Appreciate traditional crafts

When traveling, some people like natural scenery, some people like humanistic customs, some people like local food, some people like desert snow-capped mountains, some people like vast coasts, some people like places of interest, and I have both. I like not only the magnificence of the northwest provinces, but also the exquisiteness, charming natural scenery, heavy history and humanities, the exploration of inaccessible beauty and the lingering fireworks in the ancient town of Jiangnan.

I like to shoot the beautiful scenery on the journey, and I also like to record the interesting stories I met, especially those seemingly ordinary but not simple folk stories, which often hit people's hearts and make us admire and move.

Grandma Wu is an old grandmother I met in Lili ancient town, Suzhou. When I saw her, she was embroidering at the door. Embroidery works are "national beauty and fragrance" with peony as the theme, and they are exquisite. During our trip, I have seen all kinds of embroidery, but Grandma Wu should be the oldest embroidered mother I have ever seen. Grandma told me with gestures in a language I didn't quite understand that she was 90 years old this year.

Grandma's name is Ou (transliteration, the exact word may not be right, grandma said this sound several times). She is from Lili. She studied Suzhou embroidery with her grandmother since she was a child, and then she gradually fell in love with this traditional craft. In the past, all the clothes worn by her family were embroidered with needles.

During the trip, we saw embroidery exhibited in many places, such as Shu embroidery in Sichuan, Xiang embroidery in Hunan, Yue embroidery in Guangdong, Gong embroidery in Beijing and Mian embroidery in Henan. But many of the workshops we visited were artists' studios, which were more or less packaged by the government. Grandma Wu was not in our itinerary, but Yu Fan met her on the way from the hotel to the ancient town, which can be said to be purely spontaneous.

Grandma Wu said that embroidery has been with her all her life. When I was young, many embroidered mothers made a living by embroidery, either working for embroidery workshops or selling their own embroidery for money, and then changing their means of subsistence. Now that living conditions are good, people no longer have to worry about three meals a day. Embroidery has become a personal hobby and a pleasure in life.

Yu Fan noticed that although Ms. Wu is 90 years old, she is not deaf or blind, her hands are not shaking, and even her teeth are mostly intact. What's more, she can thread the needle herself, which is really admirable.

Suzhou embroidery is one of the four famous embroideries in China. Legend has it that it originated from the granddaughter of Sun Zhongyong of the 25th Yellow Emperor (which is why people still call women engaged in textile, sewing, embroidery and other activities "female red"). It has a history of more than 2000 years. Meeting Grandma Wu, who is 90 years old and still insists on embroidery in the ancient town, can fully show that this traditional culture has a very broad foundation among the people. It not only