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The 4th China Embroidery Festival opened in Zhenhu Town, Suzhou City, Southeast Jiangsu Province on November 5, 2011. This annual event features the theme of "appreciating folk arts, innovating cultural expressions and improving the brand of Suzhou Embroidery".
Suzhou is a riverside city known as the "paradise on the Earth". Suzhou embroidery, or Su embroidery for short, was named after its place of origin, historically very popular in the urban and rural areas of Suzhou. Since the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Suzhou embroidery masters emerged, giving rise to many branches. Currently, there are three influential types of Suzhou embroidery with certain successors. In the past decade, Suzhou embroidery trade has been on a gradual growth, with the result that its current production areas are mainly concentrated in the urban areas of Suzhou and around Dongzhu Town and the Zhenhu neighborhood of Suzhou National New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone.
At the opening ceremony, the official from China National Committee for Pedestrian Shopping Streets granted the honor of "China Shopping Street with Distinct Characteristics" to the Zhenhu neighborhood. The official from Jiangsu Provincial Commission on Economy and Informatization proclaimed six female embroiderers from Zhenhu as province- level handicraft...