Local residents of Suzhou city are looking forward to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Amidst all the festivities, a veteran embroidery artist is paying her tribute with two original works.

Master Gu Wenxia, a renowned embroidery artist, is expressing best wishes for the motherland through two works called "Springtime Landscape" and "Salutary Breeze". In both works, the 79-year-old used the Suzhou embroidery technique called "peacock's features". Suzhou embroidery is one of the four major styles of embroidery in China. Using pure silk, hard satin, soft satin, and nylon as its materials, Suzhou embroidery is characterized by meticulous designs and bold colors.

The craft boasts seventy needlework styles and often a single piece will use hundreds of different colored threads.

(CCTV September 3, 2009)