"I have made cross stitch embroideries to kill time for a few years before I become fascinated by handmade embroidery. I embroidered only part of the bridge in the painting because I think it is the most beautiful part with many vivid characters," said Lin Meiqin, creator of the embroidery painting.

A housewife in Tancheng town of Pingtan, Fujian province, spent 20 months – six hours every day – embroidering a 3-meter cross stitch of Along the River During the Qingming Festival.

The genuine painting was created by Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). It is 24.8cm wide and 528.7cm long, colored in silk scroll. As the only existing classic work of the painter, it is now kept in the Palace Museum in Beijing as a national treasure.

"I have made cross stitch embroideries to kill time for a few years before I become fascinated by handmade embroidery. I embroidered only part of the bridge in the painting because I think it is the most beautiful part with many vivid characters," said Lin Meiqin, creator of the embroidery painting.

Lin's husband is engaged in projects out of the town and her two children go to boarding school. She casually made cross-stitch embroidery of a few small-size home works and then wanted to embroider some more difficult works, so she chose her favorite art work.

In the fine art, even a vendor's carrying-pole is embroidered realistically. As many as 60 colours of thread are used to depict characters on the 3-meter-long embroidery.