Thread of an idea elevates ethnic craft

Seeds of interest

In childhood, Yang followed in her mother's and grandmother's footsteps, learning how to weave and dye fabric, which she says planted the seeds of admiration for the traditional handicraft in her heart.

In 2004, Yang was admitted to the Guizhou Minzu University and studied music, becoming the first college student from Fengdeng village.

With the help of her teachers, she overcame financial difficulties and completed her education. Shortly after graduation in 2009, Yang began teaching at the university. However, after seven years, Yang started to develop a longing to return to her hometown out of concern for the large number of elderly and children that had been left behind, and the need to keep the local traditional culture alive.

Then, a 2016 visit back home made up her mind.

"When I returned home to visit my family, I found that the handwoven cotton fabric made by my family was piling up," she says.

"So, I posted images of it on my WeChat Moments. Unexpectedly, many people inquired about it," Yang recalls.

Within a few days, she sold all the stockpiled cotton fabric through WeChat. This experience ignited in her the idea of producing and selling traditional handmade Dong ethnic cotton fabric in her hometown.

"It reinforced my determination to protect traditional Dong weaving skills so that people from the outside can appreciate our culture and learn more about homespun Dong cloth," she says.

In the Dong village, weaving and dyeing the traditional fabric is a common craft passed down through generations of women.

Yang says Dong cloth is not just a commodity, but also a link between family members and a symbol of Dong culture.

"The raw materials, including the plant-based dyes, all come from the farmlands, carrying warmth and emotion," she explains.

"Growing up wearing clothes made of Dong cloth, I see it as my nostalgia for the village," Yang says.

When she returned to the village in May 2016, Yang only had 40,000 yuan to start up her business.

She rented an abandoned pigsty at the village entrance. She put up a few stone tiles and conducted simple clean. The former pigsty became her home, where, for the next three years, she lived her life, weaving and dyeing cloth.

In the interim, she spent her days visiting households in more than 100 villages in the neighboring areas, seeking traditional weavers and dyers, and returning to her place in the evenings to practice the craft.

"The craftsmanship of handmade Dong cloth is exquisite, and it takes a long time to learn. At first, the experienced artisans didn't believe that I could sell the cloth they had woven and dyed," Yang recalls.

"In the first year, only one craftswoman in her 70s agreed to make a few meters of cloth for me," she says.

To alleviate the women's concerns, she chose to prepay the villagers for their work, and then sold the products in her online store.

"Seeing the potential for profit, more skilled artisans were willing to participate. They now weave and dye whenever they have time, without affecting their farming work," Yang says.