Current location:politics >>
Passing Embroidering Skills Through Generations
politics43People have gathered around
IntroductionContact Us HomeNewsHighlightACWF NewsSocietyWom ...
- Home
- News
- People
- In-depth
- ACWF
Passing Embroidering Skills Through Generations
December 18, 2023Bian Chengfei (second from right) making hand-sewn embroideries with her mother and daughter in April 2023 |
Bian Chengfei is an inheritor of hand-sewn embroidering, a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage, in East China's Shandong Province. Bian has received many awards and titles, because of her efforts to inherit and protect hand-sewn-embroidering skills, to develop rural tourism, and to lead people in escaping poverty by increasing their incomes through making hand-sewn embroideries.
Bian Chengfei, with the first doll she ever made. The photo was taken in the autumn of 1995. |
My name is Bian Chengfei. I was born into a family of hand-sewn embroiderers in Feixian, a county in East China's Shandong Province, in 1984. Feixian is located in the Yimeng Mountains, a revolutionary base in Shandong.
Being diligent and thrifty are among my family's traditions. When I was young, my grandmother was responsible for breeding silkworms, dyeing silk threads and embroidering insoles. My father was responsible for spinning thread and weaving cloth. My mother was responsible for making shoes and hats. They often worked hard — until late.
My siblings and I were greatly influenced by our parents. We were all interested in arts and crafts. My elder brother liked making woodwork. My younger brother liked calligraphy and painting. My elder sister liked making cotton cloth. I liked doing needlework.
I made a cloth doll, and doll's clothes, when I was in the third grade of primary school. Even though it was not overly exquisite, my family was excited by my "success." My parents even invited a photographer to take a photo of me. At that time, taking a photo was a grand affair for rural children in China. The encouragement and expectations of my family lit my dream of eventually working in the hand-sewn-embroidery industry.
In 2000, I was enrolled in Lin Yi Art School, where I studied painting. I hoped to learn and apply art skills to hand-sewn embroideries. I made unremitting efforts to study embroidering skills after I graduated from the art school. I opened a hand-sewn embroidering shop in the village. My embroideries gradually became famous in surrounding villages.
Even though my embroidering skills greatly improved, my parents encouraged me to leave home to learn more embroidering skills. With their support, I visited many craftspeople, near and far. I learned dozens of needle-work methods from them, which helped improve my embroidering. My embroideries were then well received at many cultural exhibitions.
At one exhibition, a folk artist suggested I should add more characteristic elements of my hometown to my embroideries. I was inspired by the suggestion. I decided to highlight the distinctive regional characteristics on my crafts.
I improved some traditional patterns of embroideries, such as the tiger, chrysanthemum and plum flowers. I used red, green, pink and black as the embroideries' main colors, to reflect their "rural" features. I also sought advice from medical personnel about the components and proportions of Chinese medicinal herbs, which are filled in the crafts (such as sachets). When I had time, I would select herbs personally, and I would supervise the process of grinding the herbs. Moreover, I decorated the crafts with silver, glazed and/or other ornaments, to make them more fashionable.
In 2014, I established a crafts company, and I began to lead villagers in making hand-sewn embroideries, and other crafts. Later, I set up a training base, and a poverty-relief workshop, to make hand-sewn embroideries. The base offered training sessions to nearly 24,000 people. The workshop provided job opportunities to more than 1,500 people — including left-behind women, the elderly, the disabled, and the impoverished — in the county.
In recent years, I have received many awards and titles, because of my efforts to inherit and protect hand-sewn-embroidering skills, to develop rural tourism, and to lead people in escaping poverty by increasing their incomes through making hand-sewn embroideries.
In 2021, hand-sewn embroidering was added to the list of items of intangible cultural heritage in Shandong. The next year, I was invited to attend the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, in Jinan, capital of Shandong. I demonstrated how to make hand-sewn embroideries to visitors to the expo. Now, our embroideries are sold overseas, including in Russia, Sweden, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea.
My daughter is 7 years old. When she was an infant, she played with balls of silk thread and strips of cloth. She began learning how to use a needle at the age of 3. She was able to embroider sachets when she was 4. She has since mastered many hand-sewnembroidering methods. We often draw patterns and make embroideries together after she comes home from school. When the weather is fine, my mother and I make embroideries, with my daughter, in the courtyard. My mother and daughter embroider the outlines of the patterns, and I embroider the details. We all enjoy such a happy life.
I have led local women in shaking off poverty, and I have helped others inherit and develop hand-sewn-embroidering skills. In future, I plan to help develop the industries of hand-sewn embroidering and other folk arts in North China, and I plan to lead villagers in living a better life!
Photos Supplied by Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly July 2023 issue)
32.3KPlease understand that womenofchina.cn,a non-profit, information-communication website, cannot reach every writer before using articles and images. For copyright issues, please contact us by emailing: [email protected]. The articles published and opinions expressed on this website represent the opinions of writers and are not necessarily shared by womenofchina.cn.
Comments
Magazines
Projects
- 2023 Women Science and Technology Innovation Pioneer...
Photos
- People Enjoy Blooming Tulips in Jinan, East...
- Flowers Bloom Across China in Spring
Special Coverage
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Stellar Space news portal”。http://iceland.downmusic.org/article-96c599869.html
Related articles
South China tourist city all set for art festival
politicsAerial photo taken on Oct. 3, 2022 shows a view of Xiangbi Mountain on Lijiang River in Guilin City, ...
【politics】
Read moreIsrael hails 'success' after blocking unprecedented attack from Iran
politicsTEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel on Sunday hailed its successful air defenses in the face of an unprec ...
【politics】
Read moreXiangjiang New Area of China's Hunan actively cultivates new quality productive forces
politicsBy Sun Chao, Du Yifei (People's Daily) 10:59, March 22, 2024Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Com ...
【politics】
Read more
Popular articles
- Xinhua Commentary: Major Powers Should Work with China for Political Settlement of Ukraine Crisis
- Ahead of United Methodist gathering, African churches weigh their future
- Nation vows to further expand opening
- Panel discussions held during BFA Annual Conference 2024
- Xiplomacy: How China Helps Preserve Cultural Heritage Sites in Asia
- Energy storage industry put on fast track in China
Latest articles
Xi Meets with Senior CPV Official
China's industrial profits up 10.2 pct in first 2 months
Cash crop plantations boost rural development in SW China's Sichuan
China has 3,617 listed manufacturing companies by January
Tulips make rural economy flourish in E China's village
China targets economic growth of around 5 pct in 2024
LINKS
- Over 70 national IP protection centers under construction or in operation in China
- An extinct, deeply divergent tiger lineage identified in northeastern China: study
- Over 70 national IP protection centers under construction or in operation in China
- More foreign buyers to participate in Canton Fair as nation expands opening
- Gansu Provincial Museum promotes cultural products featuring ancient bronze horse statue
- Xi in My Eyes
- Autumn scenery across China
- Fesitve atmosphere in Macao ahead of Mid
- Xi Calls for Pushing China
- China expected to continue contributing over 30% to global growth in 2024: economist