The xianxia (fantasy martial arts) drama Qianxiang (千香, also known as The Eternal Fragrance), starring Song Weilong (宋威龙) and Ju Jingyi (鞠婧祎), has drawn widespread attention for its costume design since its July 2 premiere on Jiangsu Satellite TV. The production team spent months handcrafting more than 800 costume sets, embedding intangible cultural heritage techniques such as kingfisher feather inlay (diancui, 点翠) and cloud embroidery (yunxiu, 云绣) into every stitch. Ju Jingyi’s signature “Jianmu Sacred Tree” (建木神树) look alone required 400 hours of hand sewing, making it the visual centerpiece of this summer’s costume drama season.
Qianxiang follows the orphan Xiao Bangchui (小棒槌, played by Ju Jingyi) of Qingqiu Mountain as she enters the Chufeng Academy (雏凤书院) searching for clues about her missing master, entangled in a fateful rivalry with Lei Xiuyuan (雷修远, played by Song Weilong). The entire costume design is deeply tied to each character’s growth arc, forming a distinctive “costume-as-narrative” system.
Ju Jingyi’s Wardrobe: Over 70 Su-Embroidered Looks
Ju Jingyi’s character Jiang Lifei (姜黎非, the adult identity of Xiao Bangchui) goes through three distinct costume phases aligned with her character development. In the early rural phase, she wears coarse hemp garments with patchwork and a gourd hair ornament. In the mid-phase at Chufeng Academy, her skirts adopt narrower sleeves in muted, solid colors. In the late phase, as an aloof goddess, she transitions to blue-and-white gauze dresses with silver accessories and an ice-pattern forehead ornament (花钿). Across the full series, Ju wears over 70 handmade outfits, all executed with Su embroidery (苏绣), a national ICH craft.
The most talked-about look — the “Jianmu Sacred Tree” ensemble — took 400 hours of hand sewing alone. Its skirt is embroidered with entwining lotus (缠枝莲) motifs, using material choices and embroidery techniques to visually project the character’s transition from naive girl to the bearer of the three-realm destiny. The entire wardrobe applies color and texture changes to map character psychology, creating a visual narrative arc that runs parallel to the plot.
Song Weilong’s Style: “Thunder Hidden in Water”
Song Weilong’s Lei Xiuyuan wardrobe takes a restrained, understated approach. His ink-wash robes feature blue-to-white gradients with a clean, elegant surface, while the waistbands and cuffs conceal gold-thread thunder patterns (雷纹). The costume team calls this approach “thunder hidden in water” (藏雷于水) — outwardly calm as still water, turbulent forces concealed within. His deep-blue battle armor with battle-damage makeup — a wound on the brow, resolute eyes — transforms him from gentle scholar to cold warrior, with cloud-pattern (云纹) dark weavings on his lapels encoding clues about his character’s hidden identity.
The production’s dedication to craftsmanship extends across all 800-plus handmade costume sets. Kingfisher feather inlay (diancui) decorates the goddess crown, while cloud embroidery appears extensively on Su-embroidered gowns, giving the xianxia world a grounding in historical ICH gravity alongside its fantastical imagination.
Visually, the crew filmed on location in Dunhuang and Yunnan, constructing a 30,000-square-meter “Qingqiu Illusion” (青丘幻境) set. The academy building draws on traditional Chinese garden architecture, while Duanming City (端明城) is inspired by Shanxi’s ancient fortresses. The drama uses over 40,000 CGI shots with a total special-effects runtime of 1,259 minutes, out of a 300-million-yuan (CNY) production budget, 80 million of which was allocated to visual effects — employing the same motion-capture technology used in Avatar.
Since its July 2 premiere, Qianxiang has been recognized as one of 2026’s most visually accomplished summer costume dramas for its integration of ICH techniques into the xianxia genre. The innovative application of diancui, cloud embroidery, and Su embroidery in a fantasy setting opens new pathways for traditional Hanfu and ICH culture to reach mainstream audiences through film and television.
