A tradition as light as a feather
The "dipping blue" craftsmanship of the Xiao family was once well-known in Beijing.
Her grandfather, Xiao Zhifeng, participated in the restoration of four phoenix coronets excavated from the Ding Tomb, one of the Ming Tombs in northern Beijing.
Her father, Xiao Guangchun, helped the art to get officially listed as a city-level intangible cultural heritage in Beijing in 2013.
Xiao Yumei is the first female inheritor of the craft in her family, and it was not an easy start for her initially.
"I had a stable job and a constant salary before 2014," she says. "I felt fulfilled in that job-making artificial eyes for the disabled."
However, in 2014, as the eyesight of her father gradually deteriorated, finding an appropriate successor of the craft became an urgent mission for the family.
"Since I was little, I was told by my mother that practicing the skill is quite exhausting, and it places great demand on the artisan," she recalls.
"Previously, I was hesitant about whether to learn it or not, but my father's persistence and obsession finally touched me and prompted me to make up my mind to follow suit."
