[Opening] Tide embroidery details
[Explanation] "The needles are threaded through the five-color velvet in the same thread, and the embroidery is like thousands of feathers."
Kang Huifang's studio is located in Paifang Street, Chaozhou, Guangdong. Walking into a three-story building is like walking into a Chaozhou Embroidery Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum.
Under the 75-year-old's hands, the gold and silver threads can be transformed into works of art gifted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Prime Minister of Canada and other international dignitaries.
But recalling the beginning of his embroidery life, the master of tide embroidery admitted that it was all for the sake of life.
[Concurrent] Kang Huifang, the national non-genetic inheritor of Chao Embroidery
The research institute is a unit. Our salary at that time was 48 yuan. Thirty years ago, when I was 33 years old, the salary of 48 yuan was very satisfactory, so I worked there as an embroiderer.
I embroidered one of this work myself, and to see if anyone in Southeast Asia (overseas Chinese) wanted it, I sold it for a higher value, so I put it under the bed when no one wanted it at that time, and kept it until now. It has become my not-for-sale product, and I will not sell it anymore.
To see which overseas Chinese want to buy, exchange some wages to live.
Just replace the rice and beef balls.
[Explanation] At the end of the last century, as Chaoshan people sailed to the South Ocean on red-headed boats, Chaozhou embroidery spread to Southeast Asia and was deeply loved by overseas Chinese. Chaozhou embroidery has also become a good way for Chaozhou to make a living.
Kang Huifang, on the other hand, has a challenging spirit since childhood.
[Concurrent] Kang Huifang, the national non-genetic inheritor of Chao Embroidery
I don't have the chance to study anymore, so I want to learn this craft to live, so I said then I'm going to pick up this needle, I'm going to learn the most difficult embroidery, because it can earn a few more wages, it was like this at the beginning son.
[Explanation] The craftsman's craftsmanship continues to improve.
For 60 years, she has started a business and taught skills. Today, even her apprentices are nearing retirement.
However, since the age of 15, Kang Huifang, who has been running silver needles for 60 years, is still a "tide" child. Currently, she and her apprentices are busy creating a work with the largest area of embroidery she has ever embroidered to reflect the overseas Chinese in Chaozhou. The new look of the township.
[On-site] Let's look at our raw materials first, which are cotton and paper strips. These are cut out of paper strips and then rubbed out. Then we use these to raise them up. You look like they're here. (railings) Is that right), yes, we use it here to raise the height, and what she is rubbing now is this kind of small, after rubbing it, it will be used to make these tiles here, we will use this paper nail to roll it up, come Tiles representing ancient buildings.
What is this raw material on the city wall? You see, there is cotton padding here. We must pad it up like this.
I'm going to shoot one myself.
[Concurrent period] Kang Huifang, the national non-genetic inheritor of Chao Embroidery
This work also means that I am also a new starting point, a new breakthrough, and innovation in this life, and then I will present it to everyone for appreciation two years later.
[Concurrent period] Kang Huifang, the national non-genetic inheritor of Chao Embroidery
At my age, because I'm 75, it's time to stop, time to rest, right?
But I feel that I have this responsibility, I have this mission, because I am a national-level inheritor, and I want to pass on these skills to the next generation. , leaving some better works for the next generation.
[Explanation] And the person who most often asks Kang Huifang for advice, in addition to the apprentice, is her daughter.
【on site】
Look at the embroidered tree, it was just embroidered.
You have this kind of technology, why didn't you teach it before, and now you just start to take it out.
That is, wait until now to teach, and wait for decades to teach until now.
[Explanation] Under the influence of their mothers, the two daughters took the road of tide embroidery wider. They set up factories and applied tide embroidery to the design of Western-style wedding dresses. The products are exported to Europe and the United States.
[Concurrent] She Danhui, daughter of Kang Huifang
Although the wedding evening dress belongs to this western culture, if we put it in with carriers, patterns and colors based on the tide embroidery for so many years, it still has another charm, that is, it has this kind of oriental temperament, but also has western The combination of this culture has become a characteristic industry of ours. The American market and the European market belong to this kind of middle and high-end consumption.
[Explanation] She Danhui introduced that in her company's orders, the US market accounted for 80%. In the early days, the company mostly made products based on customer needs and catered to customer tastes, but now, oriental designers and oriental aesthetics have begun to rise.
[Concurrent] She Danhui, daughter of Kang Huifang
These techniques of tide embroidery, I have penetrated into the clothes, so the added value of my clothes is high.
Now customers are rushing to cooperate with us, whichever customer cooperates with us, his brand will come up.
This is our confidence.
[Explanation] The oriental embroidery girl is interspersed with needles and threads, skillfully woven, and connected to the other side of the ocean. After the oriental intangible cultural heritage has been designed, it has been hung in the window of Fifth Avenue in New York, USA, and has become a striking trend element in Western brides' wedding dresses.
This craft is old, but "non-legacy" is not old.
Reporter Fang Weibin Wang Qingran reports from Chaozhou
Responsible editor: [Li Ji]