Traditional Chinese Textile Designs in Full Color

Traditional Chinese opera is highly stylized in structure, music, subject matter, and staging. Movements and gestures follow age-old patterns, and the physical appearance of the performers is rigidly controlled, especially their costumes, which reveal social rank, occupation, and often personality traits of the characters. Traditional, well-known motifs are embroidered in colored silk or cotton on specifically prescribed parts of the costume to act as symbols or emblems. Since the motifs ar...