Museum encourages Dong embroidery cultural heritage revival

NANNING－Yang Tian has turned her four-story wooden home, built with her family's life savings, into an embroidery museum.

The museum, in Tongle, a town in Sanjiang Dong autonomous county in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, displays spinners, dye vats and other embroidery tools used in making Dong cloth on the first floor, with Dong embroidery showcased on the second floor. On the third floor is Yang's embroidery studio.

An inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Dong embroidery, all the 58-year-old wants is to pass on the traditional craft she began learning as a child.

Yang learned Dong embroidery from her mother at the age of 7 as it is a tradition for most girls of the Dong ethnic group.

As an important part of the Dong culture, Dong embroidery boasts a long history. Birds, animals and flowers are among the most frequently used decorative patterns, expressing love and reverence for nature.

Yang's embroidery skills improved under the guidance of Qin Naishiqing, her mother-in-law and a renowned inheritor of the craft, who is now 94 years old.

But she discovered that few young people were willing to learn Dong embroidery because they could only earn a small amount from the craft.

"It used to take us half a year or more to finish a set of pure handmade Dong clothes over a decade ago, but we could only earn some 100 yuan ($15) by selling it," Yang said.

Back then, she often worked till midnight every day to pay for her daughter's tuition.

Yang came up with the idea of establishing the embroidery museum as her exquisite works gradually became more popular and sold well. The museum has attracted many experts and visitors from across the country.

Tongle has been promoting the traditional craft in recent years, organizing inheritors like Yang to train local women, helping more than 300 households increase their incomes.

Yang said a set of Dong clothes can go for up to 8,000 yuan now, and embroidered items like stud earrings and handmade bags sell well in Hong Kong and other places. "With government support and rising orders, people can make a living and earn more with Dong embroidery," she said.

Yang also trains local embroiderers at her studio and is on her way to realizing her dream of passing on the craft to new generations.

Xinhua