Embroidering a future for tradition
Miao ethnic group's batik technique, 'ballet on fingertips', is in good hands, report Li Yingxue and Yang Jun in Guiyang.
After contacting more brands and markets, Cai has begun experimenting more. She has tried dyeing a romantic purple color using onion, and creating a beautiful pink from azaleas. She uses these two colors to dye four-piece bedding sets, which sell for more than 4,000 yuan a set, and are consistently a best-seller.
She also founded a batik museum to display complex batik paintings and exquisite embroidery patterns, including fish pattern wall hangings and some of her award-winning works.
The museum was named a provincial intangible cultural heritage productive protection demonstration base by the provincial department of culture and tourism of Guizhou province.
Lin Feng, 25, Cai's daughter, joined her mother's batik business after graduation. She has inherited around 80 percent of Cai's skills, according to her mother. Last year, Lin finished a batik order with three embroiderers.
Lin also hosts livestreaming shows to sell their new batik embroidery bags online. "The craftsmanship passed down from our ancestors is quite valuable and it can allow us to have a good life," Lin says. "My daughter will also learn to inherit the Miao embroidery in the future."
Wang Jin contributed to the story.
