Embroidery was actively promoted within the court. In 1736, Emperor Chien-lung established a palace workshop employing both men and women to embroider religious and court garments for imperial officials. Men and women in the court, as well as lesser officials, were sumptuously clothed, with prescribed decorative designs indicating not only their rank or status, but also family lineage. Most impressive of all was the embroidery work on the emperor's "nine dragon robe."

The relatively peaceful reigns of Emperors Kang-hsi, Yung-cheng, and Chien-lung (1662-1796) provided fertile ground for greater artistic development, including embroidery. Masters of embroidery no longer confined themselves to traditional subject matter. New designs and motifs were tested by combining old forms, producing complicated yet harmonious results.

The first known manual of embroidery appeared during the reign of Emperor Tao-kuang (1821-1850). Called the Manual of Embroidery, it was written by Ting P'ei, who specifically discussed embroidery techniques. The book was joined later by Hsueh-Hun's Manual of Embroidery by Shen Shou, and the two texts gave everyone access to superb expositions on the art of embroidery.

Shen Shou, who wrote in the watershed period at the downfall of the Ch'ing Dynasty and birth of the Republic, included Western painting techniques, such as chiaroscuro and perspective, in his discussion of Chinese embroidery. These techniques added new dimensions to the form, particularly in the production of figures.

Non-Chinese influences on embroidery techniques continued as Chinese artists started experimenting with Western painting techniques during the 1920s and 1930s. For example, Yang Shou-yu pioneered the luan chen hsiu style, an embroidery f'orm utilizing a texture of overlapping, multidirectional threads, which looked like an oil painting when viewed from a distance. By embracing foreign art motifs and techniques, Chinese embroidery became more vigorous and even richer m content.

In contemporary Taiwan, the widespread use of embroidery looms and versatile sewing machines has almost eliminated embroidery done by hand. Nevertheless, the traditions have been continued by individual practitioners. Among the ROC's most noted embroidery artists, Ma Liang-hsuan is celebrated f'or her hsiang hsiu style of painting-embroidery; Yang Szu-hsueh and Lee Hsien-shu are known for their luan chen hsiu pieces; and Yang Hsiu-chih f'or her very delicate, machine-made paintingembroidery.

The embroidery collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei includes pieces from the Sung Dynasty to the present, including a collection of banners and landscape scrolls (in the painting embroidery style). Two of the most famous pieces in the collection, attributed to Sung Dynasty embroidery masters, have been shown abroad. One is a mottled eagle on a dark blue background. It is fastened to a perch by leash, swivel, and jesses. The other is a "thousandarmed" Kuan-yin Bodhisattva (the Goddess of Mercy), seated under a canopy on a lotus throne. The collection of the National Museum of History consists mainly of Ch'ing Dynasty pieces, including cord-stitched gilt dragon robes, tablecloths, and horizontal decorative curtains with embroidered patterns of dragons, phoenixes, sparrows, cranes, human figures, and landscapes.

While embroidery pieces that employ fewer colors are neither dull nor insipid, those done with a variety of intense colors are especially pleasing to the eye. And the diversity of color used can be quite extensive. For example, there are 30 to 40 variations of the color brown alone. Hsueh-Hun's Manual of Embroidery lists 88 different colors with a total of 745 shades. Although trends in both technique and color have constantly changed over the centuries, the overall quality of Chinese embroidery has sustained a distinctive flavor down to the present day.