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Cultural Heritage: China's Hunan Embroidery
 2016-12-20 17:59:54 

File photo taken on Oct. 11, 2010 shows Hunan embroidery teacher Liu Aiyun (R, front) guides Ma Yinshen at Hunan Arts and Crafts Vocational College in Changsha City, capital of central China's Hunan Province. The 76-year-old grandma Zhou Shuhua is a craftswoman of Hunan embroidery and is specially good at embroider flowers. Her embroidery craftsmanship was passed down to her daughter Zhou Lingyin, who later became an advanced embroideress at Hunan Embroidery Research Institute. The mother and daughter do hope to continue passing down the craftsmanship to the next generation, but Zhou Linyin has only one son Ma Yinshen and it is rare to see a man engaging in embroidery. In 2010, Zhou Linyin found recruitment information of embroidery major in Hunan Arts and Crafts Vocational College and this rekindled her hope. Then Ma Yinshen and several other male peers became the first batch of male students learning embroidery in the college and they were called "embroidery boys." These boys received systematic education, learning not only embroidery but also art knowledge and design, making them a new generation of Hunan embroidery inheritors.

Mother Zhou Lingyin (L) and son Ma Yinshen (C) learn embroidery skill from teachers at Hunan Embroidery Research Institute in Changsha City, capital of central China's Hunan Province, April 25, 2012.

Grandma Zhou Shuhua (C), mother Zhou Lingyin and son Ma Yinshen pose for photos at home in Beishan Township of Changsha County, central China's Hunan Province, April 25, 2012.

Ma Yinshen observes an embroidery work at Hunan Arts and Crafts Vocational College in Changsha City, capital of central China's Hunan Province, June 7, 2012.

Grandma Zhou Shuhua guides her grandson Ma Yinshen in embroidery in Changsha County, central China's Hunan Province, April 25, 2012.

Ma Yinshen (R) practices embroidery at Hunan Arts and Crafts Vocational College in Changsha City, capital of central China's Hunan Province, June 7.

Ma Yinshen (back) watches embroidery works at Hunan Embroidery Research Institute in Changsha City, capital of central China's Hunan Province, April 25, 2012.

Ma Yinshen (C) watches his grandma Zhou Shuhua and his mother Zhou Linyin making embroidery at home in Changsha County, central China's Hunan Province, April 25, 2012.