It
is estimated that there are 80, 000 embroidery
craftswomen and artists in Suzhou, a city famous for
silk and silk embroidery, east China's Jiangsu
Province. Most of them are from Zhenhu,
a small town where almost every woman can do hand
embroidery work. Women there learned how to
embroider when they were little girls, 7 and 8 years
old. Since almost every woman can embroider well,
young girls have a very good environment to learn
and can learn the embroidery skills quickly. They
first watch their mothers or grandmothers embroider,
and after some time their mothers or grandmothers
would teach them how to embroider by showing step by
step. They would try some very simple images at the
beginning, for instance flowers that can be
completed in one day.
Though skills and techniques can be learned
from mothers and grandmothers, young girls normally
need to spend 2 to 3 years on embroidering average
images before they can embroider animals and
portraits well.
Almost
all the families in the silk embroidery town have at
least one embroidery worker. Most embroidery workers
were born in farming families and embroidering is
one important part of their family income. Though
embroidering is a very tiring job because of levels
of concentration, workers are allowed to rest when
requied. Aday's work brings in about 120 RMN and
skilled workers can earn more. As the workers skill
is being recognized world wide wage rates are
increasing. Young girls are learning to embroider
because they like it. Gone are the days when girls
had to learn to embroider to heelp the family
income. Mothers now have education and company
training as a priority for their daughters.
Few
of the embroidery workers are well known in China,
though there are many embroidery workers whose works
are really masterpieces. They never sign their
embroidery works and don't know who buy their works.
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