苏州的龙刺绣

Suzhou embroidery is one of China's four most famous styles of embroidery and was listed in the original listing of China's National Intangible Cultural Heritages. And today, we take you to Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province to have a look at the embroidered dragon created by well-known artist Yao Jianping.
苏州刺绣是中国四大名绣之一，被列入中国国家级非物质文化遗产原录。今天，我们将带你去中国东部江苏省的苏州，看看知名艺术家姚建萍创作的龙刺绣。

It is in this house, located in Mudu Town of Suzhou City, that artist Yao Jianping makes her embroidery works.
艺术家姚建萍就是在位于苏州市木渎镇的这间房子里制作刺绣品的。

As 2012 is the year of the dragon, Yao embroidered a golden version of the mythical creature.
由于2012年是龙年，姚绣了这种传说中的动物的金色版。

Yao Jianping said, "This dragon embroidery is specially made for the year of the dragon. In the past, embroidered dragons have only one color. But this one, we improved the embroidery stitch and adopted a new color-matching method to make it more three-dimensional."
姚建萍表示：“这幅龙绣是专门为龙年制作的。过去，龙刺绣只有一种颜色。但是这个，我们改进了绣花针，采用一种新的颜色搭配方法来使它更加立体。”

To make such a work is not easy. Yao has to divide each thin silk thread into 64 equal portions, with each strand hardly visible to the naked eye. Yao has been working on this golden dragon for about two and a half months, and it will take another month for her to complete it.
制作这样一件作品并不容易。姚必须将每条细小的丝线分成64等分，每一缕肉眼很难看到。姚制作这条金龙约有两个半月，她还要多花一个月才能完成。

In Yao's house, we also saw some other embroidery works featuring animals and plants. She even has an embroidered portrait named "My Father."
在姚的家里，我们还看到其它一些关于动物或植物的刺绣品。她甚至有一幅叫“我的父亲”的肖像刺绣。