Crafts, heritage brighten up Guizhou

The Miao ethnic group's traditional silver ornaments. [Photo Provided to China Daily]

"The government policy helps promote intangible cultural heritage. It also increases the sales of my whistles as more people know about them," says Wang, who recently visited the village for an exhibition.

In Danzhai, the Kala village is famous for its beautiful bamboo birdcages made by the local Miao people, who have used them to raise laughingthrush for generations.

Wang Qiu, a local from Kala village, says the birdcage making industry has boosted the local economy and tourism, attracting visitors to buy birdcages as souvenirs and enjoy getaways in their homestays. "Villagers are able to support their families with traditional skills and they don't have to leave their hometown to be migrant workers in big cities," says the 32-year-old.

She learned the skill, which has a 400-year history, from her father-in-law, who is a provincial intangible cultural heritage inheritor. He is one of the pioneers in the village who traveled afar in the early days to sell birdcages in other regions.

The local government offers them subsidies if they train those who live below the poverty line to make birdcages.

Wang says the price of a birdcage can range from a couple of hundred to more than 3,700 yuan ($566) depending on the quality of the workmanship. Birdcages with exquisite carvings will fetch more handsome prices.

Some inheritors have transformed the bamboo cages into lamps or revolving bookshelves, which can make unique decorations at home.

Yang Na'niumian, a 46-year-old local from a remote Danzhai village, started work at a local factory in May to make batik cloth with a monthly salary of more than 2,000 yuan.

She will make a draft of auspicious motifs like flowers and birds with a pencil on a cloth and apply melted wax to it, which will be removed after dyeing.

Like many of her fellow villagers, Yang learned the Miao traditional batik craft of dyeing from her mother when she was a teenager.

"I used to be a housewife, so this job allows me to supplement the family income with my professional skills," she says.