Hidden Embroidery at Shihu Lake

Suzhou embroidery originated during the Spring and Autumn period. Legend has it that Zhong Yong's granddaughter, a skilled needlewoman, was the first to embroider garments. She stitched dragon patterns onto clothing as a substitute for tattooing. The embroidery cloths unearthed from the Ruiguang Pagoda and Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou, built during the Five Dynasties and Northern Song periods, are the earliest known examples of Suzhou embroidery. After the Song dynasty, the art of embroidery flourished in Suzhou. It reached its peak during the Ming and Qing dynasties, when Suzhou became known as the "Embroidery Market." Suzhou embroidery was named one of China's Four Great Embroideries.

In the early 20th century, Shen Shou incorporated the realistic qualities of Western portraiture into embroidery, creating "realistic embroidery." In the early 1930s, Yang Shouyu created "random-needle embroidery," using intersecting stitches layered over one another.