The Chinese embroidery on pillows as part of the national spiritual culture (part 1)

Abstract
For the first time in the Russian Sinology, the authors thoroughly analyzes such an amazing phenomenon as the Chinese culture of decorating sleeping pillows. The article reveals the peculiarities of soft pillows workmanship and especially pay attention to the embroidery on them.

Isaeva L.I. gives a detailed classification of the so-called embroidery for the pillow side faces (zhen-ding xiu), which is widespread in the north of the country. The author demonstrates how in a Chinese ordinary household these items are transformed into amazing examples of applied art, being a vivid reflection of not only the material, but also the spiritual culture of the people.

In this context, the author displays and scrutinizes the deepest symbolism with which the Chinese craftswomen endowed these ordinary products, giving it a refined spirituality and deepest meaning. Therefore, embroidery on the pillow side faces, as a kind of the Chinese embroidery art, has become a minimized reflection of the culture of praying for happiness and well-being in the traditional Chinese society.

As the author of the article emphasizes in the zhen-ding xiu embroidery the craftswomen reveal the ethnic characteristics of the psychology of the Chinese people, their values, aesthetic consciousness, customs and mores, as well as religious beliefs, therefore, the modest squares of silk with embroidery are an invaluable historical and cultural heritage.

Keywords: embroidery on the pillow side faces, symbolic signs, talismans, mascots, hints, homophones, national art of embroidery, cultural national heritage, spiritual culture of the Chinese people.

For citation: Isaeva L.I. The Chinese embroidery on pillows as part of the national spiritual culture. Modern oriental studies. 2021; 3(4):