Handmade in small batches · Free tracked shipping over $139
Silk Lineage logoSilk Lineage
What Is Ronghua? Chinese Velvet Flower Art & Hanfu Headwear

What Is Ronghua? Chinese Velvet Flower Art & Hanfu Headwear

A complete guide to Ronghua (绒花): the history of Chinese velvet flower art, how silk velvet flowers are made, why they mean glory and prosperity, and how to wear them today.

Ronghua — literally “velvet flower” — is the Chinese craft of building flowers from silk velvet wound around fine copper wire. If you have seen a hanfu headdress crowned with soft, richly coloured blossoms that look almost like fur, you have seen ronghua.

3 min read

History of Chinese ronghua velvet flower headwear

01

History & origins

Ronghua is traditionally associated with Nanjing and Yangzhou in Jiangsu province, with a parallel tradition in Beijing. Its origins are commonly traced to the Tang dynasty, and the craft reached its height in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when velvet flowers were worn at court and sold at temple fairs across the empire.

Because silk was expensive, early makers worked with degummed silk leftovers — the same thrift that shaped chanhua. Ronghua became the festive flower of the Lunar New Year and of weddings, when almost every woman in a family might wear one.

The craft declined sharply in the twentieth century as machine-made ornaments took over. It has been revived since the 2000s, and Nanjing ronghua is recognised as national intangible cultural heritage in China. Today a new generation of makers reaches customers through hanfu styling and short-form video.

Silk velvet wound onto copper wire to make a ronghua petal

02

How ronghua flowers are made

Every ronghua flower starts with silk that has been boiled and degummed into a soft, dense pile, and fine copper wire bent into petal frames.

  1. Silk is wound tightly onto the wire frame to build a velvet-covered petal.
  2. Each petal is trimmed by hand into its final shape — pointed, rounded or serrated. This step, called da jian, is what most clearly separates a skilled maker from a beginner.
  3. Petals are graded by size and layered from the outside in.
  4. The flower is assembled onto a hairpin, comb, earring hook or brooch.

A single peony may use dozens of petals and take several hours; complex imperial-style headdresses take days.

Red ronghua velvet flower symbolising glory and prosperity

03

Cultural meaning

Ronghua carries one of the most direct puns in Chinese material culture: 绒花 (róng huā) sounds like 荣华 (róng huá) — glory and prosperity.

That makes it the auspicious flower of celebration. Ronghua is worn at Lunar New Year, at weddings, and for graduations and promotions. In the Qing court, women wore ronghua headdresses for formal occasions, and the craft's softness and permanence were read as wishes for a flourishing, enduring life.

Unlike a fresh flower, a ronghua blossom does not wilt — the blessing is meant to last.

Modern styling with ronghua velvet flower hair accessories

04

Ronghua in modern accessories

Ronghua has moved out of the costume box. Today you will see velvet flowers on:

  • Hanfu hairpins and combs for festivals, weddings and photo shoots
  • Modern earrings and brooches styled with everyday clothing
  • DIY kits that teach the wire-and-velvet technique to hobbyists worldwide

Because the pile catches light softly, ronghua photographs very differently from chanhua — which is exactly why many makers learn both.

Start with a ronghua DIY kit or compare it with chanhua silk flower art.

05

Read next

If you would like to see the technique in a finished piece, start with the phoenix brooch kit or the hydrangea hairpin kit.

Frequently asked questions

What is ronghua in English?

Ronghua (绒花) is usually translated as “velvet flower” — a Chinese craft in which degummed silk velvet is wound onto copper wire frames and hand-trimmed into flowers for hair ornaments and jewelry.

What is the difference between ronghua and chanhua?

Both are silk flowers built on wire, but the material and finish differ. Chanhua wraps flat silk thread tightly around a flat frame, giving crisp, glossy petals. Ronghua builds up a velvet pile that is trimmed into shape, giving soft, matte, almost fur-like petals.

Why is ronghua considered lucky?

The word 绒花 sounds almost identical to 荣华, meaning glory and prosperity. That pun made ronghua the traditional festive flower for Lunar New Year and weddings.

Can I learn ronghua at home?

Yes. Our ronghua starter kits include prepared silk velvet, copper wire, tools, step-by-step English instructions and video tutorials.

See it in motion

How to Make a Chinese Silk Flower Hairpin | Chanhua Tutorial
Chanhua Making

How to Make a Chinese Silk Flower Hairpin | Chanhua Tutorial

A silk flower hairpin, made from the first cut to the finished pin — dyed silk floss wound strand by strand over a shaped copper-wire frame. The craft is chanhua (缠花), and nothing about it is printed or molded: every petal is wrapped by hand. ## What happens in this video The whole method, in order: cutting the paper templates and the wire, wrapping the silk evenly around both, sealing the thread ends with a flame, shaping each petal, and fixing the finished piece onto the hairpin base. ## What you need of your own Three things: scissors, a lighter, and a cylindrical pen. The lighter seals the thread ends so the silk does not fray, and the pen barrel is what you shape the petals around — the small brush that comes in a kit is too thin for it. ## How long it takes A first piece runs from four to seven hours for a compact design such as the hydrangea hairpin, up to six to nine hours for a long stem like the trailing jasmine. Most of that time is the winding. You can stop at any point — wound silk holds its shape. ## Why the technique is different Chanhua is three-dimensional. It is closer to making a tiny silk sculpture than to sewing or embroidery: the silk is not stitched into fabric, it is wrapped around a wire skeleton until a flower appears. The same method builds every design in the shop — the wire frames decide which flower you get. ## Read more - What chanhua actually is: /blog/what-is-chinese-silk-flower-art-chanhua - How the silk is wrapped around the wire: /blog/how-to-wrap-silk-thread-around-a-wire-frame Wound by hand in Guang'an, Sichuan, by Hong.

Making a Blue Phoenix Brooch in Silk — 25 Quiet Minutes (No Talking)
Chanhua Making

Making a Blue Phoenix Brooch in Silk — 25 Quiet Minutes (No Talking)

A blue phoenix brooch, wound from dyed silk floss over a copper-wire frame — twenty-five quiet minutes of chanhua, with no voice-over anywhere in it. What you hear is rain, quiet music, and the work itself: silk against wire, scissors, a lighter. There is nothing to follow and nothing to remember. Watch it while you study, while you work, or while you fall asleep. The brooch is built petal by petal and every petal is wrapped separately. Nothing here is printed and nothing is molded — the whole piece is wound by hand, and it takes six to nine hours. Wound in Guang'an, Sichuan, by Hong.

How to Make a Blue Trailing Jasmine Hairpin — Full Chanhua Tutorial
Chanhua Making

How to Make a Blue Trailing Jasmine Hairpin — Full Chanhua Tutorial

Making a blue trailing jasmine hairpin from start to finish — dyed silk floss wound over copper wire, the Chinese craft of chanhua. Fifteen centimeters of stem, and every bloom is wound separately. That is why one piece takes six to nine hours: there is no shortcut, and no machine does this. **You'll need:** scissors, a lighter and a cylindrical pen. The lighter seals the thread ends so the silk does not fray, and the pen barrel is what you shape the petals around. Everything used in this video is in our [blue trailing jasmine hairpin kit](/products/chanhua-trailing-jasmine-hairpin) — the same kit also covers the leaves in the [leaf tutorial](/videos/chanhua-leaf-tutorial). [Finished pieces](/products/chanhua-trailing-jasmine-hairpin) are available for anyone who would rather not make one.

Why collectors trust us