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Since more of one millennium, the embroidered shoes combine the Chinese tradition of the manufacture of shoes and the art of the embroidery.

At the time of the fighting Kingdoms (475 – 221 J. ave – C.), all women of the state of Qi had to know how to handle the needle and scissors, and works to the needle done by the women were considered well. To embellish their shoes made of silk, the women of Qi embroidered there, with the passing of silk, of the motives on the empeigne; even the interior sole had to be decorated. It is of this way that the embroidered shoes became popular among the Chinese women.

The themes of the motives were inspired by the daily life (flowers, fruits, birds, landscapes, etc.) of the traditional culture, of which folk customs. One also attached them a symbolic. Here is some of the examples: the lotus meant the hope to have a son, and the pomegranate, the one to have a lot of children; and, two butterflies or a dragon and a phoenix evoked the happiness of the domestic life. In brief, the motives always had an oriental aesthetic key.

Since these shoes were manufactured in silk and that the embroidered drawing had to be delicate, these shoes were relatively expensive, therefore reserved to the women of rich family. Thus, during the years 1940, the Shangha?enneses that participated well in the worldly activities liked to wear the embroidered shoes. To that time. there were more 200 boutiques of this type of shoes in the commercial streets of Beijing and Shanghai.

Today, these shoes don’t have the same vogue that once, and there are few workers that know the technique of the embroidery to the hand henceforth. In spite of it, the sign celebrates Neiliansheng has gable always on street in Beijing. Found during the dynasty of the Qings (1644-1911), this shoe store traditional, including the embroidered shoes, is the most known of the capital. It has a faithful clientele again, of which a lot of strangers.