inland west, so he concluded: "Suzhou people are not as rich as Chengdu people."This short article caused an uproar in Suzhou.Not long after, there was another article titled "Reflection and Affirmation of the Suzhou Model", which pointed out more bluntly the current situation of "Suzhou is strong but not rich". "The Suzhou cadres who have always been proud of themselves in front of the people of the whole country felt that they lost all face!" Wang Rong said. Now even elementary school students know that GDP is the face of a local cadre.Since the reform and opening up, Suzhou's GDP has been among the best regional cities in the country, even surpassing the level of more than a dozen provinces and municipalities.Therefore, Suzhou is even more known as a rich place.However, the public's conclusion now is that Suzhou is "a strong city but not rich people".The most terrible thing is that ordinary people in Suzhou also stood up and said: "This is how we feel." This time the face and the clip were torn together! what to do?Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government are facing another severe test.What is gratifying is that they were sober again in this debate, once again achieved a great emancipation of the mind, and once again bravely faced the reality of "the city is strong and the people are not rich"... So Suzhou has the later "paradise city" Set off the magnificent new battle and new measures of the "Enriching the People's Movement".For example, in 2004, the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government officially put forward the slogan of "enriching the people and strengthening the city", and then under the general principle of "enriching the people and strengthening the city", they emphasized the work policy of "enriching the people first". "The starting point and goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way is to enrich the people. We must insist on developing for the people, relying on the people, and sharing the fruits of development with the people. We will vigorously implement the priority project of enriching the people, so that all Suzhou people can experience and share more development achievements." It is a solemn promise made by the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee in front of all the people. In 2005, the municipal party committee set up a leading group for enriching the people. Secretary Wang Rong personally served as the group leader, focusing on employment, raising the wages of enterprise employees, urban minimum living security, medical insurance and medical treatment, housing and education for urban and rural people, which are related to the quality of life of the people. More than a dozen aspects of the work have made real and effective work one by one. "In the past few years, the life of our people in Suzhou has become really rich and happy!" This is what many fathers and folks said in my heart when I interviewed Suzhou.I am too familiar with this land. It is definitely impossible for any government or cadre to lie or do fake things. My observation and investigation have also proved that what the folks say is not true—the people of Suzhou are really much richer now. It is much happier than the people in other regions. "Where there are bones, there must be flesh. We will not do things that only grow bones but not flesh." This is what Wang Rong said to me.The translation of this sentence in the native language of Suzhou means: to have face, you must also have a grip, and we will not do things that only care about face in the future. This is one of the qualities and spirits of Suzhou people. "Bones are hard and fleshy, which is the taste." These are the words of Mayor Yan Li.Look, he's talking about "taste" too! Mayor Yan's "taste" is even more interesting.He said that he is now anxious about one thing: After Suzhou opened up, fewer and fewer people speak Suzhou dialect. "Many leaders and friends from other places often ask me, your Suzhou dialect is so good, why can't you hear it on the street now? This makes me feel the seriousness of the problem. In the past, Suzhou was relatively closed, and they didn't speak Mandarin, but only soft local dialect. Afterwards, it was opened up, and the outside world became unimpeded. More and more people speak Mandarin, which is a good sign. But Suzhou is a city with its own culture. If Suzhou people don’t even speak the very delicious Suzhou dialect themselves , then this city will really have no taste..." Hey, Mayor Yan's "taste" theory is here again! "Nong said Suzhou tastes good?" Mayor Yan said an authentic Suzhou dialect to me when he got up to end the interview. "That's great! The taste of Suzhou must be pretty good!" I answered him in the same Suzhou dialect. Haha...we couldn't help laughing together.One of us is a "Suzhou native" from Beijing, and the other is a "Suzhou native" from Nanjing. The taste of Suzhou is really "good to come". It contains countless material and spiritual contents, just like a classic textbook that can never be tiresome to read. This is the life philosophy of Suzhou people, and it is also the innate cultural quality of Suzhou people, like the strong aroma of wine floating in the deep alley...