Dongtai Hair Embroidery

Dongtai Hair Embroidery

Dongtai Hair Embroidery is a protected geographical indication product.

Dongtai Hair Embroidery is a certified geographical indication trademark.

　　Hair embroidery, also known as ink embroidery, originated during the Tang Dynasty when Buddhism was widely practiced. Devout women would cut off their own hair and embroider images of the Buddha or Guanyin Bodhisattva on silk or satin. They would then burn incense and worship these pieces as a sign of piety. Using human hair instead of silk thread showcases the wisdom and creativity of Chinese working women. Because hair embroidery does not fade or deform, but requires extremely high technical skill, it has been rarely passed down. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the hair embroidery piece “Statue of the East” and the Ming Dynasty work “Maitreya Buddha” created by Han Ximeng were both collected as treasures in the British Museum in London and the Shōsōin Repository in Japan, respectively. The only known piece of hair embroidery in the Shanghai Museum, “Stopping the Zither Beneath the Moon,” was also embroidered by Han Ximeng. By the Qing Dynasty, hair embroidery had nearly disappeared. Embroidery artists at the Dongtai Arts and Crafts Factory, building on traditional techniques, employed various stitches such as rolling, wrapping, connecting, layering, and using void-and-solid contrast. They used human hair in multiple colors—including yellow, gray, ochre, and white—and utilized varying shades of hair as “color threads.” Combining painting with embroidery, they created a colorful style described as “ink with color, color with ink.” Their artworks, including portraits of Lu Xun, “Chang’e Flying to the Moon,” “Fairy Scattering Flowers,” as well as floral arrangements, animals, pavilions, towers, landscapes, and other fine pieces, were first exhibited at the Guangzhou Trade Fair. These works attracted enthusiastic attention from merchants and became recognized as artistic treasures. In 1981, Dongtai Hair Embroidery won an award for excellence at the National Arts and Crafts & Travel Souvenirs Competition, and in 1983, it received a Quality Excellence Certificate issued by China’s Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade. In 1985, the Tiangong brand of hair embroidery was named a Quality Product of Jiangsu Province. In 1986, the hair embroidery piece “Hanshan Temple” was exhibited in Japan. The artwork featured an inscribed stone tablet containing four strands of hair, engraved with verses from the poem “Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night.” Japanese audiences were particularly fascinated by the 28 Chinese characters engraved on those four strands of hair, and they lined up in long queues to take turns viewing them under a microscope.

　　The protected geographical indication area for Dongtai Hair Embroidery covers the entire current administrative region of Dongtai City, Jiangsu Province.