Endangered embroidery to weave global network
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E-mail Xinhua, August 22, 2013
Whenever Wei Fengxian attends a big event in her home county, she and her family wear delicately embroidered clothes feature their ethnic identity: the Dong people.
The 51-year-old woman began to learn Dong embroidery from her mother when she was eight. The exquisite handicraft was a must for girls of her ethnic group, one of China's largest minorities.
Living in Tongle Township in Sanjiang County of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Wei designs and produces traditional clothes.
Wei's work is so distinctive that it was added to Guangxi's regional intangible cultural heritage list in 2009.
"Embroidery is a really important part of Dong culture," she said.
The ethnic group now has a population of nearly 3 million across the country.
In 2008, some 270 pieces of such embroidery were presented to delegations at the China-ASEAN Expo held in Nanning, the regional capital, to represent Guangxi's ethnic heritage.
Her excellent artistry fails to attract enough young successors inside the ethnic group, however, pushing the handicraft onto the brink of extinction.
"Most young people have gone to big cities to seek decent salaries and a better life, leaving the handicraft largely ignored," said Wei.
In an attempt to revitalize the Dong embroidery, Wei and her fellow villagers established a study center, to pass on the art of Dong embroidery by training young girls interested in the craft.
But the effort made little impact in her hometown, as the study center, just a simply equipped room in her small tile-roofed house, only attracted a few young people.
"We don't have enough money to run the center effectively because we charge not a cent from the students," she said, adding that the center came out of pure passion for the craft.
Chen Zixin, a township official, insists that the local government is trying hard to keep their heritage alive.
"We are trying to make the Dong embroidery a central feature of our thriving local tourism. We want tourists to buy embroidery items when they travel here," Chen said.
Local government now sponsors exhibitions and rewards winners of annual contests to protect the endangered embroidery.
But Wei feels the existing government support is far from enough. "I hope the government will allocate more funds for the development of our embroidery," she said.
The market, particularly demands from overseas, might come to the rescue of the Dong embroidery only if it improves its popularity with lower prices, said Liu Huijun, director of Guangxi Arts and Crafts Research Institute.
"A delicate piece of Dong embroidery might be priced at around 6,000 yuan (about 980 U.S. dollars), which scares many people away in domestic market," Liu said.
The major consumers of embroidery these days are museums and some companies, but the number of such clients is limited.
Liu and other enthusiasts are eying the international market, looking for avenues to expand. He has been in contact with a few overseas companies who, after a little persuasion, are now placing orders on a monthly basis. His team are designing patterns according to the demand of international buyers, with women like Wei in Tongle responsible for production.
"If they complete the embroidery by the 10-day deadline, we buy their production at a reasonable price," said Liu.
In April this year Dong embroidery made its debut in Britain, where some 200 pieces were exhibited and sold.
"The good sales sent the village into an embroidery craze. The women of Sanjiang all wanted to be part of the production line, as they can make good money at home while tending to their farmland and families," Liu said.
Liu and his team are aiming high, planning to expand in Canada and the United States.
"Our vision is that someday the Dong embroidery will be spread around the globe," Liu said.
Long-term contracts are now signed between Liu's team and the Dong weavers like Wei and her coworkers in Sanjiang.
"The best way to protect a dying art is to develop it with the help of the market," Liu said, adding that the Dong embroidery would be passed on to future generations in this way, allowing them to make in a decent income.
"I hope young people will come back from cities and help us develop the traditional art, because it is the essence of our culture and needs serious protection," Wei said.
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