Skilled Hands Create a "Splendid" New Life - Observation on the Development of Guizhou's Characteristic Miao Embroidery Industry | Miao Embroidery | Life

It is said that Miao embroidery, with bold and lively color schemes and vivid patterns, was born during the migration of the Miao ethnic group. For thousands of years, Miao people have used needles as pens and threads as ink to embroider natural things and ethnic history on their clothing. Miao embroidery is also known as the "living fossil" worn on their bodies.

Wrinkle embroidery, broken thread embroidery, and seed embroidery... In Guizhou, there are more than 20 types of Miao embroidery methods. For thousands of years, the Miao people have paid tribute to their predecessors with a pair of skillful hands, and outlined the nation's endless life with colorful silk threads. In 2006, Miao embroidery was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

In Guizhou, where the Miao ethnic group resides, this cultural treasure has been vigorously promoted as an industry in recent years. Women carry their children, embroider flowers, and support themselves and their families. They not only create a "beautiful" new life with every stitch, but also cleverly integrate Miao embroidery, which contains ancient culture, into fashion elements and step onto the international stage, forming an interactive integration of industries. Nowadays, ancient Miao embroidery is being digitally protected, developed, and applied, and is increasingly entering people's lives.

Skilled "Needle Technique" to Create a Beautiful New Life

"This bag is fashionable and easy to carry. It's a good match for clothes. sisters, please consider it..."

On the banks of the Wujiang River, the canyon is magnificent. Entering the cultural and creative product live broadcast room in Huawu Village, Xinren Miao Township, Qianxi City, Bijie, the relocation and resettlement site for poverty alleviation, Yang Wenli, a post-95s embroiderer dressed in Miao embroidery, went live on time and enthusiastically promoted products to netizens in Mandarin, Guizhou dialect, and Miao language.

Xiuniang Yang Wenli is promoting Miao embroidery cultural and creative products in the live broadcast room of Huawu Village, Xinren Miao Township, Qianxi City, Guizhou Province. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

Yang Wenli has worked in the coastal area for many years. In 2017, she returned to her hometown to start a business doing Miao embroidery. In 2022, the company's output value has reached over 1.8 million yuan, driving more than 20 embroidery women in the village to work at their doorstep.

"Last year, live streaming sales reached over 600000 yuan, with the highest live streaming selling for 80000 yuan," Yang Wenli said excitedly. Recently, she purchased a batch of live streaming equipment to train young people nearby. In the future, she can live stream and sell specialty products such as Miao embroidery in every corner of the village.

Embroiderer Yang Wenli embroiders in the wax dyeing embroidery workshop of Huawu Village, Xinren Miao Township, Qianxi City, Guizhou Province. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

According to Zhang Min, the person in charge of the Miao embroidery industry development special team in Qianxi City, Qianxi City has built five platforms for research and development, production, sales, exhibition, and industry based on the development concept of "building a brand, cultivating a group of skilled craftsmen, establishing a base, developing a batch of products, setting up a demonstration exhibition area, and selling N sales platforms". Adopting the development model of "leading companies+small and micro enterprises+cooperatives+farmers", Qianxi City has invested more than 7 million yuan in various project funds to comprehensively and stereoscopically promote the development of the Miao embroidery industry. "In 2023, we aim to achieve a production value of over 20 million yuan for Miao embroidery and related industries," said Zhang Min.

The work of promoting women's income through Miao embroidery in Guizhou started 10 years ago. In 2013, the Women's Federation of Guizhou Province focused on "needlework" and launched a embroidery program around ethnic skills such as Miao embroidery and wax dyeing. Currently, a total of 100000 people have been trained, and more than a thousand have been created, including the embroidery program's skillful hand wealth creation base, smart embroidery base, and innovation and research and development base. This has driven more than 500000 people to work and increase their income nearby. In the past three years, it has created an output value of more than 6 billion yuan, and "fingertip skills" have gradually transformed into a "fingertip economy".

"When the bus started, the child tightly held onto his mother's hand and refused to let go." Recalling the scene nearly 20 years ago when he sent his third sister and brother-in-law to work in Guangdong, Wei Zuying, a 43 year old woman from Ma'an Village, Douli Town, Congjiang County, still has red eyes.

Wei Zuying is embroidering with embroidery women at the embroidery company in the relocation and resettlement site of Mei'e Community, Congjiang County, Guizhou Province. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

Nowadays, Wei Zuying, who only has a primary school education, has achieved an annual output value of 10 to 20 million yuan by making Miao embroidery clothing and other products, driving employment for more than 900 people. "The government is conducting training here, and as long as you are willing to learn, there will be someone to teach," said Wei Zuying.

"In the past, embroidery women used to make clothes for themselves and their families. Now they know that holding an embroidery needle can create a beautiful life." Liang Yinli, the chairman of the Women's Federation of Congjiang County, said, "Women are returning to their hometowns to work and start businesses, earning a decent income, and even becoming female entrepreneurs."

Xiuniang produces Miao embroidery at an intangible cultural heritage company in Qianxi City, Guizhou Province. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

Interaction between primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, showcasing a beautiful new business card

"Embroidering flowers can produce fragrance, and embroidering birds can smell the sound." Taijiang County is known as the "first county of the Miao ethnic group in the world", and women are skilled in embroidery. On the sister street of the embroidered silver jewelry street in the county town, Miao embroidery made by Shi Chuanying, the inheritor of the state level intangible cultural heritage of Miao embroidery, is well-known far and wide, and is sold to Italy, France, and other places.

"Just this tourist souvenir, I can sell over 10000 copies in a year," said Shi Chuanying, pointing to a notebook. She uses wax dyed earth cloth as a cover and embroiders a Miao embroidery pattern, which can sell for 120 to 150 yuan per book.

"Hao Deng" is the Miao name of Shi Chuanying. In the Miao language, "Hao" means silk thread, while "Deng" means real silk satin. When starting a business, Shi Chuanying named his company "Haodeng".

Mother Butterfly, Phoenix, Dragon, Fish... Shi Chuanying incorporates the totems worshipped by the Miao ethnic group and her understanding of ancestral history into fashionable high-end cheongsam, as well as into everyday small items such as backpacks, hair clips, and wristbands. In 2022, Shi Chuanying's tourism product store alone achieved sales of over 2 million yuan for Miao embroidery products.

Miao girls are participating in a dress parade for the Miao Sisters Festival in Taijiang County, Guizhou Province. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

In order to change the long-standing "scattered" situation faced by the Miao embroidery industry, in 2021, Guizhou Province established a leading group for the development of the Miao embroidery industry. In the same year, the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee and Government issued the "Action Plan on Accelerating the High quality Development of the Miao embroidery Industry in Guizhou", deepening the protection and inheritance of Miao embroidery, market cultivation, park construction, brand cultivation, technological innovation, and market promotion, and accelerating the realization of the goals of industrialization, fashion, and internationalization of Miao embroidery.

In Guizhou, some areas will also integrate upstream and downstream industries related to Miao embroidery, creating a new business card for rural revitalization.

Since 2018, Rongjiang County has been based on the ancient custom of using Banlan roots, branches, and leaves to dye clothes and then embroider for the Miao and Dong ethnic groups. By combining handmade crafts such as blue picking, blue making, and embroidery, Miao embroidery and wax dyeing have formed a cultural industry chain of "blue dyeing".

According to Wang Fei, Executive Deputy County Mayor of Rongjiang County, currently, a total of 32000 acres of Banlangen have been planted in Rongjiang County, with an annual output of 52500 tons and a production value of over 68 million yuan. This has led to the participation of 6339 households and an average household income of over 4417 yuan. Rongjiang has built the largest ancient indigo production base in China, with an annual sales value of 44.88 million yuan for rough processed products such as indigo paste.

Guizhou Province will build a Miao embroidery industry cluster with Guiyang City as the center, Bijie City, Tongren City, Qiandongnan Prefecture and other key cities, and promote the entry of supporting enterprises. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently nearly 300 enterprises engaged in the Miao embroidery industry in Guizhou, giving birth to a number of intangible cultural heritage brands such as "Guizhou Cuixing", "Guizhou Shangpin", "Village Stories", and "Chuanghe Clothing".

Digital inheritance, protecting the beauty of splendid intangible cultural heritage

Recently, Ou Xiaonian, a staff member of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Center in Taijiang County, led a team to visit villages and villages, searching for inheritors of Miao embroidery and intangible cultural heritage workshops. They recorded the scattered embroidery products in videos, pictures, audio, and text, and then uploaded them to the province for digital processing.

In Yangli Fang, Cuiwen Street, Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, Pan Yuzhen, a inheritor of Miao embroidery, is embroidering. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

In Yangli Fang, located in Cuiwen Street, Taijiang County, Ou Xiaonian found Pan Yuzhen, a nearly eighty year old Miao elderly woman who has been embroidering intangible cultural heritage for almost her entire life. She is also a frequent guest on the international fashion stage and has appeared on international T stages wearing Miao embroidery clothing multiple times, becoming a highly regarded Eastern grandmother.

"Young people nowadays are going out to work, and what worries me the most is the loss of my embroidery skills," said Pan Yuzhen.

In Yangli Fang, Cuiwen Street, Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, Miao embroidery inheritor Pan Yuzhen and daughter Zhang Yanmei are dyeing fabrics. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

"We will record your needlework and craftsmanship, and pass them down from generation to generation through digital means," said Ou Xiaonian.

The exquisite traditional Miao embroidery craftsmanship is facing the risk of being lost, and embroidery women living in rural areas are facing an information gap with the external market. In order to solve this problem, many departments and enterprises in Guizhou are taking action.

In recent years, with the support of projects from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Guizhou has conducted research on the digital protection, development, and application of Miao embroidery, and coordinated the construction of "two libraries and one platform", namely the Miao embroidery material library, Miao embroidery girl database, and global designer open platform.

Hooking, drawing, coloring... At the Colorful Guizhou Cultural Data Platform Co., Ltd. located in Guiyang City, the staff sat in front of the computer with concentration, extracting vector images of Miao embroidery pieces collected from various parts of Guizhou.

The designer of Colorful Guizhou Cultural Data Platform Co., Ltd. performs vector extraction of Miao embroidery on the computer. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

"We will simplify the process of manually made embroidery pieces, complete secondary creation, and turn them into digital products. When encountering complex embroidery pieces, it takes one or two days to extract them." said Han Xiaoyang, the person in charge of the company's Miao embroidery digital platform construction. "Through copyright registration, we will create a virtual 'ID card' for each traditional Miao embroidery pattern, making it a virtual product that can be purchased and circulated."

According to statistics, since the end of last year, Colorful Guizhou Cultural Industry Investment Group has collected and photographed more than 9000 Miao embroidery pattern images, extracted 3550 vector images, and registered copyrights.

The staff of Colorful Guizhou Cultural Industry Investment Group are showcasing Miao embroidery cultural and creative products. Photo by Yang Wenbin, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

According to Peng Yang, the person in charge of the Business Management Department of Colorful Guizhou Cultural Investment Group and the President of Guizhou Miao Embroidery Industry Association, the group has reached cooperation with international women's fashion brand enterprises. The first batch of licensed 1500 Miao embroidery patterns have been transformed into more than 150 clothing and related products, sold to 15 countries and regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Brazil.

At the same time, Guizhou has conducted a survey on the situation of Miao embroidery women in the province, and has obtained data on nearly 4000 embroidery women and more than 100 embroidery workshops. Guizhou has established standards for three Miao embroidery industry groups, namely machine embroidery, hand embroidery, and flat embroidery, to enhance the standardization level of Miao embroidery products in Guizhou. The copyright protection management system for Miao embroidery patterns is currently being formulated.

"Enhance the commodity attributes of Miao embroidery, bridge the gap between the fashion industry and craftsmen, promote Miao embroidery to go international, enter public life, and give ancient techniques a new era of brilliance," said Peng Yang.