Right Time for Rural Revitalization

JUST after the Spring Festival, Peng Yi, a designer of cultural and creative products, and the embroidery ladies at a rural poverty alleviation workshop were inundated with calls ordering Miao embroidery and batik products. The workshop is located at Huawu Village, Qianxi County, Bijie City of Guizhou Province, an ethnic Miao community visited by Chinese President Xi Jinping on the eve of the Spring Festival this year. Xi encouraged the locals to carry forward traditional ethnic culture and continue to contribute to rural development. The village was recently lifted out of poverty.

- MA LI

Effective Connection

“When President Xi walked in, I was working on a painting for the Year of the Ox. He asked me what the dye was made of, and I told him it was made of Isatis leaves we picked locally,” said Peng, who added that the fight against poverty laid a solid foundation for helping the inheritance process of passing on handicrafts by Huawu villagers, while also offering a bigger market.

This public road built along the cliffs helps connect Huawu Village in Qianxi County, an ethnic Miao community, with the outside

“Before the Spring Festival this year, a total of 36 ladies produced 260 pieces of batik and embroidery products with an output value of RMB 1.02 million.” The COVID-19 epidemic last year had little impact on the sales of the products, according to Peng. “The ladies no longer have to leave their hometown to work, as they can earn an income in their community.”

Peng plans to expand the development of new products such as batiks, handmade embroidery, and small handicrafts by taking advantage of rural tourism. “Today, we are bringing these handicrafts out of China’s remote mountains and giving them a path to the world,” said Peng.

At Dafang County, 65 kilometers away from Qianxi County, also in Bijie City, Mu Pengyu, a poverty alleviation team member from property developer Evergrande Group, did not return home during the Spring Festival holiday in 2021. For more than a month, he commuted back and forth between the company and a farm it built so as to carry out daily inspections for its smooth operation during the holiday.