Retiree threads new path with cross-stitch

Hao Wanrong, 83, a local in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi province, has worked on cross-stitch works for 10 years, finishing 63 large products, and he expects to complete a 6-meter work of the famous painting Riverside Scene of Qingming Festival.

Hao said that when he and his wife visited a shop selling cross-stitch products, he found the works were so expensive, with large ones priced at about 50,000 yuan ($7,289.79) and small ones at 8,000 yuan.

"I could not afford such expensive products," Hao said, and his wife then suggested he make them himself. "We've retired and have the time, so I decided to do it," he said.

Hao learned how to produce the squares formed by the crossing lines from the shop owner, and then started to do the needlework.

"It was easy to finish the first stitches, but later it was hard for me to remember where to place the needle," Hao said. He had to ask the shop owner, and he even sat in a corner in front of the shop, so when he encountered problems he could consult her.

In the beginning, he usually hurt himself with the needle about four times a day, and his finger even got swollen, but he still continued.

When he finished his first product in 62 days, he was so excited he burst into tears.

Hao said that he tries to add modern thoughts and views to each work to create different implied meanings.

One of his favorite works is a cross-stitch of Chairman Mao's poem Qinyuanchun Xue (snow) that features the Great Wall and mountains.

He said that he had put all his heart and energy into the work, because he respected Mao very much and revered China's history, with the grand Great Wall representing the nation and people's hard work.

Hao said his second daughter now could do better than him, and when he could not finish the work on Riverside Scene of Qingming Festival, his daughter agreed to complete it.

The perfect embodiment of handcrafted art, cross-stitch is a traditional Chinese embroidery skill that later reached Turkey in the 14th century and then Europe.