As a branch of decorative art, the cotton picture is a newcomer. Spotless cotton is used as the main material and goes through the steps of washing, dyeing, molding and shaping into human figures, flowers, birds and animals which are pasted on silk with painted landscapes. Mounted in paned frames, they are ready for marketing and hanging in rooms.

This new art of presenting cotton pictures in low relief was developed as recently as 1964 by a workman named Huang Jiasheng of Zhangzhou, Fujian province. The Huang family who lived on fluffing quilt cotton wadding for three generations has been innate art lovers. At the beginning they did little patchworks of birds and animals in colored cotton on people’s quilts, an art that developed into the cotton pictures of today with their distinctive characteristics. A cotton picture cooperative has been set up in Zhangzhou, specializing in this art.