[原创]发绣

发  绣

在中国，尤其是古代中国，人们珍惜头发如生命，云：“肌肤毛发，受之父母，不敢损伤”。头发作为最高礼节的信物传递着人们的忠诚，坚贞和无限深情。女子把自己的头发赠于最心爱的人，誓“伴君左右，同患难，共荣辱”。新婚夫妇将双方头发缠绕一起以取“永结同心，不离不弃”之意。而男子也称与自己同舟共济，历风经雨的妻子为发妻，饱含珍视，感激之情。佛教里，佛教徒皈依佛门时都要剃度，不仅是“了却尘缘”，也是表达对菩提的虔诚和普济天下的坚定。头发是生命的部分，是精神的代表，发制礼物表达的更是对受赠者的最高致意。

远在唐代，有佛教信女剃下自己的头发绣成大慈大悲的菩萨顶礼膜拜，成为发绣的最早记录。后几经沉浮，发绣逐渐成为一门极富象征意义和美感，技术技巧要求很高的中国民间艺术。国内外多家博物馆都收藏有中国发绣精品。并先后有十多件作品作为国礼相赠国际友人。发绣所用画作主题多样，包括中国山水画，中国书法，人物画像，动植物写意等，富东方艺术气息。其制作工艺复杂，耗工惊人。头发经过收集，洗染和化学处理之后，被发绣艺人用之为线，历经数月甚至数年的辛勤劳动才能完成一幅发绣作品。因头发有粗，圆，不服帖等特点，要让作品达到“平，亮，均匀，自然”的效果，仅艺人们所用的针法就达近十种。

发绣是中国民间艺术苑的一棵奇葩，她无法比拟的象征性，艺术性以及收藏价值已经并将让更多国内外有识之士为之驻足。

Hair Embroidery

In china, especially ancient china, people treasured their hair as life. They said: “hair and skin, given by parents, shouldn’t be marred.” As the supreme etiquette, hair gifts were given to convey giver’s loyalty, faithfulness and love. Young woman gave her hair to the beloved, expressing “hold firmly my hand; I shall be with you whenever and wherever”. Newlyweds twisted their hair together, hoping that nothing can part them. And man called his wife, with whom he endured hardships and went through the difficulties,”hair wife”, affectionately and gratefully. Buddhists shaved their hair when they converted to Buddha, to close the door to the moral world, to show piety to Buddha and firmness to help people. Hair is an important part of life，is the representation of spirit, and hair gifts convey warmest regards and greatest respects.

Date back to Tang dynasty, a female Buddhist used her cut hair to embroider an image of Buddha and that was the first hair embroidery. Experienced booms and slumps, hair embroidery has become a china civil art with profound symbolic attachments, aesthetic value and exquisite technique. Many museums, both at home and abroad, have fine hair embroideries and more than ten works have been presented to Chinese international friends and government officials. Pictures woven using hair embroidery are of various designs, including Chinese landscape paintings, Chinese calligraphy, figures, plant forms, living creatures etc. Collected, washed, dyed and chemically treated, hair is used as thread to embroider on a silk cloth. It takes handicraftsmen much time, usually several months or even years, and ingenious skills to finish hair embroidery. Since hair is thick, round, intractable, craftsmen use as many as ten kinds of needling to make workmanship “smooth, bright, even and natural”.

Hair embroidery is an amazing art from china, its incomparable artistry, symbolism and collecting value has attracted and will attract many people from all over the world.

practice writing.

wait for correction and improvement.

In China, especially ancient China, people treasured their hair as much as life. They said: “hair and skin, given by inherited from parents, shouldn’t be marred.” As the supreme etiquette a supreme gesture of devotion/sincerity, hair are used as gifts were given to convey the giver’s loyalty, faithfulness and love. Young women gave her their hair to the beloved, expressing “hold firmly my hand; I shall be with you whenever and wherever 伴君左右，同患难，共荣辱 I will be with you through thick and thin, honour and dishonour.”. Newlyweds twisted their hair together, hoping that nothing can part them 永结同心，不离不弃”as a symbole for "together forever/till death do us part" (If this is for westerners, they will know the part "till death do us part, as that is part of the usual marriage vow.) . And man called his wife, with whom he endured hardships and went through the difficulties,”hair wife”, affectionately and gratefully. (Buddhists shaved their hair when they converted to Buddhism, to close the door to the moral world, to show piety to Buddha and firmness to help people.)->(rearrange)->Buddhists, on converting to Buddhism, shave their hair as a sign of closing the door to the material world,  piety to Buddha, and determination to help people.) Hair is an important part of life(,)->; it is the representation of spirit, and hair gifts convey the warmest of regards and greatest of respects.

It is good to have a goal to journey towards, but it is
the journey that matters in the end." - Ursula LeGuin

Dating back to the Tang dynasty ( "the" for all dynasties)(you can also say "As far back as in the Tang dynasty), a female Buddhist used her cut hair to embroider an image of Buddha and that was the first hair embroidery. 最早记录..that was the first recorded case of hair embroidery/that was the first known case of hair embrodiery. The practice experienced booms and slumps , and hair embroidery has become a china civil->Chinese folk art...(the rest of this paragraph looks fine to me. If I missed something, someone else may be able to pick it up for you.)

Hair embroidery is an amazing art from China(, )(run-on sentence)->(.) Its incomparable artistry, symbolism and collecting value has attracted and will attract many people from all over the world.

It is good to have a goal to journey towards, but it is
the journey that matters in the end." - Ursula LeGuin

Uncle Yeti:

    Thank you for your work.It's much better now.

    But two places confused me:

    1:"it is the representation of spirit, and hair gifts convey the warmest of regards and greatest of respects."

       why you think the improved better than the original one? Make it more elegant by doing so? I thought "regards" and "respects" are nouns modified respectively by "warmest" and "greatest".

   2:"The practice experienced booms and slumps"

       Could you tell me the usage of "practice"? I often see natives use it but I myself never know how and when to use it.

 

Spelling mistake on my part: symbole=>symbol.

Practice here means "to carry out in action" :The practice experienced booms and slumps=the practice of hair embroidery (something like  经常实行)

Your original used plural for regard and respect; that is why I added "the...of...": warmest regard; greatest respect/the warmest regard; the greatest respect/// the warmest of regards/the greatest of respects.=(out of all the regards; I am sending you the warmest....)

It is good to have a goal to journey towards, but it is
the journey that matters in the end." - Ursula LeGuin

谢谢！

Hair Embroidery

In china, especially ancient china, people treasured their hair as much as life. They said: “hair and skin, inherited from parents, shouldn’t be marred.” As a supreme gesture of devotion, hair are used as gifts to convey the giver’s loyalty, faithfulness and love. Young women gave their hair to the beloved, expressing “I will be with you through thick and thin, honor and dishonor”. Newlyweds twisted their hair together, as a symbol for “till death do us part”. And man called his wife, with whom he endured hardships and went through the difficulties,“hair wife”, affectionately and gratefully. Buddhists, on converting to Buddhism, shave their hair as a sign of closing the door to the material world,  piety to Buddha, and determination to help people. Hair is an important part of life; it is the representation of spirit, and hair gifts convey the warmest regard and the greatest respect.

Dating back to the Tang dynasty, a female Buddhist used her cut hair to embroider an image of Buddha and that was the first known case of hair embroidery. The practice  experienced booms and slumps, and hair embroidery has become a China folk art with profound symbolic attachments, aesthetic value, and exquisite technique. Many museums, both at home and abroad, have fine hair embroideries and more than ten works have been presented to Chinese international friends and government officials. Pictures woven using hair embroidery are of various designs, including Chinese landscape paintings, Chinese calligraphy, figures, plant forms, living creatures etc. Collected, washed, dyed and chemically treated, hair is used as thread to embroider on a silk cloth. It takes handicraftsmen much time, usually several months or even years, and ingenious skills to finish hair embroidery. Since hair is thick, round, intractable, craftsmen use as many as ten kinds of needling to make workmanship “smooth, bright, even and natural”.

Hair embroidery is an amazing art from china, its incomparable artistry, symbolism and collecting value has attracted and will attract many people from all over the world.

Your translating work is good as well as your display picture.:)