And I'm Still Speechless

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Blog numero dos (Matt’s been taking Spanish classes this summer). So last time, I rode the bullet train, met Matt’s parents, and ate the stomach of a bull (Toro!). Let’s go, cause this might be the most important thing I’ve blogged about yet.

July 23rd:
So we woke up early (omg, 7:30, really?) and went off to go to a family friends place to see some embroidery. At this point, I was thinking, “Oh, cool – Chinese culture, whatever.” We got to the embroidery place, and walked in, and then it happened. Speechlessness. No seriously. I think my mouth has previously, involuntarily dropped 3 times in my life and 2 of those times I was left speechless. Most times, I recovered in 5 minutes. I was speechless the whole time I was there (3 hours.) And you think I’m joking, but I’m not. This embroidery was so good. Like really really good. When I first walked in I thought everything was a painting, and I was like “Why is everything a painting, isn’t this an embroidery place?” and then when I got close I realized that it was embroidery, it’s just so good, you can’t freaking tell. The embroiderer herself was in Beijing doing a conference, but her husband was there and broke it all down for me.
So the background story of Chen HongYing (Remember in Chinese, Chen is the last name), is that she grew up in the countryside, poor, and never got more than a middle school education. However, her needlework was awesome, and she spent a lot of time developing it, and studying under embroidery masters, and then became a master herself, and she and her husband were able to turn it into a very successful business. The way the process works is that they take a work of art already done (or the husband makes) and will copy it with needlework, but it takes a ton of time. Most of the time, her employees will do a lot of the base work, and she will finish the pieces with her super skills. Pieces take her anywhere from a year (really small pieces, 1 person working on them) to 8 years (super epic pieces). Furthermore, the techniques she uses depends on the pieces. A lot of modern pieces will use cross stitching (the threads can cross each other) which often presents a contrast in color, as well as show some base lines that are traditionally used in western art. Pieces that use these techniques are better view from a distance for maximum wow factor. The other technique is parallel stitching, where none of the threads cross each other, which allows for super impressive color blending, and is good for up close detailed scrutiny.
And apparently she’s one of, if not the, best in the business. Keeping in mind that there are 3 other places besides SuZhou known for embroidery (GuangZhou, SiChuang, and HuNan), “Her works have been displayed at the larger size exhibitions in Beijing, Shanghai, SuZhou, HangZhou, and ShenZhen and won the prize in succession. In August of 2008 he work was shown at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. In 2010, her work was displayed in TaiPei.” On top of this, she also is the head of the embroidery association (not sure of the official title) in all of China.
Oh, and her portrait of Mao was chosen by the Chairman Mao ZeDong Memorial Hall to HANG IN THE BUILDING THAT HOLDS MAO’S BODY. Let me repeat that. HER WORK WAS SO GOOD, IT’S WITH MAO’S BODY. Do you all realize how crazy that is? That’s literally like Michelangelo preemptively did the Sistine chapel, and then the Vatican was like “Yup, that’s God level work, we want it.” When I heard this, I thought my jaw was going to unhinge. Just absolutely craziness.
As we walked across the street to the studio (because before we were just in their house, which is also filled with embroidery pieces), Matt told me that basically Mr. Wang had seen her work early in her career, and besides buying a few pieces (one piece which is featured in their catalogue) he also promoted her work to all of his friends, and the business developed into a friendship. And at that point I realized that what I was getting was a private tour of probably the best embroidery place in China. Holy frick on a stick. In the actual studio, there were 3 floors of embroidery work, all better than the last, and then we got to go and watch the ladies do the embroidery work. And it was just mindblowing when they held up a piece that looked all but done and they’d say, “only about 80% done.” Just crazy – absolutely crazy. I’m writing this Sunday night and I’m still reeling from it all.
When we went back downstairs, there was another guy who helps with some business aspects, and briefly talked about getting this work overseas. I think there really would be a market for it, if you hit up the right locations. Afterword, we went back to the house part, where the guy showed me how to take one strand of thread, and divide it up into 256 strands (which makes it thinner than hair). Also crazy. They use this when they do calligraphy pieces or classic pantings of scenery. These might be the most mind blowing pieces, cause even when your centimeters away, you still can’t tell whether you’re looking at embroidery or at ink. So of course after all of this, I had to buy a piece. I got an embroidery of an old school Chinese fishing boat, which used the parallel stitching technique.
And I’m going to end this blog here, cause it was so mind blowing that it’s worth its own blog. So thoughts to leave you on:
Can the American Dream happen in a Communist Country? Happened for her.
Can you do anything that China would think be Mao worthy? No? Didn’t think so.
How many mops does it take to soak up 10 gallons of drool?
--Robby

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