盧菊英

盧菊英，1950年生於太湖之濱鎮湖鎮。鎮湖是在蘇州市西面，路程也就幾十公里，現在從蘇州市到鎮湖開車也就半個鍾。可是在盧菊英小的時候，要去蘇州可不是容易的事，當時沒有公路，要大人搖船沿着彎彎曲曲的小河走上大半天。雖然離蘇州很“遙遠”，但是小鎮還是受到蘇州文化的薰陶，刺繡就是當地人維持生計的一種技藝，好的蘇繡作品被直接送到北京城。盧菊英生在這個充滿詩情畫意的江南水鄉，從小就喜愛刺繡，跟隨長輩學習蘇繡技術。盧菊英心靈手巧，小小年紀就繡出好作品，在蘇州市都有了名氣。蘇繡大師顧文霞，王祖識也很喜歡這個鄉下小姑娘，親自傳授蘇繡技法。盧菊英得到大師真傳，蘇繡水平來了一個大飛躍。遠在上海，北京的蘇繡商人專程來鎮湖買盧菊英的作品。

盧菊英致富不忘家鄉的姐妹，利用自己的名氣和銷售渠道，把鎮湖蘇繡帶到蘇州，上海，北京，南京，杭州和廣州等大城市。盧菊英還培養了大批蘇繡人才。象比較有名的後起之秀有：盧梅紅，姚建萍，朱壽珍，王麗華，盧福英等等。當地政府專門頒發獎狀給盧菊英，表彰她是“勤勞致富的帶頭人”。

改革開放的春風吹遍大江南北，廣東和香港客商也邀請盧菊英，盧梅紅母女來辦蘇繡展銷，這一時期，盧菊英的很多優秀作品被當地買家收藏。但是，留在當年的小姑娘盧梅紅心中的痛，是被無良港商騙走蘇繡精品的慘痛經歷。“一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井繩”，盧菊英和盧梅紅再次來到深圳，已是過了十年之後的事情。盧菊英盧梅紅是應深圳國際文化產業博覽會邀請，展銷自己的蘇繡作品。

2016年12月30日授予第六屆“江蘇省工藝美術名人”榮譽稱號。 ^[1] 

盧菊英名氣大了，中央的報紙也來採訪，下面是刊載《人民日報》的文章：本報訊：江南水鄉婦女的心靈手巧在蘇州吳縣鎮湖鎮8000繡女的身上得到了充分體現。她們把繪畫藝術融入傳統的蘇繡工藝之中，不斷推陳出新，使傳統手工藝在市場經濟時代大放光彩。

每年，全鎮繡品收入上億元，還為國家換來了大量外匯。鎮湖鎮坐落在江南太湖之濱，是我國四大名繡之一，蘇繡的主要發源地和產地。全鎮只有2萬人口，從事刺繡的繡女卻有8000人，歷來是“家家有繡女，户户有繡棚”。早在春秋時期，這裏就有刺繡的記載，宋代後，繡女們就為宮廷繡制龍袍，從此便有“稚童皆繡鳳，老嫗亦刺龍”之説。

改革開放以來，鎮裏成立了刺繡協會和刺繡研究會，在組織繡女創新針法的同時，學習繪畫藝術，把繪畫與刺繡有機結合起來，使繡品從原來的飛禽走獸、百花異草發展到高難度的風景山水和人物肖像。

蘇繡一帶宗師沈壽的第四代弟子盧菊英，開發出了亂針繡品，為鎮湖繡品走出國門打下了基礎。（周瀾源）《人民日報》(1999年11月12日第2版)

現在到蘇州遊覽，除了美麗的蘇州園林，太湖邊的繡品一條街也是一個不可錯過的景點。在鎮湖蘇繡博物館，有一個鎮館之寶，就是盧菊英的雙面繡紅木屏風《金陵十二釵》。

盧菊英是中國有名的民間蘇繡大師，作品獲獎無數，人民大會堂，外交部都有盧菊英作品陳列，或者作為國家禮品贈送國際友人。60歲的盧菊英，仍然寶刀不老，每年都有新作品問世。

Lu Juying was born in Zhenhu Town by Tai Lake in 1950, which is located in the west of Suzhou, with a journey of dozens of kilometers, and it will take half an hour from Zhenhu to Suzhou now. But it was not easy to go to Suzhou when Lu Juying was a little girl, because no highway was available at that time, and the people had to rock the boat along the snaky river, typically which will last most of the day every time. The small town was still influenced by Suzhou culture although it is far away from it, and Suzhou Embroidery was a kind of skill for the local to make a living, even the good products were sent to Beijing directly. Lu Juying grew up in this beautiful town of the lower reaches of Yangtze River, she has always loved embroidery since she was a little kid, so she learned Suzhou Embroidery from her elders.

Lu Juying was ingenious and she could embroider the good products at any early age, which wins the fame for her in Suzhou. Master of Suzhou Embroidery Gu Wenxia and Wang Zhushi also liked her very much and personally taught Suzhou Embroidery skills to her. So embroidery level of Lu Juying was greatly improved after she got the real essence from the two masters. And the merchants of Suzhou Embroidery from Shanghai and Beijing also specially come to Zhenhu to buy her products.

But Lu Juying didn’t forget her native sisters after she became rich, she introduced Zhenhu embroidery to the large cities such as Suzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou by means of her fame and marketing channel. In addition, she also has cultivated a group of talents in Suzhou Embroidery, including the famous rising stars: Lu Meihong,, etc. The local government specially issued the Letter of Commendation to Lu Juying, praising her to be a hard-working leader of rich.

The trends of reform and opening were spread everyway, the guests from Guangdong and Hong Kong also invited Lu Juying and Lu Meihong to hold Suzhou embroidery exhibition. During this period, many excellent products of Lu Juying were collected by the local buyers. But the sadness left in the little girl Lu Meihong was that their exquisite Suzhou Embroidery products were stolen by the unscrupulous Hong Kong businessmen. A burnt child dreads the fire. Ten years later, Lu Juying and Lu Hongmei came to Shenzhen again with an invitation from Shenzhen International Cultural Industry Fair.

Lu Juying became a well-known person, even the newspaper from the Central had an interview with her. The following is an article published on People’s Daily:

People’s Daily: Ingenuity of the women from the lower reaches of Yangtze River is fully embodied by 8000 female embroidery workers of Zhenhu Town of Wuxian, Suzhou. They emerge the art of painting into the traditional Suzhou Embroidery technique, and continue to create the new products, making the traditional handicraft play its own role in the market economy times. Income of the embroidery products of the town reaches more than one billion Yuan every year, also a large amount of foreign currency is obtained.

Zhenhu Town is located beside Tai Lake, which is the major birthplace and production place of Suzhou Embroidery, one of the four most famous embroideries of China. There is only a population of more than 20,000 in the town, but 8000 women are engaged in embroidery. A saying like Each family has the female embroider workers and embroidery workshop lasted here for a long time. Early in the Spring and Autumn Period, embroidery here was recorded. After Song Dynasty, the female embroidery workers embroidered the dragon robes for the royal, hence all the little girls do phoenix embroidery and the old women do the dragon embroidery was come down from generation to generation.

Embroidery Association and Embroidery Research Society were established by the town since the reform and opening to outside, to organize the female embroidery workers to create the new technique, also study the art of painting for the purpose of organically combining the painting with embroidery, which makes the embroidery products to be developed from the original birds & animals and all sorts of flowers to the landscape & portraits highly difficult. The fourth generation of the master of Suzhou Embroidery Shen Shou has developed the crewed embroidery, which laid the basis for Zhenhu embroidery to venture the overseas. (Zhou Lanyuan, from People’s Daily, 2nd edition of Nov. 12, 1999)

At present for the sightseeing in Suzhou, a street of embroidery products beside Tai Lake also is a scenic spot can’t miss besides the beautiful Suzhou Gardens. In Suzhou Embroidery Museum of Zhenhu, two-sided embroidered redwood screen Twelve Girls of Jinling from Lu Juying is considered as its valuable treasure.

As the famous folk master of Suzhou Embroidery of China, innumerable products of Lu Juying are prized. And her products are displayed in Great Hall of the People and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or presented to the international friends as the state gift. Lu Juying is 60 this year, but she is still vigorous in mind and body.