Crafting specific proposals
Guizhou's deputies to the NPC have enjoyed success in promoting the region's intangible cultural heritage, Wang Ru in Beijing and Yang Jun in Guiyang report.
In 2019, just one year after Song Shuixian was elected as a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress and submitted a motion to establish a horsetail embroidery museum, a demonstration center for the national-level intangible cultural heritage was inaugurated in her hometown, where the craft originated, in Sandu county, Southwest China's Guizhou province.
"Since then, my 'babies' have had a stable home," says Song, a national-level inheritor of the craft, referring to the tens of thousands of horsetail embroidery works she has collected and made, all of which are now showcased at the center.
As both a craftswoman and NPC deputy, Song has worked hard over the past four years to spread knowledge of her craft, which has played an important role in the rural revitalization of Sandu.
She is just one example of the Guizhou NPC deputies who have made contributions to their hometowns by promoting local cultural heritage.
Shi Liping, a deputy to the NPC from Songtao county, is a provincial-level inheritor of the Miao ethnic group's embroidery, an intangible cultural heritage. Her work is about passing down to future generations not just the craft, but also the culture behind it. "I continue to dig into the cultural connotations contained within our craft, trying to tell people stories about it and the people who are engaged with it," says Shi, who, in 2020, wore an outfit featuring Miao embroidery to the Great Hall of the People as a representative of her fellow craftswomen.
Her company selling embroidery products has offered jobs to more than 4,000 women in Songtao, enabling them to work at home and to be paid according to the number of products they produce.
NPC deputy Wei Zuying has made a similar contribution. After working at a textile mill in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, for 10 years, the woman, who learned Miao embroidery during her childhood, returned to her hometown in Congjiang county, Guizhou, to open her own embroidery workshop. In 2018, the business generated an output value of more than 800,000 yuan ($126,000).
In 2020, her embroidery company was established with the help of the local government. She then established a poverty alleviation workshop in a community of people who used to live in the mountains, and has employed 300 locals.
"We work and live in the same apartment, and can earn at least 3,000 yuan each month. It is Wei who offers us employment and makes us realize our value," says Zhu Lanfeng, one of Wei's employees.
Moreover, Wei, like Shi, pays attention to the inheritance of Miao embroidery, and organizes activities in schools to help more children learn about it.
For Shi, as well as trying to impart the knowledge and skills of her craft to others, she also organizes training courses in local communities and villages.
Her idea is echoed by Song, who, since last year, has cooperated with the Disabled Persons' Federation of Tongzhou district in Beijing, and organized lessons, teaching the horsetail embroidery craft to local disabled people.
"It provides them with the opportunity to gain a skill and help them find jobs. At the same time, I can spread horsetail embroidery culture to others," says Song.
NPC deputy Yang Changqin based in Chishui, a county-level city in Zunyi, Guizhou, is a provincial-level inheritor of Chishui bamboo-weaving. She has brought the intangible cultural heritage to campus. Her bamboo-weaving production and research base in Chishui has become an extracurricular practice center for many students in Zunyi since 2021.
"The craft is part of local culture. I hope students can learn about it and inherit it, especially the craftsmanship spirit of the older generations," says Yang.
