THOUGH Zhang Lei holds a degree in archeology, her love is Shen Shou embroidery, a branch of Suzhou embroidery considered painting in silk.

Zhang recently held an exhibition at Shanghai Marina Club, showing her best work over more than a decade. They fall into three categories: birds and flowers, Buddhist arhats and fresco-like works.

Shen Shou embroidery is considered part of China's national cultural heritage. It is named after Shen Yunzhi, born in 1871 in Suzhou into the family of an antique dealer. She started to learn the art of embroidery at a very young age.

Traditional embroidery usually works from Chinese painting and calligraphy as models and recreates them in subtly shaded multicolored silk. But when Shen visited Japan and saw Japanese embroidery, which absorbed Western elements of oil painting and black and white photography, she believed she could also infuse Western elements into meticulous Chinese embroidery.

When she returned to China, she created an embroidery portrait of an Italian queen, which astonished many people with its likeness and uniqueness.

In 1914, industrialist Zhang Jian, who later married Shen, invited her to Nantong, Jiangsu Province, where Shen headed the Nantong Needlework Training School. Zhang Lei's grandmother Zhuang Jinyun was a student.

"When I was young, I didn't quite understand these things, because when grandma was doing embroidery, there were rules against young children touching or looking at the work," Zhang said in an interview. "But the family influence was powerful and now I love the work."

Zhang visited the research institute with her grandmother and was awed by the artistic atmosphere and the famous artists and scholars who taught there. After studying at Nanjing University and receiving a degree in archeology, she returned to the institute, which was fashionable and popular.

She also worked at Nantong Museum in Jiangsu Province.

There she researched ancient, traditional culture. She also was engaged in meticulous oil painting, and she didn't give up embroidery. She sometimes designed embroidery for herself, but eventually shifted to embroidery.

"Many people, especially girls, were painting, but I was young and already had acquired considerable knowledge about embroidery, so I decided to do embroidery design."

Her meticulous painting skills were helpful since embroidery requires preliminary sketches. Since 2003, China has placed considerable emphasis on protecting intangible heritage, which also encouraged her.

Today Zhang is devoted to Shen Shou embroidery and is an associate professor at Nantong Textile Vocational Technology College. She started her own workshop.

Zhang's exhibited works feature series of birds and flowers from sketches, paintings or photography; as well as Buddhist subjects and fresco-like works. Her designs are original.

"I paint and I really like flowers, so it comes naturally," Zhang said. "It's the foundation of my creativity and one must emphasize one's strengths."

The fresco series contains large embroidery works in the style of frescoes in the Dunhuang grottoes of Gansu Province. Those works are famous and recognizable internationally.

At first she made few changes, but then became more adventurous and creative. She took the essence of the frescoes such as facial expressions and garments and added her own ideas.

For example, when she depicts Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, she wants to convey both modesty and nobility in an exalted figure that is also approachable.

"My Buddha figures are generally large; it's not easy to control the tempo, color and style."

It can take several months to half a year to complete one piece of embroidery in her workshop. But larger projects can require two or three years. Her fresco series took three years, and she worked with other embroidery masters to complete them.

The investment of time is enormous so Zhang thinks carefully before undertaking a project.

Carrying on a traditional cultural legacy requires more than devotion to the idea; it requires faithfully following each detailed step in preparing and dying threads, as well as stitching.

Finding the right dyes can be difficult because without the right colors, the work cannot be perfect, lifelike and vivid from any angle. The dyeing process is difficult. At first, Zhang bought colored thread in Suzhou but now she buys plain white thread and dyes it, inviting dying professionals to help her using traditional methods and dyes. "With the way embroidery expresses itself, artists have more space for creativity. The limits are mainly the materials, like threads and needles," Zhang said. "I feel that my fate is in someone else's hands."

Shi Jue, founder of China's Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Fund, said many steps in the traditional embroidery process are missing today.

Classic and contemporary

While many people consider embroidery too slow and painstaking to learn, Zhang said she took to it immediately and considered it fashionable when she started at around the age of 20.

"I was very proud and pleased, I didn't find it slow or boring at all."

In her opinion, it's crucial to combine the traditional cultural heritage with real-life experience, fashion and modern art.

When Zhang was decorating her workshop at the college, the school wanted vintage decoration from the old days and an old-school environment. Zhang was opposed. "I said no one would come and see my workshop, young people wouldn't come. So I threw out all the plans and made it simple and modern."

She hopes the modern and fashionable environment and modern embroidery art will attract more people who don't want to be limited to copying ancient art.

And she has succeeded in attracting young people who want to learn the art and craft. She can pass on the tradition.

"Even if it's traditional, it has to be combined with fashion and style, so that people will appreciate it and buy it," she said.

But balance is important and Zhang never loses touch with the essence of traditional embroidery.

"You just can't roll in the sea of fashion and lose the real thing," she said. "You have to stand up straight and keep your own character."