Silk Show Town receives provincial honor

Silk Show Town in Suzhou New District. [Photo/WeChat account: snd-szgxqfb]

Silk Show Town, or Su Embroidery Town, in Suzhou New District, Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, was recently added to the list of provincial characteristic towns with local specialty industries.

With a history of more than 2,000 years, Su embroidery is one of the four embroidery schools in China and is also a national intangible cultural heritage item.

Silk Show Town in Suzhou New District. [Photo/WeChat account: snd-szgxqfb]

Reputed as the "home of Chinese folk (embroidery) art", Zhenhu subdistrict in SND is the main birthplace of Su embroidery. In 2017, the district built the Silk Show Town to showcase and promote its special Su embroidery industry.

The town includes a Chinese Embroidery Art Museum, a Su Embroidery Street, and a Zhenhu Art Exhibition Center, which attract large numbers of embroidery masters and boost the development of local embroidery industry.

Su embroidery produced by embroidery masters from the Silk Show Town in Suzhou New District. [Photo/WeChat account: snd-szgxqfb]

As of now, the town has given rise to nearly 100 senior art professionals and more than 8,400 employees in the embroidery and related industries.

The Su embroideries produced by the town have been presented as national gifts to leaders of other countries and served as ornaments at important national activities. To date, more than 80 Su embroideries have been gifted to international friends and nearly 90 Su embroideries have been collected by museums around the world.