Beijing Embroidery (Jingxiu)

Beijing embroidery (jingxiu), also called "palace embroidery," is the Beijing-centered school that served the court; flourishing in the Ming and Qing, it adorned royal garments and ceremonial goods, with a dignified, opulent style.

Jingxiu is rigorous in stitch and choice of materials, excelling above all in couching gold and silver thread; its motifs favor court themes such as dragons, phoenixes and auspicious clouds, holding that every pattern carries meaning and every design a blessing — rich and meticulously even.

Jingxiu is inscribed as national intangible cultural heritage; as the embroidery of the court, it embodies the most formal and stately strand of Chinese embroidery art.

In Beijing's arts-and-crafts and ICH museums you can see jingxiu garments and pieces, studying the couched-gold dragons and phoenixes stitch by stitch, and sensing the stately beauty of court embroidery.