More than 500 exquisite embroidery artworks were showcased at a grand exhibition in Ulanhot, Hinggan League, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Thursday, spotlighting China's age-old needle art traditions.

The China Handmade Embroidery Exhibition featured 17 Chinese embroidery varieties selected from across the country, including China's four major embroidery types: Su embroidery in East China's Jiangsu province, Xiang embroidery in Central China's Hunan province, Shu embroidery in Southwest China's Sichuan province and Yue embroidery in South China's Guangdong province.

The exhibit was a sideline event of the Conference on Inheritance and Innovation of Chinese Handmade Embroidery, which was held in Ulanhot from Thursday to Friday.

The time-honored needlework is one of the most outstanding cultural treasures in China. Up to now, more than 30 kinds of embroidery styles have been inscribed on the country's state-level intangible cultural heritage list, containing the Mongolian embroidery - represented by Hinggan League's Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner.

Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner's embroidery industry currently involves 21,000 people in 173 villages, including more than 2,800 who are impoverished. According to official statistics, the needle craft helped increase the annual income of local poverty-stricken people by around 2,000 yuan ($290) per person in 2018.