“Azhuodi is a good place, and Sani people are brave and strong; ... Torch Festival is Sani people's festival, everyone is busy preparing for it; camellia is Sani people's flower, and such fiery red camellia is unmatched. Whoever wins in wrestling field will be given an embroidered camellia. ” The song came through a large Ficus microcarpa, surrounding the tree pole for a while could we see Ashima singing and embroidering on a piece of long silk. We believe that no one will forget about this classic shot in the movie Ashima: ingenious Ashima was embroidering a red camellia for the hero on wrestling field. This may be the earliest record of Sani embroidery of Yi ethnic group in Shilin.

Yi embroidery in Shilin has a long history. There are traces of embroidery patterns on the clothes of some characters on the bronzes unearthed from Shizhai Mountain in Jinning. In 223 AD, Zhuge Liang conducted southern expedition, gave Chengdu Rui brocade to the local, and included Generals Meng Huo, Meng Yan, and Cuan Xi to participate in the political system of Shu Kingdom. Wives of these generals learned embroidery techniques of Han ethic group and taught the local women after returning home. It is said that Meng Huo's wife once embroidered a dragon coat overnight in Dajing Mountain of Qujing, thus worshipped as goddess of embroidery. At the beginning of the 8th century AD, Nanzhao King Cuodian captured Chengdu and plundered back Han female embroidery workers as well as raw materials for Shu brocade, which greatly improved the embroidery process of Nahzhao. According to New Book of Tang Nanzhao Record, "before returning, he plundered tens of thousands of women workers... then Nanzhao’s embroidery and weaving could match China”. In Yunnan Local Records, Fan Chuo also gave a detailed description of Nanzhao embroidery: "the method of reeling off raw silk is slightly different from that in central China, and the finer will be spun or woven into brocade. Spinning professionals take red and purple as high class, the pattern is quite exquisite...there is also embroidery. The king and officials all wear embroidered brocade as ceremonial clothes with tiger fur as decoration. They were not familiar with weaving brocade and embroidery, but in the 3rd year of Taihe era they plundered many skilled women during war, and now they all know well about weaving and embroidery.” In Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, embroidery was prevalent among Yi women, and embroidery improved in quality, materials, patterns, and colors. Until modern times, Shilin Yi embroidery still maintains its strong local feature and ethnic style.

During spare time, women twist hemp, spin thread, weave, and embroidery to acquire skilled embroidery since girlhood. When embroidering, they neither mark nor draw lines - they only embroider with their wisdom and skilled hands. The embroidery pattern comes not from the air but life. Not only unique mountainous landscapes and specialties in Shilin but also commonly seen flowers and animals have become various and colorful patterns after their simulation, refinement, generalization, careful design, and smart layout. This fully reflects Yi women’s aesthetics and hope of happy life.

The traditional cloth used by Sani people for hand-made embroidery is hemp cloth and homespun, and nowadays cotton and chemical fabric are used often. Embroidery threads are mainly silk threads, X-type threads and cashmere (acrylic yarn) depending on different kinds of embroidery. Traditional embroidery patterns can be generally divided into two kinds: one is cross-stitch-based and abstract geometric pattern, and the most commonly seen is Sanxian pattern (i.e., the peg of Dasanxian, Sani people’s traditional musical instrument), octagon, sun, croissant, butterfly, four-petal flower,  eight-petal flower, tree texture, and some patterns like simple circle, diamond, triangle, and stripe, etc.; the other kind is mainly plain-stitched and delicate realistic flowers and plants in real life such as camellia, rhododendron, pomegranate flower, and lotus, etc. The present Shilin Yi embroidery crafts patterns basically follow the traditional ones, and mainly focus on cross-stitch geometric patterns with prominent features of central symmetry or axis symmetry. Most fabrics used for embroidery processing are black, dark blue, and white while there are also a few in yellow, orange, red.

In the past, embroidery was not used separately often, only functioning as an embellishment on the clothing. It usually appeared on women’s kerchief, collar, edge, sleeve, hem, pants, waistband, and streamers as well as caps for children, bags, and shoe coverings, etc. With dense stitches, embroidery not only enhanced wear resistance but also extended service life of clothes. With emerging market demand, now the common varieties of Shilin Yi embroidery crafts mainly include:  bag, backpack, waist pack, purse, handbag, tablecloth, cushion, mobile phone bag, tea coaster, telephone mat for daily necessities; vest, coat, tippet, scarf, tie, embroidered shoes for garment; and wall hanging, and sachet, etc. for decoration. With both high decorative beauty and wide practical value, these are the most distinctive traditional handicrafts in Shilin folk art.

In the traditional society of Sani people of Yi ethnical group in Shilin County, folk embroidery is a compulsory lesson for women. Yi people here generally believe that embroidery is a skill that Sani women must master, and one's embroidery skill is good reflection of her craftsmanship and the ability of household management. And, embroidery skill was also an important criterion for young men to choose a spouse. When dating, the first thing that a man asked for was the girl's close-fitting embroidery - her embroidery belt. Therefore, if a Sani girl could not embroider, she would be looked down upon and even could not get married. Now, with the development of local economy, the concept of taking embroidery skills as a mate selection criterion is gradually weakening, but the opinion that Sani women must have embroidery skills has hardly changed. Adult women in the village work in the fields during daytime and embroider at home at night. Even for school girls, their main activity after homework is to thread needles for embroidery. Their works are usually decoration for their clothes with patterns and colors according to their personal preference.