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Discovering the Embroidery Ball Secret
by Mo Rui Qiu
A group of chattering ladies gathered at the doorway. As always,
their neighbors were gracefully stitching away on little pieces
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Miniature birds and flowers sprout on the silk ovals.


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Cardboard circles are covered with yellow cloth before being shaped into cones.


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The artist stitches a golden border around the oval while she attaches it to the yellow cone below.


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Expert hands join the completed cones into a ball.

of stiffened silk. That was nothing new to the onlookers. The curious item was a Westerner there asking a million questions about this mysterious process. “What do you call this cloth? What’s this action? What comes next?” I inquired. The answers came back faster than I could write them down. “Slow down, one thing at a time,” I replied.

The Zhuang people in Jingxi are famous for these artfully crafted embroidery balls. Traditionally, a Zhuang girl will throw an embroidery ball to a young man she admires. That lets him know he is welcome to pursue her. Young couples will then spontaneously create lines of song to sing to each other in turn. It’s a contest to see who can stump the other by creating a lyrical line that the other one can’t match.

As I listened carefully to the experts, they let me see and touch all of the different materials they use. I learned that the delicate silk cloth becomes stiff enough for embroidery when they use a sticky rice glue to attach the silk to old mosquito netting. The ladies use stamps to trace oval patterns onto the silk. These ovals form the twelve sections of the ball. Inside each oval, they stamp the outline of a flower, bird, or some other picture. Then, it’s time to make the design come alive by using colorful silk thread to embroider the shapes. The artist folds yellow cardboard circles into thirds until they form a hollow cone-shaped base that they stuff with sawdust. While stitching a golden border around the edge of the silk oval, the artist simultaneously attaches the yellow cone to the bottom. Piece-by-piece, twelve completed cones come together to form an exquisite silk embroidery ball. At four places around the middle of the ball, the crafter attaches little golden beads with yellow tassels flowing down.

Finally, she attaches a red ribbon to the top – a ribbon that serves as a handle for gaining momentum before tossing it to the guy she’s been watching. These gifted ladies were experts at their craft. With smiles and enthusiasm, they let me in on the secret of their magical designs. They say young rural ladies still practice the embroidery ball courting tradition. . . so I’m looking forward to the day I get to see it in action.