Chen Shaofang (Left) and her student Huang Minjian (Right). Huang started learning embroidery from Chen Shaofang since 1985. (Photo: Newsgd.com)

Chen was born in 1937 and received eight years of art and Chinese painting schooling from 1954 to 1962 before starting her career as a Guang embroidery designer in the Guangzhou Craft and Art Research Institute.

Guang (Canton) Embroidery Master Chen Shaofang is embroidering her masterpiece. (Guangzhou Daily)

In one of her more famous works, I Love Chicken Flock, Chen piled up over 10 different color threads to make the chicken look realistic. "Considering the different shades of dark color and light color from different angles, I used the technique of oil painting where prominent places applied dark color and non-prominent places the lighters shades," said Chen. "So the image of the chickens varies from different angles and the colors change under different lightings."

Chen has made a name for herself by making her works stand out from traditional ones. Her bold invention of embroidering a white peacock by using green and absorbing the color effects of multidimensional structures makes her white peacock subject of Guang embroidery unique.