HUNAN

For nearly a century, Xiang Embroidery has been widely recognized as one of China’s Four Great Embroideries. In 1972, a large number of embroidered fragments such as the dark brown rhombus-patterned Xinqi Embroidery and yellow silk-ground Longevity Pattern Embroidery unearthed from No.1 Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha proved that Hunan embroidery has a history of more than 2,000 years. Xiang Embroidery developed an embroidery system with a distinctive style in the late Qing Dynasty.

The traditional producing areas of Xiang Embroidery are mainly distributed across dozens of towns and townships in Changsha City and its affiliated Changsha County, Wangcheng District and Kaifu District. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, based on the original embroidery workshops, state-owned enterprises were established, including Hongxing Xiang Embroidery Factory, Hunan Provincial Xiang Embroidery Factory, Changsha General Xiang Embroidery Factory, Changsha County Xiang Embroidery Factory, and Wangcheng County Xiang Embroidery Factory. At its peak, nearly 100,000 people worked in this industry. In 1979, the provincial factory was restructured into the Hunan Institute of Xiang Embroidery. In 1998, the People’s Government of Hunan Province allocated 7.8 million RMB to build the Hunan Xiang Embroidery Museum. The private Changsha Shaping Xiang Embroidery Factory was founded in 1986, and the Sino-foreign joint venture Hunan Xingsha Xiang Embroidery City was completed in 2003.

In the late Qing period, Li Yihui (1854–1928), an Xiang Embroidery artisan, pioneered the mixed stitch. In 1898, Hu Lianxian opened the first Xiang Embroidery workshop, Wu Caixia Embroidery Shop, at Simentkou in Changsha. She promoted the mixed stitch by teaching it to her apprentices. The mixed stitch can render the light and shade, gradual colour transition and colour blending of objects. Combined with the ultra-fine silk-splitting technique, it fully conveys the spirit of literati paintings.

At the turn of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, artisan Liao Jiahui embroidered Portrait of Wu Peifu’s Mother, now collected by Shanghai Museum. During the State Funeral Ceremony, the coffin of Dr. Sun Yat-sen was covered with an Xiang Embroidery coffin cover now kept in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. In 1933, the embroidered work Portrait of President Roosevelt made by Changsha Jinhua Embroidery Shop was exhibited at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago, USA, creating a sensation and bringing worldwide fame to Xiang Embroidery. At this stage, Xiang Embroidery craftsmanship had reached an impressively high level.

After 1949, Yu Zhenhui (1913–1984), a distinguished veteran Xiang Embroidery master, invented and perfected the fluffy stitch. This technique creates vivid lions and tigers, becoming a unique signature stitch among China’s Four Great Embroideries. Through inheritance and development by generations of artisans, Xiang Embroidery now boasts a complete stitch system of 72 types in five categories, laying a solid foundation for faithfully reproducing literati paintings and modern photographic works. Double-faced full-differentiated embroidery pushes the artistic expression and technical level of Xiang Embroidery to an astonishing height. It is hailed as “superb embroidery” by Chinese people and “magic art” by international visitors.

Since the reform and opening-up, the State Council has conferred the title of China National Master of Arts and Crafts upon five Xiang Embroidery masters: Li Kaiyun, Tang Yingxiu, Huang Cuifeng, Liu Aiyun and Zhou Jinxiu. Xiang Embroidery works themed on lions and tigers are collected in the China Arts and Crafts Museum as national treasures. Xiang Embroidery artisans have been dispatched many times by the state to give live demonstrations overseas. Numerous Xiang Embroidery pieces have been presented as national gifts to foreign airports and international friends, spreading Chinese culture and enhancing international friendship.

In recent years, impacted by foreign cultures, rapid market economic development and massive rural labour migration, traditional Xiang Embroidery, a folk handicraft, faces a shortage of inheritors, and some exquisite hand techniques are at risk of being lost. To preserve and develop traditional Xiang Embroidery craftsmanship, the Changsha Municipal People’s Government has actively adopted practical and effective measures to strengthen protection, so that the Xiang Embroidery brand created by Hunan people over thousands of years can be passed down and further developed.

Xiang Opera is the dominant local vocal opera genre in Hunan Province. It prevails in 17 cities and counties in eastern southern Hunan, as well as western southern Jiangxi and parts of Guangdong including Pingshi, Qimen, Lechang, Guitou, Lishi and Shaoguan. Centered in Changsha and Xiangtan in history, it is also known as Changsha Xiang Opera. Integrating multiple vocal tunes including Kunqiang (Kunqu tune), Gaoqiang (high tune), Tanqiang (plucked tune) and miscellaneous folk tunes, Xiang Opera took shape in Hunan from the early Ming Dynasty to the Jiajing reign, when introduced Kunqiang and Yiyang tunes blended with local dialects and folk music.

Hengyang Xiang Opera boasts a rich repertoire, covering 6 serialized operas, 113 full-length operas and 465 excerpted acts. Its representative works include Creation of the Gods, Biography of Yue Fei, Biography of Mulian, Golden Seal Story, Record of Submission, Tale of the White Rabbit, Moon Worship Tale, Four Top Scholars and Strange Double Encounter.

Xiang Opera features a finely categorized role system consisting of 12 types: senior armored warrior, junior armored warrior, vocal male role, young scholar, grand painted face, secondary painted face, purple face, clown, principal female role and labor female role. The young scholar role is further divided into four subtypes by costumes: literary scarf, Luo hat, pheasant tail and python armor, with four distinctive performing styles for impoverished, refined, wealthy and martial characters. Absorbing artistic essence from Kunqu Opera, Xiang Opera performances are dynamic, lively and dance-integrated, with many classic works celebrated for exquisite postures and stances.

Unique stylized movements define its performance aesthetics, such as the “slipper stride” for male roles walking with dragging shoes, “boat stance” for standing on one leg, “staggering drunk stride”, and the “unbound lady stride” for female roles. Xiang Opera encompasses over 300 tune patterns, dominated by southern tunes. In addition to southern and northern plucked tunes, its tonal system includes inverted southern tune, inverted northern tune, flat tune, Anqing tune and seven-beat half tune. Accompanied by suona, bamboo flute and other wind instruments during singing, its music is divided into civil and military orchestras. The civil orchestra supports vocal performances with string and wind instruments such as erxian lute, yueqin lute, flute and suona, while the military orchestra enhances stage effects with percussion instruments including clappers, large cymbals, big and small gongs.

After centuries of artistic refinement, Hengyang Xiang Opera has developed into an independent opera genre in Hunan. Tan Baocheng is the founder of the Tan School performance style of Hengyang Xiang Opera. Deeply influenced by Kunqu art, his performances feature vigorous elegance and unique charm. In October 1952, his starring work Drunken Breaking the Mountain Gate was staged at the First National Opera Observation and Performance Conference, winning high praise from national leaders including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, as well as renowned performing artists represented by Mei Lanfang.

Kunqu Opera nurtures Hengyang Xiang Opera and serves as its artistic soul. By integrating elegant Kunqu art with regional culture, Hengyang Xiang Opera achieves an artistic realm appreciated by both refined and popular tastes. Its practice of localizing and vernacularizing elite foreign art holds significant research value in the history of Chinese opera and art. In recent years, impacted by modern cultural trends, the bond between Xiang Opera and audiences has gradually weakened. Coupled with insufficient funding and talent loss, the traditional opera faces severe survival challenges, calling for urgent attention and targeted protection.