Abstract: Deer vein is an important beast decoration pattern in the embroidery of the ethnic Yao in Ruyuan, but its origin and symbolic meaning have been vaguely interpreted. The main reason lies in that the inheritance of this style of embroidery only focuses on the craft and technology, but does not stress the contents and meanings of the patterns. In consideration of folk culture concept of the Yao people in Ruyuan, the symbolic view and visual modeling of deer vein are compared and analyzed. It can be found that deer vein is a comprehensive penetrative graphic art creation, as well as a unique visual art symbol for Yao nationality in Ruyuan. Thus, the definition and interpretation of the symbolic deer vein would be significant for better understanding its visual communication norms and phenomena in the traditional clothing of the ethnic Yao in Ruyuan.

Key words: Ruyuan, embroidery of Yao nationality, symbolism, symbol