Miao embroidery improves people's lives in rural Guizhou

Luo Ying's cooperative sells Miao batiks and embroideries made by local women. [Photo/ddcpc website]

In Haima village, Zhijin county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Luo Ying and some local women are making Miao batiks and embroideries for the winter season.

Like most of the villagers, Luo used to be a migrant worker in China's coastal cities. To spend more time with her family, she returned to the village in 2012 and opened a batik and embroidery store.

Though many local women know how to make batiks and embroideries, few of them make a living from it and most work as migrant workers. To help these women stay in their hometown, Luo decided to open a cooperative and recruit more people to industrialize Miao batiks and embroideries.

At first, none of the villagers trusted Luo because no one thought it was possible to make money from batiks and embroideries.

Luo eventually got an order from a large e-commerce company and earned 400,000 yuan ($62,924.36) selling Miao embroideries. The order convinced many people to join Luo's cooperative.

To innovate and improve batik and embroidery techniques, Luo offered free training to embroiderers. The cooperative's products have become more and more popular throughout the country.

The cooperative has reached 1 million yuan in annual sales and has 127 embroiderers and batik makers, each of which earns at least 2,000-3,000 yuan per month. Some fresh university graduates even joined the cooperative and decided to learn the necessary skills.

In the future, the cooperative will continue to improve its product design by introducing professional teams and turn Haima village's Miao embroideries into cultural and creative products integrating tradition and fashion, Luo said.