The “Decorative Patterns of Cultural Relics: Educational Exhibition on the Essence of Traditional Chinese Culture” at the Liaoning Provincial Museum has received widespread attention and praise from visitors from all walks of life since its opening on October 31, 2025.

A large embroidered piece in this exhibition drew many visitors to stop and admire it. This embroidered wedding curtain, with the patterns of dragons and phoenixes symbolizing double happiness, is a national first-class cultural relic, and a representative work of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) counted thread embroidery. This embroidered piece is also known as “Plywood Curtain”, because hardwood plywood can be fitted between the sections of the embroidered patterns. The utilization of the special weaving technique, where the weft threads are thicker than the warp threads, imparted a firm and smooth texture to this embroidery. On the bright red fabric, female embroiderers from the Qing Dynasty applied various embroidery techniques, such as satin stitch, and knot stitch. The central part of the curtain features the patterns of dragons and phoenixes and “double happiness” symbols, with auspicious clouds as the background. Within each pair of dragon and phoenix, the patterns of five bats are distributed in the four corners and below each large “double happiness” symbol. Moreover, the surrounding area is adorned with patterns of gourd vines. These traditional embroidered patterns carry ancient Chinese people’s aspirations for a blissful marriage with prosperous offspring.

Due to the special protection requirements for textile artifacts, the embroidered wedding curtain cannot be exhibited for an extended period. It will be on display until November 30, 2025. Visitors who have not yet viewed this national first-class cultural relic should not miss this opportunity. The exquisite beauty of this Qing Dynasty embroidery will not let you down!