Yi woman from deep mountains sews prosperous life

Before the 1990s, when clothes shops were rare, Yi women needed to make clothes for their family members with needle and thread.

"My mother told me she had brought home a lot of food by embroidering for a wealthy family," Shen said, adding that the delicate works of her mother helped the young lady of the family secure a long-anticipated marriage proposal, as dexterous hands were expected from any Yi woman who looked for a fiance.

Shen has been fond of needlework since she was young. She sewed a pair of cloth shoes and a halter top for her younger brother when she was eight years old. Her own clothes were embroidered with patterns of birds, trees, stars and sheep horns -- inspirations from her life -- which were admired by her neighbors and classmates.

She became even better skilled after a horse kick accident injured her waist and confined her to bed for years during primary school.

"I kept sewing in bed, hoping that I could support myself with my needlework just like my mother, even if I couldn't stand up," she said.

Shen did not sell her works until the late 1980s when a foreign couple found her wearing a beautiful Yi costume in the street and then bought 11 pieces of her designs for 37,000 yuan.