Tomb of Shen Shou

Tomb of Shen Shou

The Tomb of Shen Shou is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province.

The Tomb of Shen Shou is located at the southern foot of Ma'anshan in the southern suburbs of Nantong City.

Shen Shou, originally named Yunzhi, later known as Shou, with the courtesy name Xuejun, was from Suzhou. She was a modern embroidery artist in China who made significant contributions to the development of "Su Embroidery." By the age of sixteen or seventeen, her embroidery art had already gained fame in her hometown. At the age of 20, she married Yu Jue from Shaoxing. In the 30th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1904), she embroidered a birthday screen to celebrate the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, which earned her recognition from the Empress Dowager. Cixi personally wrote the characters “Fu” (blessing) and “Shou” (longevity) for Shen Shou and her husband, after which she adopted the name Shou. Later, the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce awarded them the Double Dragon Star Medal and sent the couple to Japan to study embroidery and art teaching methods. In January 1905, upon their return to China, the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce had just established a women’s embroidery department, where Shen Shou was appointed as the chief instructor, overseeing administration and teaching, while Yu Jue served as the head of the department. In the second year of the Xuantong reign (1910), the "Nanyang Industrial Exposition" was held in Nanjing, where Shen Shou was invited to serve as an embroidery and textile judge. Her exquisitely embroidered bust of Queen Victoria of England won the highest award at the World's Fair.

In October 1911, after the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, the Yu-Shou couple moved to Tianjin, where they established the "Zili Women’s Work Training Institute," which operated for three years. Shen Shou’s finely embroidered portraits of the Emperor and Empress of Italy were later presented as national gifts to that country. In 1912, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a special letter of thanks to the Chinese government and the artist, and the Italian royal family also gifted Shen Shou a gold watch inlaid with diamonds and bearing the royal insignia.

In 1914, the Nantong Women’s Work Training Institute was established. Shen Shou was invited by Zhang Jian to come to Nantong and serve as the director of the institute. Shen Shou worked at the institute for eight years, nurturing many talented individuals and laying the foundation for the development of modern embroidery craftsmanship in the region. At the same time, she also created many valuable works. For example, her embroidered “Portrait of Jesus” won first prize at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in the United States.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangsu Province