Xiang embroidery (湘绣) is the embroidery of Changsha and its county, one of the four famous styles of China alongside Suzhou, Cantonese and Sichuan work. Its ancestors lie in Han tomb finds: forty embroidered garments from Mawangdui show the skill already mature 2,100 years ago. The craft divides silk thread into strands finer than hair, works 72 stitches in five families, and is best known for its tigers — hence the saying 'Su cats, Xiang tigers'. It entered the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006.
Xiang embroidery grew from the household needlework of Hunan women into one of China's four famous embroidery styles. The craft, the subjects it chooses and the houses that keep it are the three things that hold the style together today.