The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics presented a dazzling performance with Chinese romantic symbols. In Luojing Town, Baoshan, a craftsman was deeply impressed by the snowflakes representing each delegation to the games. She is Zheng Xiaorong, a representative inheritor of Luojing cross stitch.

Luojing cross stitch, traditional craftsmanship that originated in Luojing Town over three hundred years ago, was included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritages of Shanghai in 2007.

As early as the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), cotton was planted widely in Luojing, which boosted the development of spinning and weaving in this region. The handwoven cloth became the major clothing material for local people. The leftover bits and pieces were made into female headscarves, a protector from the sun in summer and from the cold in winter. As people believed that headscarves made of original cloth could cause ill omen, they began to make stitching on the cloth, which gradually became mature craftsmanship.

Zheng Xiaorong, a former athlete, wanted to reproduce the snowflake from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics to cheer for the athletes.

For this, she worked for five days, 10–12 hours each day. With all these efforts, a pen bag decorated with a snowflake and Baji Pattern representing auspiciousness came into being.

With a history of over 300 years, Luojing cross stitch represents local females’ longing for beauty. It bridges art and life and reflects the lively lifestyle of Luojing people.

Zheng Xiaorong has been thinking about how to introduce this ancient technique to modern people in a popular way. At last, she decided to make a pen bag decorated with an Olympic snowflake and Baji Pattern representing auspiciousness, hoping that this can bring good fortune to the athletes. 

Craftsmanship is no easier than Olympic games. To present a lively snowflake, Zheng kept trying different ways of cross snitching. She ingeniously left a yarn-wide space between cross points, which made the snowflake more dynamic.

As for the edges of the snowflake, she used gradients. Inside the pen bag, Zheng used a piece of sheer yarn to highlight the back of the cross stitch. 

Zheng also decorated the joint for a tie with traditional Baji Pattern, a symbol of auspiciousness.

This work innovatively presented the traditional cross stitch, resembling the courageous Olympic spirits.

As the official motto “Together for a shared future” conveys, this work may open a door to a different future for Luojing cross stitch. I believe that a bright future is waiting for this traditional craftsmanship.

—Zheng Xiaorong, a representative inheritor of Luojing cross stitch

Every snowflake represents the dream of each delegation for the Olympic games. We will work together for a shared future no matter on sports fields or for cultural inheritance.